Last Full Day in Beijing

Last full day for the Ronnebeck's.  These two weeks flew by.

The boys still had their robes on in the morning.  Cameron was walking down the hall and I told him the robe was cute.  He stopped, turned around and looked at me and said "I know, why do you think we bought them.  Chick magnet".  Oh please.

Off to the Silk Market.  A couple jerseys bought.  While looking in the jersey shop the girl told me "You are very fashion".  A little later she said that again and then while petting the back of my hair she told me my hair was cute. As Todd was bargaining she told him "Oh, you very clever".  He got what he wanted and she repeated how clever he was.  The boys were happy about their purchases.

Waiting for the doors to open.

Scott cleaning Griffin's face.

There were more Chinese than Foreigners when we were here.

It was almost shopping time.

Picking out a jersey or two.

This is Griffin's 'don't act excited' look.

He's thinking...I really hope I get that Jordan jersey.

Off to the bathroom.  It must have been National Take Your Time In The Bathroom Day because the girls were taking forever.  The three of us were out using one squatty potty before 3 other girls in stalls were.

Back in van. Off to Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City.  Jam packed full of people.  We walked through Tiananmen first.  Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing.
Outside China, the square is best known as the focal point of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, a pro-democracy movement which ended on June 4, 1989 with the declaration of martial law in Beijing by the government and the death of several hundred or possibly thousands of civilians.  After walking through it no one was very impressed.  It literally is a square with not a lot to see.  At least we can say we were there.

Entering Tiananmen Square.

Cute.

The Ronnebeck's.

It was very hot.

Grace and Griffin.

Cool way to wear your shades Dude.

This kids dad wanted a picture of him with Grace.

Forbidden City in the background.

This girl wanted her picture with Griffin and Cameron.

Nice pants.

Forbidden City in the back with Mao Tse-tung's picture.

Another kid wanted a picture with the boys.

Ronnebeck's in front of the Forbidden City.

Down the steps and underground to get to the other side to visit The Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the center of Beijing and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.

We walked for quite awhile and Grace kept asking if we were in Forbidden City yet.  Nope.  Not until we pay.  Huge line at the ticket booth so Todd told us to stay in one area while he went to get tickets.  He finally came back and he said "I may have just done my best cutting.  I think I cut 3000 people.  The lady behind me kept hitting me with her umbrella trying to make me feel bad or something.  It didn't work."  Oh, Todd.

Forbidden City.

Walking to the ticket booth.

While waiting for Todd we saw some funny things.  The paper
hat family was one.

An albino Chinese man.

We entered the Forbidden City.  Lots of people but at least we had some space.  Griffin looked at Kelly and said "Wait, isn't this the place with soldiers buried?"  Kelly told him no and that was in Xian where we would have had to take a plane.  He said "Hmm, this whole time I thought that was where we were going".  Sorry Buddy.

Finally inside the Forbidden City.

We actually had some space for awhile.

People everywhere.

Good picture.

Grace and Griffin with the cutest little girl.

We walked through and stopped to take pictures every now and again.  Then we came across a place to get a video made.  Of course we made the kids do this.  They each had to put on an outfit and then they went into a room to shoot the video.  We bought 2 copies.  We then went outside to take pictures of the kids in their outfits.  The paparazzi was out in full force taking pictures of our kids.  Grace was loving  it.

Making their movie.

So cute all dressed up.

Close up of their hats.

Grace.

Cameron.

Griffin.

Show offs.

Hilarious.

Rock star.

The kids.

Neat roof.

Leaving the Forbidden City.

We continued walking.  We got to the other end where Mr. Xue was picking us up.  We had to walk a couple blocks to get to an open spot.  We walked past a bunch of handicapped people trying to get money.  Pretty sad.

Kelly called these ladies Chinese Nuns.

Todd called Mr. Xue to explain where we were.  We waited.  Griffin thought we should just get in cabs and send Mr. Xue home.  We told him this was how it works sometimes.  He had to try and figure out where we were and with the language barrier it makes it hard sometimes.  The Wallace's know this because they live it everyday but for visitors it is hard.

In the van and off to the Hutongs.  Mr. Xue was confused and didn't know where he was going.  Todd finally just told him to go to the Olympic Village. We hit McDonald's first.  After our snack we checked out the sites.

Our next stop.

In the bathroom.  Spaut or squat?

That's better...sit.

McDonald's again.

Enjoying a light lunch.

We saw the Birds Nest and Water Cube.  They are neat to see but after 5 minutes we were over it. There wasn't really anything else to do there. There were a ton of people too. Still cool to actually stand on Olympic ground.

