I fell in love with the hutongs of Beijing immediately. Enchanting narrow streets and laneways that twist and turn to create a thoroughly confusing maze. Full of character and often where people simply live and kids play on the streets. While others are bustling with everyday shops, stalls and workshops and then a handful have been completely commercialised. I couldn’t wait to explore and get lost amongst them.

But first the big sights of Beijing beckoned and the logical starting point was Tian’anmen Square. For me it was spine-tingling walking on to the world’s largest open square for the first time. Probably because my first knowledge of Tian’anmen was from when I was a kid seeing images on the TV in 1989 of tanks rolling in and confronting protesters. The square is a commanding site with large Soviet-style buildings on the side, an imposing mausoleum for Chairman Mao sitting in the middle and the Forbidden City to the north. Entrance is only possible after passing security checks and police keep a watchful eye over the tourist crowds.

After pushing through the crowds and the tour groups I made my way to the entrance of the Forbidden City. An impressive collection of hall after hall with wonderful names such as Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Preserving Harmony and Hall of Joyful Longevity.

My second day in Beijing and it looked like it might rain. A perfect day to explore the National Museum of China but the queue to enter was long and after an hour or so of waiting I finally entered. I was quickly coming to realise the Chinese do everything LARGE and the museum was no exception. The museum is housed in an impressive and vast building and the ancient China exhibition was fascinating.

Not realising quite how far things were apart in Beijing I decided to walk to the Temple of Heaven Park. I was exhausted by the time I got there and the park is huge too. The park’s main attraction is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. A beautiful picture of symmetry set on three tiers with three layers.

Day three in Beijing it was time to visit the Great Wall of China……more on this to follow in the next post.

On day four I visited the Summer Palace set on a large lake surrounded by lovely parks littered with pavilions and covered walkways. I’d pictured bright blue skies of summer to accompany my visit instead dense smog hung heavy and low over the entire city. Beijing’s infamous pollution on display.

I spent the afternoon wandering around the 798 Art District. Jammed packed full of art galleries and cafes it’s an uber cool blend of industrial and warehouse with chimneys and old pipes everywhere. Innovative, refreshing and so out of place for China. I loved it. It felt like you could’ve been in Berlin or New York.

After exploring Beijing over the last fews days I finally felt prepared enough to brave the traffic and hire a bicycle to explore and to get lost amongst the hutongs. So on day five I joined the many locals on motorbikes, scooters, electric bikes, bicycles and I pushed my bike into the dedicated bike lane. I sped along to the hutong rich area of Dongcheng North and choose a hutong at random. Past cafes with inviting courtyards, fruit stalls and bars with empty bottles lined outside until a narrower little lane beckoned. Piano scales played up and down, and vegetable gardens grew outside homes as I followed the lane’s turns until I came to a large stepped doorway. A dead-end? But no, a local woman indicated I should continue left into an alley so narrow my bike could barely fit. I pushed on but soon realised it sure was a dead-end. Hmm…..after some tricky negotiating in the narrow alley I managed to backtrack and was soon out on the main streets right under the Drum Tower, an imposing large red tower which used to be the city’s timekeeper with drums marking time.

Around Drum Tower there were clear indications of the hutongs being pulled down and cleared.

Escaping the main streets I turned onto Yandaixiejie hutong another touristy pedestrianised street full of souvenir shops. As I wondered if I could ever be able to escape the crowds and tourist shops I came to an intersection of restaurants and bars lining a lake. The lake stretched into the distance with willow trees draping into the water. I followed the lake, crossed a bridge and made another turn. All of a sudden I was in a large market and the nearby Luo-er hutong was filled with everyday stalls.

During the evening I often found myself on Nanluogu Xiang – the most well know hutong and was always thronged with people and is a commercialised, pedestrianised strip packed full of restaurants, fast food outlets, bars and souvenir shops selling everything from hand painted fans, silk, tea, carved seal, etc. It was always interesting and plenty of choices for food.

My other favourite for the evenings was Wudaoying Hutong. A trendy hipster-like lane full of boutique stores, wifi cafes and cool restaurants.

And, for anyone who had ever wanted to see the strange and wonderful for sale to eat you could always take a wander down, actually it’s more like your push you way through, Wangfujing Dajie. Everything from starfish, seahorse, bugs and live scorpions all on a stick as a tasty snack!

But ultimately my absolute favourite hutongs were the quite peaceful ones you stumbled on by accident.

Watch out for my next post coming soon – The Great Wall of China, A Photographic Journey

 

Practical Information

I stayed at Peking Yard Hostel. A quiet, peaceful oasis to escape the crowds, heat and general crazy of Beijing. The staff are wonderful, friendly and very helpful. They were particularly helpful in booking my train tickets out to Xinjiang, in far western China.

The subway is a great way to get around Beijing. It’s cheap and English signs are everywhere making it extremely easy to use.

Hiring a bicycle is another great way to get around Beijing as it is mostly flat and there are dedicated bike lanes.

To reach Beijing from Shanghai I took the G-class train (ie. the super fast train) it takes five hours and leaves from Shanghai’s Hongqiao Train Station and arrives at Beijing’s South Station. Cost = 553RMB. (NB: always arrive at train stations at least one hour before your train arrives to clear security and to allow for long lines. Large cities such as Shanghai and Beijing also have extremely large train stations which can take some time to navigate).