 |  |
 | |
Here is what the pedicab drivers do while they wait for customers:
Right next door to the bar is a ticket office where you pay a set fee for a forty-five minute hutong tour--hutong, for the uninitiated, are these ancient, walled, winding streets that look incredibly run-down but are actually high-priced dwellings for the elite.
The pedicab got a flat--on Tanner's side, I swear. The repair was made while we went inside a courtyard abode--actually a bed-and-breakfast type of place. Feng shui is important here, so the arrangement of rooms is very particular--eldest son on the west, grandparents on the north-east, etc., around the central courtyard.
 |  |
 |  |
That effectively ended the tour, and we spent the next couple of hours exploring shops and hutong on our own.
 |  |
 |  |
 | |
We eventually came to a really cool, new restaurant deep among the hutong which was a renovated icehouse of the Forbidden City that is located a few blocks south. We didn't eat there, since it was still a bit early, so I can't vouch for the food, but the atmosphere was phenomenal. Named Royal IceHouse Restaurant, it has a website here and a few interpretive displays. Note the bricks stamped with the Emperor's imprematur, which we see at numerous Imperial sites. Groups can even hire the icehouse downstairs to view a movie, if they like.
 |  |
 |  |
2 comments:
Did the hutong area feel expensive..? Are there hutong areas which are run down?
:)
It did not feel expensive--from the outside. The walls were gray and nondescript, and public toilets are common--which infers that some of the homes do not have plumbing.
My general impression is that hutong are quite nice behind the walls, but a lot of what I saw (we explored about 3 km of hutong in addition to the pedicab tour) seemed run down.
But inside the courtyard, and the Ice House Restaurant, it was far from run down.
Post a Comment