Drums and grasshoppers

A canal in the heart of the hutongs

The maps of Beijing only show the main streets (not the hutongs) so if you happen to get lost around here, these sure come in handy.

Pipe Street, a "main street" in the hutongs

Yes, that guy is clipping his nails on the street using huge scissors.

A grasshopper in its cage. The thing in orange is a carrot.

Mr. Sha poses for the photograph while showing us a scale for crickets

Jenn, Julie and I at the top of the drum tower stairs

A detail of the hutongs from the top of the drum tower. Since they're located right in the center of Beijing, a lot of the old houses are being demolished to give way to modern buildings.

Jenn watching the drum players

This is a clepsydra and that's how they used to tell when it was time to play the drums.

The hutong roofs seen from above

The bell tower

On the go

The following are some pictures Steve took - except for the first one, of course - during the trishaw tour of the Hutongs, while I was doing the video. They're just quick snapshots of places and people we passed. Next time: the photos we took while on foot and how to catch a cricket.

An older world amid Beijing’s skyscrapers

One of the experiences no one should miss in Beijing is taking a trishaw tour of the Hutongs. Hutongs are literally small streets, alleys, but can mean the older neighborhoods of Beijing as a whole. While the modern Beijing is all about big roads and giant glass skyscrapers, the Hutongs still manage to co-exist side by side with them (until they’re turned into luxury condos too.) It’s a world of small, one-floor houses and impossibly narrow streets where people still ride bicycles, play mahjong and hang their clothes outside.

We met Maggie, our Hutong guide, by the Drum and Bell towers and she led us through the alleys to a canal inhabited by mandarin ducks and surrounded by restaurants and bars. Then we ventured some of the main streets, slightly wider than most and filled with all sorts of specialty stores, some hip, some traditional. Finally, we visited a family that kept grasshoppers and fighting crickets and then our trishaws brought us back to the Drum tower, so we could watch the 4 o’clock show.

Tian Tan (the Temple of Heaven)

The firewood stove, located near the main altar. Around it there are several big pots which contained the victims, err... sacrifices.

The Earthly Mount, or Altar of Heaven, comprised of three marble levels, is where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather. The center stone on the top level is supposed to be sacred.

Looking at the entrance from the altar.

The gate at the Echo Wall. It's a round wall with only one opening and it is said that one person on one end can hear a person on the other end due to echo. It doesn't work with crowds, though.The Echo Wall surrounds the House of Heavenly Lord and a few other buildings. On the right, our guide Eric.

The House of Heavenly Lord

A side pavilion inside the Echo Wall

A detail of the stone carvings in the middle of the stairs. There are similar stones on the stairs of the Forbidden City.

On our way to the last building. It was so windy, that earth was getting in our eyes and mouth.

The magnificent Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is the main and last building in the compound. It's such a shame the weather was bad!

A detail of the roof

Steve in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Visitors aren't allowed inside.

Yonghe Gong (Lama Temple)

A lion on each side of an entrance is a very popular feature in the Forbidden City and there is a couple here too, at the Lama temple. Even though they both have manes, this one is a female. You can tell them apart because the female is holding down a cub (and the male, a ball.)

The protector of the Buddhist scriptures

An incense burner

This statue symbolizes the center of the world. At the bottom is hell, in the middle the dwellings of the humans and at the top, paradise. You can throw coins and, if you hit it paradise, you might make it there (we failed.)

The Buddha of the present

Incense burning in one of the courtyards

An altar to a weather god

The lower leg -- this is all we could get of the 18-meter tall Buddha without stepping in, since photos aren't allowed inside.

Buddhist monks admiring the Tibetan Buddha statue

The sweet smell of incense

Beijing isn’t as a religious city as Bangkok, but it still has a few absolutely must-see temples. We saw the two most famous ones, the Lama Temple and the Temple of Heaven.

The Lama temple is a Tibetan Buddhist temple and monastery housed in what used to be Prince Yong’s palace in the 18^th century. Therefore, its architecture is more similar to that of the Forbidden City than of a Chinese Buddhist temple. It does, however, contain Tibetan artwork and decorations. One of its highlights is an 18-meter tall statue of the Buddha (covered in gold, in case you were wondering), carved of a single piece if wood. For this reason, it’s included in the Guinness Book of Records.

The Temple of Heaven is a Taoist temple, but it wasn’t a public temple. It was the place where the imperial family prayed and hosted its private ceremonies. Like in the case of the Lama Temple, its architecture is unusual, with its round buildings and walls and three-tiered stone altar (the round shape is evocative of Heaven itself.) A long time ago, there were sacrifices being made in the temple. You can still see the cauldrons where they burned animals (and sometimes children.) Nowadays the big park around the temple is used for the practice of Tai-Chi. The afternoon we visited this temple it was raining and windy and while it didn’t affect the visit itself – apart from some dust in the eyes – it was impossible to recreate those amazing pictures of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests framed against a blue sky.

The Summer Palace in pictures

A first view of Kunming lake, with the Tower of of Buddhist fragrance and the great pagoda in the background.

A building in the administrative area

Yiyun Hall's facade. The tourists aren't allowed inside, so we must peer through the windows.

The living quarters of the last empress-dowager, in Yiyun Hall.

Bronze statues in the Hall of Happiness and Longevity (the empress Cixi's quarters)

A view of the gardens

Kunming Lake with the Seventeen-Arch Bridge.

It must be quite a view from up there. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go there. But you can see it here.

The gateway to the boathouses

The marble boat and other buildings in the palace were built by the empress Cixi with money that was to be invested on a new navy.

The gate-tower of Cloud-Retaining Eaves

Steve and the girls on one of the bridges

The Ultimate Vacation Home

On the second way our guide drove us to the Summer Palace, where the emperor and his family (consisting of the empress, his concubines and the eunuchs) would retire to during the summer, to escape the oppressive Beijing heat. Nowadays the imperial family has been replaced by masses of tourists who want to see how the emperor lived and perhaps escape the heat themselves.

The summer palace is like a park, and most of the area is occupied by a giant man-made lake. Around it there are several gardens, temples and the buildings that housed the family. It feels a lot like a maze, especially when you don't have a whole lot of time to explore every building. Of course, we did have time to get ripped off again, when we bought some paintings.

Bubbles + Tea

The Olympic stadium is truly amazing.

The bubbly swim center

A typical highway in Beijing. On weekdays, the traffic is terrible, due to the exponential increase in the number of cars lately. You can see the modern buildings coming up.

I've seen parrots and even crows talk, but I'd never heard a bird say "Nihao" before.

The courtyard of the teahouse

This is flower tea. It comes in those little balls on the right. When hot water is poured over them, they open up to reveal different flowers. It's decorative and drinkable too.