Another glorious sunny day in Beijing

After an amazing 10 hours sleep in a very comfy bed, we awoke to glorious sunshine and another 28°C! Breakfast consisted of bacon, egg and beans on toast after which Lou and I set off on a wee wander. We found a 7 eleven (very Chinese!!) and got some miniature bottles of Jacobs Creek Sparkling Rose for our final night celebration and some essential water provisions.

We returned to the hotel to get ready for our day in Beijing to discover Jo had received some sad news from home. Sadly her nan had passed away. After a few tears and a lot of hugs we all went off to start our day.

Our first point of call this morning was the Drum Tower and Bell Towers - two towers to the North in old Beijing once used to announce the time (drums for waking, bells for sleeping) but now tourist attractions.

We walked up the steep steps (good practice for the wall) to the top of the drum tower for the 10:30am drum demonstrations and check out the view of the city from the north.

Next we jumped in a rickshaw and went for a ride through the Hutong - the narrow streets of houses and courtyards that make up part of old Beijing. Jessie had told us in advance to look out for the markings and status symbols on the front doors - the number of beans, columns, steps and decoration indicates status. The emperor for example would have 12 beams above his door, with high status families having 4 beams and common families only 2. In olden days a young man and woman would only be allowed to marry if they had the same status demonstrated by the stone outside their house - ministry employees have circular stones, civilians have square stones.

After the ride we popped in to Mrs Fan's house to see what a typical Hutong residence looks like. Mrs Fan was really welcoming and played the Guzheng for us - a beautiful Chinese harp

Next followed a wander down to the lake - rely beautiful and breezy and then lunch at a local award winning restaurant beside Drum Tower - very tasty, but spicy!

Following lunch we set off to the Temple of Heaven which is an Imperial Sacrificial Altar at the southern end of old Beijing. The circular temple called the Hall of Good Harvest was pretty impressive. The surrounding gardens referred to as the Temple of Heaven were full of people place cards or chess in the shadows to keep cool in the main heat of the day.

To escape the heat and to meet the shopping needs of the group, we headed to the Pearl Markets for a couple of hours - I got a couple of souvenirs for family and mastered my haggling skills (very pleased to haggle down to 1/5 of the proposed price!)

After a hours journey back to the hotel (rush hour traffic is pretty crazy in Beijing) Lou and I went for a wander around the streets near our hotel and had dinner at local cafe - beautiful, yummy chicken with beans and rice and a yanjing beer all for the bargain price of NZ$8!

Back to the room for a shower and to pack for our early start tomorrow - day #1 on the Great Wall!!