First of all, I have no idea if my spelling is acceptable on that one but then again, is pinyin always predictable? Hutangs are interesting not only because they are traditional housing in alley ways where Chinese people have lived for centuries but because they are rapidly dissapearing in an official attempt to 'clean up' the city. Doorways line these alleys and each leads to a courtyard which has no roof and a tree in the center. Surrounding this focal room, there are adjoining rooms which make up the bedrooms, kitchen and so forth. The toilet is public, and it aint no Japanese heated seat with noise maker!

We were lucky enough to meet a lovely couple who showed us the inside, what a treat, check out the pics!

Dad, Kim and I had a great time checking out the fabulous restaurants, smelly but beautiful parks and of course, The Great Wall of China (my second location)!

We ate like kings for peanuts, anyone would have loved the food componant. Touring the city was not number one on our list because there were too many people due to the national holiday. I was so impressed by the numbers that i took a video of us walking around Tiananmen Square amongst the throngs. Unbelievable!

CAUTION MOM: What you are about to read may cause signs of stress, dizziness and/or shortness of breath!

We did however, go on a bike tour in downtown Beijing and I can not describe the acute moments of terror felt trying to make left hand turns across those huge intersections and having monumental size buses barrelling down on me (or at least that's what it felt like)!

This portion of The Wall was under construction and so the locals were charging a mere pitence to go up "the back way". Check out the picks, J-M this was your kind of activity!!

After getting off to a busy start (UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR), I finally had my first weekend adventure! Two hours north of here, a small beach town called Beidaihe. Full of Russian vacationers and ice cream treats, this place was a long time comin'. I went with a few other teachers and we explored and relaxed. The water was great I was actually able to practice some open water swimming (Kim I can see you green with envy). Yep, no jellies, no algie, just water for miles. We also paid some fishermen to take us out on their boats. Rickety old things. When they dock, there is no care for the property and the boats just ram into each other. Wood chips fly off and you think, "How many more pieces of wood can come flying off this thing before it splits in two?"

From my first week here, I knew one of the most fascinating and amusing things to me would be the food. Easy to please, you say... Some people would disagree, Ahem! I present the Thai Dragon Fruit. Looks like a white kiwi from the inside and a scaly dragon from the outside. Not as tart as a kiwi, it is more subtle tasting and has a slight perfume. MMMmmmm!