receptions

McKinzie and Geoff were married on November 4 then had a reception in Orange County on the 5th.  It was beautiful!  His mom did a great job.  I gave my camera to Shon, Brian's brother, and he did a great job getting lots of pictures for me.  Thanks Shon!! 

The reception in Texas was on the 12th.  I think it turned out very nice.  I had lots and lots and lots of helpers. 

Day 3 ~ Beijing ~ Hutong

The last touristy thing we did was ride a bicycle rickshaw through Hutong, a traditional old neighborhood.

This family allows tours to come through their home for extra income.  It was very interesting.

They set up a couple of rooms for people to stay here during the Olympics.

They set this one up for a newlywed couple that asked if they could be married here.

This is the courtyard.  Most homes are set up like this.  A home/room on each side.  The parents stay in the best room, then the son, or married couple, gets the next best room.  The daughter would stay in the least desirable room. 

A lot of these neighborhoods have been torn down for apartment living.  The government has stopped that from happening to this neighborhood.   It can not be torn down, or sold.  It's passed down from generation to generation.  Unfortunately not many young people want to live here.  Most homes do not have their own toilets.  They have public ones for the families to use.  This home did have toilets put in for the Olympics, knowing Westerners need more than a public restroom. ;)

Kitchen

Public toilets.

The neighborhood has this beautiful lake and lots of bars/restaurants.  The put comfy couches out on the sidewalk for the evening/night crowd.

I thought this was strange.  A playground near a very busy road.  All cement.

Lisa, our guide, was amazing.   She made sure we had cold sodas with our meals.  Once she found our we didn't drink alcohol or tea she would tell the servers and they wouldn't even ask.  She walked us all the way through the airport as far as she could go.  The entire experience was great.

If I didn't have these pictures I wouldn't believe we went.  It seems so long ago.  WE loved the whole experience.  I'm so glad I'm now finished posting about our trip.  Whew!!

souvenirs

We went to many factories that were included in all our tours.  It was actually very smart.  Someone in our group always bought something.  :)

One of my favorites was a silk manufacturer.  They showed us how it works from start to finish.

If it is a single silk worm pod then it is hooked up here to be unwound.

If it's a double silk worm pod then it can't be unwound.  The silk from both worms are tangled together.  That silk will be cleaned and stretched to be made into a comforter.  We bought one.  We love it!  We also bought a duvet.  Very slippery. 

We bought a generation ball at a Jade factory in Xian. 

In Xian we also bought this hand stitched panel.  We had them write our names in Chinese.  Brian's name is on the left.  I had them framed in black bamboo.  I think they turned out great.

In Beijing we went to an enamel factory, unfortunately we couldn't take pictures of them working.  It was very cool to watch.  They have an enamel vase/item, and they put on the small enamel pieces with tweezers, one at a time. Then they use a medicine dropper to fill in with color.  They will fill in the color with 7 layers.  Then it is fired.  I ended up buying a pen and a couple of ornaments.  The one below I'm going to send to a friend.  She lives in Boerne and I just had to buy it for her.  :)

gift exchange

Karlee took the "white elephant" literal....;)

candid is the best :)