Too much excitement!

June 27, 2007
This morning we went on a HuTong tour. HuTong is a very old and traditional area of Beijing. We travelled through by Rickshaw. Two to a cart with our drivers pulling us along by bicycle. They had great skill weaving through the streets and narrow alleys without even looking back. We were mobbed by street vendors everywhere. Being able to say "I have no money" in chinese was a big help as they left us alone quickly but some of our group didn't get off that lucky. We got to go through a school and it was their last day and the children put on some little shows for us. The school was amazing. It looked far better than any of the gradeschools we have at home. We took lots of pictures. We were then invited into the home of one of the residents. He told us about many of the ancient traditions they still follow today. How the height and direction the homes were facing and the # of rooms all meant something. He served us tea and let us take pictures of his home. He told us about a day in their lives. He even showed us his fighting grasshoppers. He was a retired steel worker and his wife was a seamstress. He was very gracious and told us to come back and vist in October and drink some beers with him as he was a very good drinker but to leave the children with a sitter. It was the best place we've been so far we thought. It taught us about the real China for a lot of people...Tonight we went for final group pictures and we went out with the entire group for the traditional Peking duck dinner celebration for the last night here at a restaurant down the street.Everything was going great until about half way through. Ali spit up a bit and started choking. A nurse from our group took over quickly and she is just fine but she put quite a scare in us for a few moments. After that we decided to just head back to the hotel. The doctor checked her over just to make sure and she was just fine and back to herself at the hotel. Pheeewwww!!!. We are exhausted and drained. Jayna helped pack everything up and we are on our way home tommorrow. No more appointments or stops. Ali is tired as she missed her nap today because the cleaning staff got here late in the afternoon. Can't wait to get her home.