It's our last full day in Beijing and it is an easy day. No-one seems to have any after effects from the wall climb yesterday except perhaps for Rachel who says she has heavy legs. We don't have to meet until 10am this morning so we can have a later breakfast and. Short walk outside before we get on the bus. We start off in the Hudong or old Beijing. This is a picture of Beijing around 20 years ago before the high rise buildings. Angie, our local guide was born in this area in 1983 and in the late 80's the government started building high rise condominiums. A lot of Chinese people work for the government and in 1990 they gave all government employees a free condominium to live in so they left this old part of Beijing. In 1997 when the recession hit China a lot of businesses went broke and the Government lost money . The government believed that the people were saving their money and not using it to invest so there was no more condo's given away but the people could buy them using their savings. The people that remained in this old part of Beijing are not poor and it is not a slum area but they chose to live here for the more traditional way if life. We walk from the bus to an area between a bell tower and a drum tower which were both used in the past to tell people the time. A lot of people are on holidays for this week so there are people all around. The little children are so cute and curious about us and love to say hello and interact. There is a little boy kicking a ball with his grandparents do we join in the game and he thinks it's great. There is an undercover fresh food market just down the street. Because everything is so close the people buy their meat and vegetables fresh each day. We get to go in and have a look. There is duck cooking in a rotisserie out the front and the steamers where they cook the bread. Inside there are people cutting up pork and other meats, offal, tripe, live fish and lots of veges and spices and nuts. There is no part of any animal that they do not eat. At the movies the Chinese will chew a goose or chicken foot instead of popcorn! We are having a rickshaw ride through the narrow streets of this old town. There are 2 people per rickshaw so we get in and the convoy takes off. I feel sorry for the poor bloke pedaling ours but he seems quite ok. For a start we are in the middle of the field but then the chain comes off so we have to pull over for some running repairs. Thus puts us last but that's ok. It's a 20 minute cycle around the alleyways and there are plenty of people to say hello to along the way. When the ride is over and we get out if the rickshaw we discover that we have wet bums because the seat cushion was obviously wet. We give the man his 20 yuan and then we go into a little courtyard of one of the houses in the street. Here we are having lunch today prepared by the owner of the house Mr Wong. We are seated around 3 small round tables and there is already a bowl of roasted peanuts and some deep fried snacks on the tables. 2 bottles of beer and a bottle of soft drink is included for each table which is a win for Glenn as only he and Annie are beer drinkers. The food starts to arrive and it's delicious. So much flavour, hot and freshly prepared. The vegetables are crisp and we quickly discovered why Pandas eat bamboo because the little green bamboo shoots are crunchy and sweet. Chillies are used a lot in traditional Chinese cooking but today there was nothing particularly lip numbing. It's thoroughly enjoyable meal and when we meet Mr Wong after the meal he tells us that his house is over 100 years old and he lives with his mother and wife and there are 8 other families that are under this roof. The houses don't have toilets so there are numerous toilet blocks around. All are squats and there are no doors so the neighbours all know each other and their habits very well. We can walk down the little alley way and see the kitchen where our meal was prepared, not much space at all. Mr Wongs mother was sitting out side with her 2 little dogs and do I stopped to get my puppy fix. They were 2 little poodles. One very shy and the other loving the attention. Back on the bus we are now going to a market for some last minute souvenir shopping. It's 4 levels undercover and wall to wall clothes, souvenirs, fake brand name everything from handbags to shoes to electronics. We saw some ugh boots (Ugg Australia brand) and the starting price was 550 yuan ( about $110AUD) and Glenn just laughed. A bit of barter back and forth and she finally asked his best price. He said 100 yuan, she said no way so we walked away. She followed and finally offered 150 but still no sale. We stopped at another stall and the starting price was 650 yuan and once again the back and forth finally came down to 150 ($30) sale.........except they didn't have the right size! So No Sale! We did make a purchase however much to Nigel's disgust we bought a telescopic monopod for taking our selfies. No more double/triple chins in our photos! We have to keep it out of Nigel's sight or it will be no more! We are back at the hotel now. Dinner is not until 8 and it's our farewell meal of Peking Duck. Some of the group are going to see a KungFu show this afternoon at their own expense but we have opted out of that one. Last nights show was exceptional so we will be happy with that. Our flight on Friday is at 4.35pm so our transfer is booked to pick us up at 12.30. Check out is 12noon so that's perfect for us.