Hutongs of Beijing

We awoke early for our departure from Xi’an. Like Lijiang, we enjoyed this city and left reluctantly for Beijing. We had put our checked bags out the night before so it did not take long to check out of the Wyndham Grand Xi’an South. We boarded the bus to the airport where we would fly to Beijing. The flight was delayed nearly an hour so we ate the boxed lunch packed for us by the Tang Café at the Wyndham. There was a club sandwich, fruit and dried peas that are very popular in China. Once we took off the flight was rough but uneventful getting us to Beijing by about 2 pm. Porters collected our checked bags for delivery to the Beijing Ritz Carlton Financial Street where we would be spending the next three nights.

Rickshaw ride through Hutongs of Beijing

From the airport we took the bus directly to inner city Beijing where we took a ride in a rickshaw or petite-taxi. These bicycles are outfitted with two wheels and a covered cab behind the driver. We rode the rickshaws through the Hutongs of Beijing. A Hutong is basically a community on a city alley. The word Hutong is Mongolian that translates literally to well since these collections of homes originally formed around a shared water well.  These are collections of homes of working class people. Each home is typically composed of 3-4 buildings surrounding a small courtyard. These buildings may house an extended family. The government typically owns that buildings and charges rent to residents. Many homes in the hutongs now have running water. However, there are community toilets that serve a number of homes along the narrow streets.

The rickshaw took us to a home of a single retired lady who has lived in her home in the hutong her entire life. Her parents lived in the hutong at one time but she now shares the space with her sister and niece. She served tea to us and told us a lot about daily life in the hutong. She began hosting tours of her tiny home in 2008 during the Beijing Olympics. At that time Leonardo DeCaprio and Michael Phelps visited her home.

Mary with glass balls that were painted on the inside

She introduced her niece who is an accomplished artist who has been featured in recent local magazines. Her specialty is painting on the inside of bottles. She uses specially angled tiny paint brushes to paint scenes and Chinese characters into the glass bottles. We bought ornaments that were hand painted on the inside of the glass from the artist. We will give these to Sarah and Emily’s families as gifts from our trip.

Historic Ming Bell Tower

We reboarded the rickshaws to go to Beijing’s bell tower where a bell was rung at 5 am when the city gates were opened. Another nearby tower beat at drum at 7 pm when the gates were closed. By the time we arrived at the tower there was a heavy rain so we were happy to go inside to escape the weather. The bell tower is an interesting and attractive building that was constructed in the 1200s during the reign of Kublai Kahn. 

In bell tower we were treated to a tea tasting. Our host gave us small cups of a variety of oolong, pu-er, green and fruit teas. The hostess spoke English fairly well and had a good sense of humor. She shared what Chinese folk medicine holds that each type of tea does for the body. We smelled each of the dried tea leaves and tasted each of them as brewed teas.

Sampling tea at a tea room in the Ming Bell Tower

Our bus picked us up outside the bell tower and took us to dinner then to the Beijing Ritz Carlton. This five star hotel is very elegant but a bit dated. Our 12th floor rooms were clean, comfortable and quiet which is everything we expect in a hotel. The bathroom wasn’t as fully appointed as the ones in some of our previous stays but was still extremely nice.