The Water Cube.

The Birds Nest.

The communications tower.

Waiting for Mr. Xue to pick us up.

Back in the van.  We tried to find the Hutongs again.  In Beijing, Hutongs are alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences.  We drove through one Hutongs in the van.  It was a very tight fit. We were all thankful we were not driving the van.  We finally found the rickshaw rides.

We jumped out of the van and we were immediately approached by rickshaw drivers.  They said it was 180 rmb per person ($29).  Absolutely not.  They then tried 300 rmb per rickshaw.  Ummm, NO.  Todd told them 200 rmb per rickshaw or nothing.  They finally agreed.  Scott and Kelly, Griffin and Cameron, then Grace and Me.  Todd didn't want to ride since he had already done it a few times.

A few pictures and then we were off.  We cruised around.  We saw an old man in a Mankini and a man in very short shorts pushing a bike.  We were about finished when we turned down a street.  We came to a stop.  We heard lots of loud talking.  After about 5 minutes we realized there was a guy with his car parked.  No one could get around because it was so narrow and he would not move.  He stood there smoking as the rickshaw drivers were yelling.  We then turned around but there were a lot of rickshaws behind us and a walking tour trying to get through.  It was crazy.  Never had we been in a rickshaw fight before.

Scott and Kelly in their rickshaw.

Cameron and Griffin in their rickshaw.

Grace and I in our rickshaw.

Mr. Mankini.

The kids with "very old bridge" in the background.

A street corner haircut anyone?

The drivers stopped for a photo op.

One of the drivers took our picture.

Scott and Kelly.

Ready to finish the ride.

One of many traffic jams in the Hutongs.

Awwww.

Clothes hanging on a line.  Nice panties.

Lots of shops.

Lots of tours, people, and vehicles.

We could have used these cops during the fight.

The man in green would not move his car.  The guy in white was a
rickshaw driver trying loudly to persuade him to move it.

Trying to turn around.

We finally made it back to the stopping point where we saw Todd.  The drivers wanted a tip.  We let Todd deal with them.  We grabbed drinks and walked back to the corner where our driver was picking us up.  We waited a few minutes and then he appeared.  Todd told us he was talking to a rickshaw driver while waiting for us.  The driver asked Todd what he paid.  When Todd told him he said he got a very good deal.  After talking more Todd told him he has been in China for 3 years.  The driver said "Oh, you know how this works then".  Yep, and Todd is the master when it comes to dealing with people.

Todd waiting for us.

Nice purse Mister.

Getting some drinks.

I couldn't believe no one would try one of these.

A rickshaw driver belly bumped Scott. It was hilarious.

Griffin and Cameron walking with Todd.

Waiting for Mr. Xue.

Off to the Kro for dinner.  We arrived and we let Griffin try to figure out how to open the door. It's tricky but he got it.  We ordered a cheese pizza and a sausage fest.  We were all hungry.

We made it to the Kro.

Griffin accidentally spilled a water in Cameron's lap.  He said it felt good because he was hot.  We talked about what everyone liked, disliked, and thought was funky about China while we waited for the pizza.  The Great Wall and the pandas were number 1. The squatty potty's and smells were a couple of the dislikes and funky.  Actually visiting China is the only way to get the real adventure.  Pictures only give a part of it.

Hey, wet pants.

We started with salad.  Yum. It was so good we ordered a second one. The pizza's came and the Ronnebeck's couldn't believe how big they were.  Each piece was huge too.  Everyone thought it was delicious.

Cheers.

Waiting for the food.

Cameron listening to Uncle Scott tell the story from the Pearl Market.
As Scott was saying what Cameron said to him Cameron was
mouthing it too.

Now that is a piece of pizza.

Whoa!

Yum.

The kids got Dairy Queen after dinner.  How they still had room was beyond us.

DQ next door.

Waiting to order.

As I was taking this the girl told me I couldn't take pictures.

Back in the van and off to the hotel.  Riding back Kelly was on her stool between the seats.  Mr. Xue put on the brakes.  Kelly yelled and fell a little forward.  We all laughed.  Then Kelly tapped Mr. Xue and said "Hi".  He got a huge smile and even laughed.  We would love to know what he was thinking.

Back in the hotel.  Everyone showered.  We watched the video of the kids we got at Forbidden City. It was quite funny.  Well worth $10 a piece.

The Ronnebeck's packed up since it was their last night.  Some watched Puss In Boots and then went to bed.