A trip through the Beijing Hutongs

China, a country in no shortage of independent vendors watching you like a hawks from above.  They calculate your every body movement, and the good ones somehow learned enough English to make social references.  There they are right in front of me waiting for me to cross the street to grab a cab and head back to the hotel!  It truly is like a swarm of bees just waiting for the queen, scary thought.  I typically just walk pass them and ignore them.  In China not the easiest thing to do, since they culturally won’t lose face to make a sale, even if you say “No thank you” or “Bùyòng le, xièxiè”.

I had a solid hour or so of day light left and figured why not  make the most of it, sucked into a Hutong Tour before I knew it.  This lady was sharp, spoke outstanding English and actually followed me for 2 blocks.  Well, there we found ourselves taking a walk to her “husband” so he could peddle me around the Hutong’s of old Beijing.  She was also a “government employee”, yet I somehow got the price down by 200%, shocker!

The Hutong’s are the back alley ways and side streets of what Beijing looked like way before they put their new “global front” up for the rest of the world.  I was told (which was no shock after living in Shanghai) the government didn’t want the world to see the true China during the 2008  Olympic Games.  Ridiculous, so only a very few pockets survived and one that was shockingly preserved and still inhabited today is the Hutong area just outside of the Forbidden City.

The tour was unique, “the husband” was riding a bike with a carriage attached where I sat and took photos and listened to the history.  He pointed out former homes of some of China’s most famous people and government officials.

Great, thanks for the tour, STARVING! Off to the hotel to change and grab some Peking Duck!