Old Beijing : Walking Tour

We started our day at the Lama Temple, walking over to Guozijian - the boutique Lost + Found (near the Confucius Universities), up to the newly gentrified Hutong area Wudaoying (a horrible lunch at hip vegan restaurant: Veggie Table), to the Hou Hai Lake District, Nanluoguxiang (NLGX) for souvenirs and a well deserved foot massage, then to Dali Courtyard for dinner.

Lama Temple, built in 1694. 18M high sandlewood Buddah.

 

Traditional Chinese Courtyard.

Guozijian, Confucius area.

Walking into the Wudaoying I had my favorite street food of the whole trip, pancake type dumplings filled with leeks, cabbage or minced meat with onions. TDF.

Hutongs are a type of narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing, China. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods. Since the mid-20th century, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history. (wikipedia)

"Chipsters" : Chinese Hipsters.

We walked around the Hou Hai, the back lakes adjacent to the Forbidden City: this area of Beijing contains some of the most extensive old Hutong neighborhoods and the three lakes of Xihai, Houhai and Oianhai.

Men gathered around a heated game of Chinese Chess.

Street Food. 

Purse Man.

Ping Pong in the park.

Construction Site.

In the old days, because of its proximity, those working at the Forbidden City had their homes on the Hou Hai (back lakes), much like those who worked in Hollywood lived in Beverly Hills (as explained to me by my Chinese guide book).