Life at Hutong School - Part 1 The Apartment Block

This is the block that my apartment is in. Hutong School has a few apartments in this block, and all students have pretty much the same first impression when they see it. See what you think:

We're up on the 13th floor. We have a 2-level unit, and my bedroom is on the top floor, so I'm actually on the 14th floor and I have a sweet view.

As you can see, the building hasn't been maintained much since it was built. This is what I've heard about Chinese construction in general. For hotels for example, book your stay in a new hotel, because you can be sure everything will actually work. (However I've discarded this advice and booked cheap hotels throughout my trip. We'll see how it all works out!)

One interesting thing is the orange metal gates you see in the first couple of pictures. These lock with a key and fold down into the sidewalk when the owner of the spot wants to park. They are all over the public sidewalks too, and in the evening parking attendants rent the spots, and each controls his own little piece of turf. It's quite a sight seeing the cars trying to park in the tight spaces on the sidewalk, with the attendants yelling at them as loud as they can! I'll post some pics of this later, however I'll next post some pics of my apartment (which isn't actually so bad!)