Touring Beijing

Today we spent a full day touring Beijing.  We started the day with a ricksha ride to a local resident's home in the protected 2nd ring area around the city center.  Mrs Wu invited us in for tea and chinese apples, and talked to us about her life in Beijing and her residence of 50+ years.  It was a humble home, to say the least, but she'd say she had everything she needed.  

Ready for our ride!

Having some tea at Mrs. Wu's home

Next we went to a silk factory where we learned how they take the silkworm's cocoon and carefully pull 1300 meters of silk thread from each.  There, the girls picked out a silk fan as a souvenir.

Spinning silk thread from the cocoon

The girl's displaying their new fans.

 On our way to lunch, we saw a pet store with some dogs and cats in the window.

Beijing Pet Store

The rest of the day was spent at Tiananmen Square in the city center.   We were focused on the beautiful architecture and the history, but the rest of the crowd (it seemed) was focused on Keegan and Regina.  Everyone was staring at that them and coming up and boldly sticking their kids next to ours to snap a quick photo.  We warmed up to the idea quickly, and starting taking pictures of our own.  We felt like the paparazzi were after us.  People were gathering around the girls trying to capture a photo of these strange looking creatures.  They kept telling us how beautiful the girls were.  The older woman would come right up to them and pat their heads and stroke their cheeks.  One woman (in the silk factory's toilet no less) went up to Regina, picked her up and spun her around in the air. She plopped her down and then did the same to Keegan.  It was a pretty bizarre scene - one that took us by surprise, for sure.

The famed Chairman Mao photo

A Happy Native gets her picture taken with the girls.

"Sure, get comfortable, the girls don't mind"

Now, there's a line forming to get their picture taken with K & R.

This little boy was reluctant at first to take a picture with girls, but he came around.

This girl's mother kept pushing her closer and closer to Regina to get a picture, but she wasn't so sure.

And, it wasn't just Chinese people.  This Korean man had his english speaking daughter ask us for a picture. 

And this girl was all too happy to get a picture with the girls.

We snapped a picture back at the crowds of people circling the girls to get a photo.  They'd all gather around and pull out their point-and-shoot cameras and phones to grab a quick photo.