Jillian and I on pedi-cab, Hutong district Beijing
I wrote a ton in my journal about China. I am only going to give you 2 excerpts here due to time constraints!! Let me start by saying that my perceptions are based on about 12 active hours. We arrived on a 13 hour flight from Auckland. We were all a little uncertain about how the arrival would unfold. At first, we were held up on the plane - waiting for quarantine officials to come. Then were were held up at the entrance to the quarantine section - people were crammed in a small space that an escalator led up to so people were getting trampled. All airport workers were in masks. As your health form was being read, youru temperaturewas being read through the air with a video camera looking device. (we saw another one in the hotel lobby where we were staying.) I'm happy to report we all cleared!
On our one day in China we did 4 things: visited the Hutong district, went to the Forbidden City, walked on Tian'anmen Square and had a Beijing duck dinner. The highlight for me was the visit to the Hutong district. In the Hutong district, we saw a drum and bell tower used to tell the time. Traditionally, there are no clock towers. We then had a pedi-cab ride around the tiny streets. We ate lunch in a family's small courtyard home and visited a market. The Hutong district is one of the oldest areas in Beijing. The streets are narrow and there are mostly courtyard homes where 4 small homes are joined by a courtyard behind a main gate. In the past, one extended family lived there, but now as many as 31 people live in the 4 home community. Too many for the bathroom facilities, so public restrooms are scattered throughout the area. On the pedi-cabs we saw many people out on the streets on bikes, cars, or towing carts. There were just so many people so close together. There was a damp smell that I equated with the smell of a basement in an historic building. Some of the people were friendly and exchanged smiles with us or flashed peace signs. Others just wanted to get their work done and didn't seem to appreciate the added challenge of navigating past our line of pedi-cabs. Being in the streets of Hutong was by far the highlight of my time in Beijing.
On to Mongolia!
