Forbidden City, Hutong Tour, and Duck Fat, Oh My...

Today was an interesting, busy day. I begin by asking, "Where is the Starbucks that I know exists in Beijing"? Apparently nowhere that our guide knows about. Hoping for a fix before tomorrow's flight! My caffeine intake has been severely limited...did drink over 2.5 liters of water today, but I may have sweated out 3. We began our day w/ the buffet breakfast - a really odd mix of Chinese and western food. I steered clear of the breakfast congee (pumpkin flavor) but did enjoy some pancakes! We met our guide Devan, and headed out to Tiananmen Square - very cool to see in person just how big it is...we did not wait in line to see Chairman Mao's tomb, as that really was not on my list of China must-sees. There we did have our first celebrity experience...who did we see???? Nope, we were the celebs! Beijing is a big tourist destination for Chinese who don't live here; and those from smaller villages, etc., don't see a lot of foreigners - probably not in combination of a short redhead and her nearly six foot tall sister-in-law. Our photo was taken many times, mostly in the Forbidden City by a large group of school kids all wearing matching yellow unicorn t-shirts. It was super funny and they really enjoyed the experience. The Forbidden City is enormous, and we were amazed by the detail in wood carving, marble carvings, etc. We continued to walk and sweat through the city until it was time for a quick trip to the Silk Market - lots of cool stuff there. Lunch brought us the quote of the day: "Give me just a minute while I wipe the duck fat from my lips with your napkin". There was only one napkin provided to us, in which Sarah had already hidden a questionable piece of meat. Neither of us eats duck, but I thought I'd try the veggies included on the plate...really poor choice. We never should have said we didn't like pork. After lunch we took the Hutong Tour - a rickshaw ride through narrow, alley-like streets which don't look wide enought to accomodate a car - they really aren't and riding in the rickshaw, with the overworked, really sweaty man in dress pants talking on a cell phone driving us, was quite the experience. This particular neighborhood is slated to be demolished for parking, according to one of the residents - the wife of a Kung Fu master whose home we visited. Jeff Waldrom, I know you are totally jealous that we met him. We wanted to squeeze all we could into the day, so we went next to a very large Buddhist temple. Again it was crowded, hot, lots of incense...but certainly beautiful and interesting. Sarah was covered in purple incense before we left. Dinner at the hotel, showers again (this is absolutely a 2 shower a day minimum place to visit). That's about it for the short version of today...Great Wall tomorrow and then flying to Hunan!! Junie is so close : )