Day 1, Part 2 in Beijing

So after we left the Forbidden City I asked Charlotte to take us to a Hutong...this is a traditional, old style neighborhood. These still speckle the city but many are being torn down for new real estate development. They have the traditional architectural elements, and each structure would (back in the day) have a courtyard type arrangement with the rooms on the outside,( I will attempt to get this correct, no promises!) the master bedroom on South, sons bedroom on East, daughter on West, maids, kitchen on North...the coldest room was where the lowest ranking person stayed. And the courtyard like area in the center was where they came together to socialize as a family. Now you will find a whole family or old couple living in an area that was once for just one person in a family, very crowded arrangement now. Now you find mostly old people living there in these Hutong communities, they feel safe because the lifestyle, although cramped, is safe to them, they have no privacy but everyone knows who is coming and going and everyone looks out for each other. Even though it was considered a lesser place to reside by locals...it was quaint, had a little park with exercise equipment, little stores where the people would get their steamed bread or bags of rice and farmers selling produce from the back of their truck. I thought it was like a neat tight knit little village right in the big city of 19 million people.


-

















Above is what looked like a graveyard for old bikes and rickshaws, this was in the center of the Hutong area, next to this was the open area, park area with exercise equipment. In the mornings you can see older people coming here to socialize and exercize together.




Overlooking the little park is the old belltower, so beautiful! Those blue and yellow things on the ground are the exercise equipment found in most all parks. Also in the Hutongs they all share a community bathroom...which is where I introduced my mom to something that I had been keeping a secret from her...the famous Squatty Potty!

It is my goal to complete this whole trip without having to use one of these, legend has it that it can be done.

Even this community bathroom had a western toilet, with the lid bolted down. This one, although it smelled horrible, would be considered quite clean. Also you can see, privacy isn't considered important here!







So we left the Hutong area and walked to a more "regular" area, even played a little frogged with some busses as our guide took us across a street with no crosswalk. I told my mom, just move when Charlotte moves, don't thing, don't try to use your brain, let her be the brain...if you stop to think and look at what you are doing you will get your butt run over.

Lunch! Wow! We went to a place on a side street filled with locals, Charlotte ordered for us...a lot of food, we loved it all! I now love the sautéed cucumbers in a sweet brown sauce, but the best part was the steamed dumplings! They made them fresh right there...pure heaven, I could, and will probably try, to eat these every day! We had one plate that were filled with a mildly seasoned vegetable mixture and the other plate was filled with a pork and vegetable mix. Charlotte and my mom liked them plain but I really liked them dipped in brown vinegar. I have got to get some more of those soon.

Below is what it looks like driving around much of the city, very beautiful and green, the trees hanging over the street reminds me of Savannah without the moss.



Creature comforts...in order to survive (and cured my jet lag like a charm) I paid $4.25 for a diet coke after breakfast in the hotel...so we told Charlotte that we needed to buy our daily "fixes" somewhere else!

Next stop..Starbucks! I brought good creamer with me from home in a shoe box type plastic bin and some Starbucks VIA instant coffee...and it was good, and we knew we would need more to get each day started for the next few weeks.



We picked up enough to last us until we get to Guanzhou for about $16. !Not bad for two people to have good coffee for 7-8 days. Luckily our hotel in GZ has a Starbucks in the hotel lobby. Did I mention that I totally love China so far!

Part 3 next post!