My Hutong

My hotel is in a Hutong in Qianmen District.  "Hutong" literally means "alley", but has come to refer to the old style of Beijing neighbourhood.  Back in the 70's when China opened up to the world, pretty much everyone in Beijing lived in a Hutong.  A Hutong was formed when people basically built their houses so close together that they formed Hutongs, or alleys, between the houses.  The layout is completely random and as a result the alleyways are irregular and very confusing.  Most of the larger alleys have names like "Such-and-such Hutong", but there are smaller alleyways leading off everywhere.

This is my hotel (just to the left, the "Three-Legged Frog").  This is one of the larger alleyways, and is mainly shops and restaurants.  There are lots of tourists, but quite a few locals as well.

One evening I decided to wander around.  Off the main drag it is just locals, with their local restaurants and businesses.  It's a completely random collection, you can find pretty much anything next to pretty much anything else.  Some guy will have a little stall fixing mopeds, next door could be a photocopy place, a restaurant, or a "Smokes and Liquor" convenience store.

You can peek through where they are doing some construction.  A little courtyard and a bunch more houses.

One of the little alleyways.  Beyond there are more, smaller alleyways, houses, and who knows what.

The night of my walk it started pouring rain (of course) so I ducked in the first restaurant I found for dinner.  I only had a 100 RMB note so the server gave me a hard time.  Then I wandered home in the rain.  I was sort of lost so by the time I got back to the hotel I was completely soaked.

This was my visit to Beijing!