Day 2 - a great trip to the countryside

Today started off really early (we woke up around 3:30 am - thanks to the jetlag). We met the other couples for breakfast at 7:30. It was a good breakfast with a mixture of the traditional western (eggs, bacon, french toast) and the eastern (noodles, dumplings, congee [rice porridge]). I (chris) particularly loved the fresh lychee nuts - delicious. Anyway, after breakfast we met our guide Freda. Freda is a wonderful woman, very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly - she is going to be invaluable to us on this trip. Freda had arranged for a small bus to take us (10 people in all) to an ancient Chinese village about 90 km west of Beijing. The village is quite remote in a mountainous region and given to its inaccessbility, it has remained mostly unchanged for over 500 years. If I haven't mentioned it already, the traffic in Beijing is crazy. It took us about an hour just to get out of the city, but once we did what a change in scenery. It is very lush and green in the countryside and we followed what seemed like a valley through some beautiful mountains. The roads are very narrow and to pass you just pull out, honk the horn, step on the gas and pray that nothing is coming in the opposite direction (most of the time this works, but there were some hairy moments).

After about a 2 1/2 hour drive we arrived at the village. The village is laid out on the side of one of the hills. It consists of several familial homes each arranged in a square around a courtyard which serves as the family's eating area in the warmer months. It’s a strange picture of old and new. Most cooking is still done with coal but propane is more frequently used. Also, they do have running water and some very modern (and definitely not modern) washroom facilities. We walked around the village for about 1 hour. Most of the local population still lives there year round but it is becoming more touristy. You can actually stay the night with a local family. We met several locals during our tour and they were very friendly. Stephanie met one little girl of about 5 and she gave her one of our Canada Flag pencils. We took pictures of the two girls together which might appear on this post if I can get it to load.

Following our village tour, we stopped at the home of one of the locals where they prepared lunch for us. What a feast we had. There was some pork and green beans, tofu, fried mini-smelts, shrimp and many vegetables we did not recognize (swiss chard I think and some tempura battered and fried leaves).

After lunch, we stopped briefly at a souvenir shop (bought a few postcards) then made the trip home. Back at the hotel we took a short dip in the pool then had a nap. We met up for dinner and went to hot pot (Chinese fondue). It was delicious but a word of warning – when you order chicken you get the whole thing (head and all) kinda creepy.

Well, tomorrow will be a busy day. I have to meet some clients so I won’t see much of Caroline & Stephanie. They are planning to take the subway with other couples to visit the Forbidden city then in the afternoon, they have tickets to a theatre show which features acrobatics. Should be fun and I’m jealous.

Bye for now.
Chris, Caroline & Stephanie