Beijing Diaries V

October 22, 2006

Mona had arranged a pedicab ride through one of the last remaining Hutong areas of Beijing. I was also staying in a Hutong area but was informed, to my dismay, that it wasn’t one of the originals and had only been reconstructed to look like an original. Upon arriving, I was again reassured after seeing how small and uncomfortable the originals are.

We rode through the narrow alleyways built during the Mongol occupation to house the city’s teeming residents. The alleyways eventually opened up onto a lake surrounded by bars, shops and restaurants. After dismounting, we met a guide who led us through some shop-lined alleyways back onto the streets of Beijing and through the gates and up the steep stairs of the Drum Tower.

Back in the day (I’d make a terrible tour guide), they would beat on the drums at certain intervals to tell time. There was also an elaborate water clock on display, one, I presumed, that had not been widely produced. While perusing the Hutong shop area I had been hurried along after stopping to buy an old advertisement for “Oh Dear” cigarettes in order to catch the drumming spectacular at noon.

After leaving the Drum Tower we had our brief encounter with the Olympic Torch entourage.

The guide led us back into the Hutong and we visited a family that still lived there, and evidently made a reasonable living showing people they still lived there. We sat in the courtyard sipping tea for a few moments before the tour masses showed up. The man of the Hutong told us that a couple from Yale had spent their honeymoon in one the rooms off the courtyard and the family had left it decorated to show people. I made a mental note to cross the Hutong off my list of honeymoon destinations.

After the tour Mona humored me while I looked at old Chinese junk and ate more Thai. I made her drink a mojito and we sat in one of the cafes off the lake and chatted over tea and coffee with rum as the evening chill set in.