We toured the Hutongs (old Beijing) on the other half of our free day. This was probably the most interesting – even more so than the temples and palaces. It provided a stark contrast to how the royalty lived and breathed. The hutongs were little more than shacks at times. Others, modest homes at best. We tried walking them at first, but it was just too damn big. We never would have walked down some of the lanes our rickshaw driver took us – just too scary looking. Many of the places only had public baths – no water in the homes? Even scarier. We saw people washing themselves in the streets. It made us thankful to have a roof over our head and hot and cold running water. At the end of the hutong tour, we stopped at the Bell Tower, a large 17th century structure with, as you can imagine, a big-ass bell. It started to rain afterward, so we canceled the tour of the adjacent Drum tower (I can imagine a big-ass drum well enough), although we did get a nice view of the hutongs from above.

Without our guide, getting around in Beijing was a real pain in the ass. We had a card from the hotel with the address and map to it, both in English and Chinese, but we must have hailed a half dozen cabbies before we found one who knew the way. I’ve never been in a city where so many cab drivers didn’t have a clue as to where to go – even with a map, an address and phone number – and they all had hand phones. I figure they were either lazy, illiterate or both. When we did find a cab driver who agreed to take us back to our hotel, we got only a few miles. He stalled his car at a light and could not get it started again. He found another cabbie for us and we were on our way again. We weren’t even that far (15 minutes) from our original location. It wasn’t just us, either; several others in our tour group had similar experiences for their free day. Beware, travelers to Beijing – bring a translator, a guide or your own damn vehicle. The Olympics should be fun for lots of people next year who attempt this.

The next section of the video is the park surrounding the Temple of Heaven. Hundreds of people were there early in the morning performing various exercises, dances, sports and other activities. Our guide said it was a way to reconnect with people – so many live in crowded condos and apartments they’ve lost the sense of community that the older villages provided. It was interesting to see so many older folks working out. It gave us a real sense of Beijing and its people.

I may pull together a few more photos and videos for another post, but this might be it for a spell. We visited several arts and crafts factories (don’t you ever wonder where all those “Made in China” products come from?) and I’ve got some nice pictures of sweat shops. Making these videos takes time, although I enjoy doing it. I hope you enjoy watching them.