Bejing in the rain

 Today was our free day to explore outside our hotel. We decided to turn right out of the hotel as we did yesterday and explore the area. We came across sidewalk sweepers who used what looked like a broom made from tree branches, a children's hospital, a pharmacy and a variety of eating establishments.  We stopped to look at the food choices. Of course they were all in Chinese but some posted pictures.   The sidewalks and streets were very clean and totally waterlogged.  It has been raining non stop since we arrived.  By the time we returned to the hotel about an hour and a half later we were thoroughly soaked inspite of having umbrellas and raincoat. Think tremendous downpour during rainy season but it continues all day.  We hung out clothes to dry. Our socks needed to be rung out and our shoes dried with the blow dryer.

During our walk we did see something of interest on the back of a car which I will post separately as I am having difficulty adding it to this post.

Six of our traveling companions arrived today from a week in Mongolia. We will be joining them for dinner with our trip leader Ken who will take us to a dumpling house near Tiennamin Square. It is left when you leave the hotel. 🙃