Beijing - Temple of Heaven & the Hutong

Oct.30

The Temple of Heaven was our first stop this morning. This temple is the official tourist symbol for Beijing. Because it was Saturday, there were even more Chinese swarming through the park, doing all sorts of activities like dancing, tai chi, hacky sack with a shuttle cock, badminton, etc. The interiors of most of the important old buildings we’ve seen on this trip can be viewed but not entered and this temple was no exception.

From the Temple we drove to a pharmacy school – at least I think that’s what it was - and had welcomed foot massages. We also had consultations about our general health and how Chinese medicine – aka holistic medicine – could help us. This might have been another tourist scam, but they did a good job of selling it and their herbal remedies.

Finally, we got our Peking duck meal. This one rates at the top of all eating experiences up to this point. Many other dishes accompanied the duck, but the presentation of the duck itself was impressive. The chef entered with his whole duck and proceeded to carve small slices from the bird until it was down to the carcass. Then we ate the duck in an unusual but fabulous method. We laid out a small crepe on our plates, topped it with slices of duck, added slices of bamboo and topped it with a sweet sauce. Then we wrapped up the crepe and ate it like a fajita. The duck had been cooked over wood fire, where fruit trees were the choice of firewood, therefore the duck had a woody/fruity taste. It was outstanding!

From here we took a walk down a recently – done for the Olympics I’m guessing - renovated walking street not far from Tiananmen Square. It was a popular walking area with many beautifully restored buildings and parallel narrow shopping alleys.


Our last tour for Beijing involved driving through the Hutong area, which consists of 400 year-old gray brick homes which originally were intended for people connected to and/or working for the emperors.


This drive was in the back of a pedicab, which was fun. Along our route, we visited the interior of a Hutong home and sat with the owner who talked to us through our guide about his life in this area. There is a lot of reconstruction going on and despite its somewhat squalid character, this area is actually quite sought after and even though one cannot own property in China, the houses are worth millions.


We finished off in the adjacent bar area of Beijing. On a Saturday night, this place was happening! By this time we’d left our guide, so a small group of us stopped for a drink before heading back to the hotel.

We took a cab to the hotel and because we were on our own tonight for dinner, we chose to also eat at the hotel. Then it was early to bed, since we were leaving the hotel for the airport at 5:00 tomorrow.