Chasing Down Dragons!: Another Weekend-O-Fun With Shawn!

Part 3: Haranueged into the Hutongs

We've done a hutong tour previously, and as our Beijing guidebook stated, it's something you should do once, but you won't feel the urge to do it again.

Now...I'm a bit embarrassed to admit, but I was SO tired after our day exploring the Forbidden City that we took the bait from this guy...

...how could you resist him?! He promised to give us a tour up to the top of the hill on his rickshaw where that shiny pagoda was...my post-Forbidden City oasis! But...no...he ended up taking us all through the hutongs for the second time (a 1-hour long tour) and in the end, dropping us off at the entry gate to that great pagoda in the sky. We were, however, VERY impressed with our hutong master that we actually really enjoyed ourselves. Here's a few things we saw and a little bit of what we learned:

There are still blocks like these strewn about in the hutons,
a throwback to the days of needing a giant concrete
block to hop up on your horse.

People throw their dead cats on their rooftops.
Okay, not really, but I swear that cat is dead.

Milk is still delivered to your home/hutong in some parts
of the world. The bottom left is for mini-milk delivery.
The box is only about 6 inches tall. Little people...little milk bottles?!

Alright, I didn't take very many pictures of our hutong tour I guess. So here are a few other gems Hutong Master taught us...1.) 70% of hutong residents are very poor, they pay the equivalent of $20 a month to live in their hutong (which doesn't come with indoor plumbing) 2.) 20% of hutong residents are very wealthy and pay the equivalent of $10 million to buy their hutong. 3.) 10% of hutong residents work for the Chinese government, including the Chinese Prime Minister (does China have a Prime Minister?) who lives in his very own hutong.

After we were dumped at the base of the only hill in China, the one with the shiny pagoda oasis, we were pleasantly surprised to find Beijing's version of Ashland's Lithia Park! Beautiful walkways, nice grassy areas, lots of trees.

The view from the pagonda on the top of that grassy knoll was well worth it, we got to see the entire Forbidden City along with a panoramic view of Beijing from the center of it all.

The Forbidden City from above.

Hou Hai Lake, a spot we visited our first week.
You can hop in a boat on Hou Hai and be paddled
around. It's quite lovely in the evening.
The lake is lined with bars, restaurants, and houtongs.

Some advice on life possibly?

Wu Mart!

After our busy day, we hopped in a tuk tuk and got a ride to the subway. When we hopped out of the tuk tuk, we noticed "Wu Mart" across the street from the subway and we simply couldn't resist patronizing the local "Wu Mart".