purple room vents: THEY ARE HERE!!!

My little abode here has not felt like home until now. I see now what was missing. My kids!

April had not seen the place since move in day so it was exciting to show it to the both of them. She reassured me that it didn't look like an old lady's place who had to down size hugely and move into a small small place. Sometimes it feels like that. But she said no, it looks more like an artist's place! Thats just because of the colours in the lamps, rugs and cushions.

Tonight Kevin and the kids arrive. I have made huge changes since they were here. I lost my huge table and my two boys. In fact the little family will be downstairs in Anton's old place.

Tomorrow Aryn gets here and she hasn't even ever seen the place so I am excited to share it with her too. We shall make this place a home! Monte man of course can't be here. Saddens me hugely but the upside is we all will have a chance to have a turn at the piano!!! That boy loves to play.

This weekend is all about April and Kathy's birthdays. April has requested a Hillbilly Party and Jo planned it all!! Today April and I sally forth and purchase all the necessities!

Back to the trip, quickly here: The next day we travelled a fair ways by bus out to the great wall. This was a new spot for me which I was glad for. It was far more stunning and less travelled than the other sites...no gondola to take you up to the top. You had climb...I would say it was almost equivalent to the Grouse Grind.

I, judiciously decided not to climb. I wouldn't have been able to anyway. By the end of the trip I could maybe have made it some little distance but not on the second day. So I stayed below in a nice warm toasty cafe and had a hot one. It was freaking cold outside...but sunny and beautiful.

We then returned to Beijing to a Houtong. Houtongs are the old part of the city where the people live in passed down abodes that surround a small courtyard. Several generations can live in one house. They are small, old and very functional.

Now, the only way to really see a houtong is from a rickshaw of course! So we all climbed into one and off we zoomed! It was so much fun whipping around the tiny alleys, waving and niehowing (sp?) everyone.

The only negative was at the very end after we had stopped one of the ladies, keep in mind we are all over 60, or most of us are, completely freaking bailed getting out of the rickshaw. She fell face first right smack into a dirty ditch. And this was the second time I had seen this lady fall! Thats usually reserved for me. But she pops up...protesting that she was quite all right, and carries on like nothing happened! What a trooper.

We had a private visit to one of the homes. We all sat around in this home and listened to our guide give us more history and info on living in houtongs. So interesting. I put a pic below.

We then walked miles back to our bus and we were taken to a food market. A food market is a one or two block long narrow alley, with food stalls selling everything from deep fried scorpions to all sorts of yummy deep fried mystery food.

Again we were dropped off a million miles from the market and walked. As it turned out I recognized the first street we had to walk to get to the market, a wide pedestrian street sporting high end stores. Prada, gucci, Hermes etc...This was the street where Bill and I had a hotel the first time we went to Beijing.

After walking forever we came upon the food market and bashed our way through slowly, marvelling at all the yummy looking food that we were advised NOT to eat! What a shame! Bill and I ate it when we were there and we lived!

After walking another forty miles to our bus we were then taken to the 'bar district'. I was bagged, sore and not interested so I stayed on the bus whilst all the others walked through. Back to the hotel and I collapsed into the most comfy awesome bed and slept soundly!

TTYL

This stupid blogspot doesn't keep the pictures in order of when they were taken, and its almost impossible to move them. Grrrrr.....frigging google