Traditional Chinese Restaurant, Silk Market, Pandas, Ocean Park Aquarium

After the pearl market, our guide took us to a traditional Chinese Beijing Noodle restaurant. It was delicious! The waiters yelled, "Welcome" very loudly and called for you to come sit at their table. It was fun. It made you feel like an em porer when you walked in. Levi thought it was a little noisy. The noodles were great. We actually ate broccoli and fried bananas, too. They were so good. Levi loved the fried bananas especially the ones coated with sugar on top! HA! He posed with one of the waiters. You can see the picture I posted.

The next day, we ventured out to the Silk Market. It was really neat. The tour guide spoke English and was able to tell us and show us about how they make silk. We saw actual silk worms and got to touch their cocoons. We got to feel the silk after they wash it and also got to help the lady workers pull the silk across the stretching table. It was really fascinating to see how they make such beautiful things out of the silk. She told us that from one cocoon, they were able to make a couple of pairs of pajamas, and that real silk cannot be torn apart when pulled--it is very strong and durable. Michelle, our guide talked to Levi about the silk worms. He enjoyed seeing them as well. We bought Theo and Levi traditional silk clothes and Ruthie a beautiful silk dress. We thought we would have a picture taken of them in their traditional Chinese clothing when we return home. The ladies at the silk market totally dotted on Levi. They dressed him in silk outfits and posed for pictures with him. They called him the “Little Emperor.”

After the silk market, we went to the Beijing Zoo to see the famous panda bears. The Chinese word for panda is shoo-ma. Levi kept saying “shooma” over and over again, so at least we learned that new word! ha! The older panda bears just layed still. Levi told our guide that those bears were lazy! He wanted to see the younger ones. There were nine young pandas outside playing in the bamboo leaves. They were absolutely adorable. The pandas are really the highlight of the zoo, as there were not really many other animals. They did have an impressive collection of birds including the peacock. We got to see one with its feathes fanned open. It was simply breathtaking! The colors on this bird were brilliant. My pictures cannot do it justice. These peacocks were much bigger than any I have ever seen in the U.S.

Today is already Saturday for us. We took Xiaolei without our guide to the aquarium called Ocean Park. He really loves fish. There was a really long tube that you ride through on a flat escalator. You are surrounded by water, fish, coral, mermaids, divers, etc. It was beautiful and made you feel like you were underwater. I did not like being in this tube because I began to feel claustrophobic. The Chinese people like to crowd into very small places. I began to feel hot and uncomfortable and thought the tunnel ride would never end! ha!

Today we celebrate Valentine's Day—a day before you back in the States. So, in advance, we wish you a fun day full of love and blessings!