Day 3: Great Wall, Secret lunch, Tianamen Square, Hutong Shopping, Hou Hai

Best day of my life so far?

China Open Tennis Comapany LTD arranged for a driver to pick us up and take us sight seeing to the Great Wall and other famous places around Beijing. Our friends “Roy,” “Helen,” and “King” met us at our hotel and took us to the Great Wall—which was amazing! Everywhere we went people wanted to take our pictures! 

Their idea.

The Great Wall is unbelievable. Beyond words. We were awe struck as soon as we saw it, and we spent about 2 1/2 hours climbing as far as we could--all the way to a temple on the mountainside that we could barely see from the starting point. 

The temple we climbed to at the top of the mountain side.

We didn’t realize the path to the temple was incredibly steep until we got there and tried to come back—but it was so worth it. 

Most beautiful place I've ever been.

Forgot my Slinky.

Pretty good year for me all around!

Climbing the wall was definitely an accomplishment--felt like running a 5k! About 3/4 of the way that we climbed we found a gift area where I bought a " I CLIMBED THE GREAT WALL" t-shirt. New favorite.

People wouldn't stop taking our picture. This made this woman's day I am pretty sure.

This little kid LOVED taking pictures of me.

My new best friend.

After the great wall, our driver picked us up around lunch time. We didn’t know where to go, so he suggested this tiny little hutong that he knew of.  It turned out to be an amazing local place that had never served Americans before!

The family that lives here grows and makes their own ingredients in a small vegetable garden in the back.

I love these Chinese lanterns that are everywhere...

We had NO idea what was coming-- loved all the tea!

They sat us down at this big round table with a lazy susan in the middle, and just started bringing out dish after dish. We had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be the best meal I’ve ever had in China ( so far!)  It was literally a feast served by the most adorable family.  We had so much fun and I’ve never tasted such amazing food.

The mother and grandmother would come in and bring more and more food every few minutes!

You name it--we had it! Amazing!

In the center was this huge pot that was heated from beneath the table. Inside was huge hand-made noodles, pork, cabbage, and other delicious veggies and tofu. We couldn't get enough!

Only chopstick masters could get into this at first--the mom laughed at us and brought us a spoon.

They insisted on taking pictures of us as their first “foreign customers.” 

This woman is amazing--she reminded me so much of my Polish grandma Burdzy.

After lunch we thanked the family for giving us a FEAST, and our driver took us to Tianamen Square and the Front Gate. It was SO huge and very, very clean—we saw workers picking up single peanuts off the ground, which was impeccable.

No photo can do it justice, it was so enormous. 

A grandma holds a baby up to a guard--he wasn't feeling it.

Our friends showed us another area filled with little shops. We walked up and down the street looking at art, clothes, and all sorts of little trinkets for a few hours, then went back to our hotel where we braved our first dinner at a place around the hotel. I took the job of ordering for the group--it went pretty well I'm proud of myself! 

It was so cool to just walk up and down the streets of Beijing
--and our driver would just pick us up wherever we ended up!

We were very lucky to get along so well with the three "representatives" from the China Open who we met the first day, because they volunteered to come along with us the entire day and were essentially the best tour guides possible! We not only saw major tourist sights, but they showed us all the best local fare--not to mention guided most of our purchasing/bartering!