Free afternoon and evening in BEIJING

On our free afternoon a group of us headed toward the hutong. Elizabeth, Erin, Armando, Richard May, Chloe and I (Annie) first toured the bell tower where we had an amazing view of the city in the background and the hutong down below. The hutong is the more traditional area with streets and alleys and courtyard residences. We took a ride through the hutong on modern cycle rickshaws which was fun -they don't use the traditional hand-pulled rickshaws anymore. After our ride we walked a great street for local shopping and small bars. Who knew you could get big beers for like 60 cents? We had Indian food for dinner and then ended our night with a 30 minute foot massage. Wonderful after all the walking and hiking the great wall! And only about $6 each for the massages. By the way, this is Annie writing and posting all these posts on the blog -I've just been using Erin's log-in because it was saved on my phone. Next stop XI'AN!...