BF and I went with friends from the apartment complex to a old village called Cuandixia. It is 90km outside Beijing yet it took around 3 hours to cover the distance. Getting outside Beijing was one of the biggest challenges. The ring roads are great if you want to circle the city but when you want a straight line out, forget it. The dried mountain landscape was unusual with the flowering fruit trees. The mountains have not greened up yet so it was an interesting contrast.
We had great weather with sunny warm air and little pollution. Our friends offered their car and driver. It was quite a scenic and windy road. When we arrived there was a gate to get into the Ming dynasty village which required us to pay for everyone and for the car. It was a small fare. Most of the houses were open to visit and there was surprisingly little tourism and goods for sale. Most of the tourist were Chinese and very few westerners.We wandered around the hilly stone village, often times into a private courtyard and residence. Many of the courtyard homes offered a food in a makeshift restaurant. BF did a great job working with our friend to figure out words enough to order noodles, eggplant, vegetables and beer. We were quite the sight. 
We saw some interesting sights including a very rustic but working public toilet with appropriate stains, smells, etc. BF happened upon s skinned goat that was ready for cooking in a smoker, and some old millstones.
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