Rickshaw Ride

After the Temple of Heaven, we toured some of the local neighborhoods while riding in the back of a bicycle rickshaw. It was really interesting to see what real life Chinese living is all about. For some fun reason, Matt and I got the 'honeymoon' rickshaw (named by me)! It was the only one decorated like this :)

Once we got in and our tour guide started pedaling, I began to hear tons and tons of chirping noises. As I looked around the rickshaw, I noticed that we were surrounded by at least 10 mini cages that were attached to the inside of the rickshaw. The cages had cicadas inside of them. It kind of freaked me out at first, but they are harmless, so I quickly got over it :) They had tiny bits of carrots inside their cages to snack on.

Bicycle Rickshaws were once a very common mode of transportation in Beijing, but they are now relegated to this part of the city. Now they are used to show tourists the old hutongs, or alleys, in the old neighborhoods of Beijing.

We passed by many doorways leading into peoples homes.

The neighborhood.

Another alley.

Children playing Pogs outside of their home. Do you remember playing pogs when you were little??? Matt and I do!

Bicycles are a very common mode of transportation around the city. They are everywhere! We saw many like this one. One seriously looked like a moving van, it was packed so full of someones belongings. Too bad we didn't get a picture of that one.

Now these little guys are cool! In one of our videos, we have one making a u-turn right in front of our van. It makes me laugh every time I see someone driving it.

After our rickshaw ride, we were taken into this store to watch how locals make some of the beautiful handmade souvenirs. The ceramics and tea sets, the hand-painted silk scrolls, and the hand-painted porcelain were all so beautiful and it was very hard to walk away without any in our possession....we shopped later in our trip!