Asian Adventure: Beijing - Hutong Tour via Rickshaw, Tea Tasting, Flying to Xi’an

Asian Adventure: Roof of the World Tour Overview
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific B777-300ER Business Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: The Cabin at HKG
Asian Adventure: Cathay Dragon A330-300 Business Class Hong Kong to Beijing
Asian Adventure: Regent Beijing Hotel
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Dongcheng District
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Great Wall
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Run-ze Jade Garden
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Legend of Kung Fu
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Tiananmen Square
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Forbidden City
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Hutong Tour via Rickshaw, Tea Tasting, Flying to Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Hotel Shangri-La Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Qing Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show
Asian Adventure: Xi’an Wrap-Up, Flying to Lhasa, Lhasa Home Visit
Asian Adventure: Shangri-La Hotel Lhasa
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Market
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Canggu Nunnery and Sera Monastery
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Potala Palace
Asian Adventure: Leaving Lhasa and Flying to Chongqing
Asian Adventure: Viking Emerald
Asian Adventure: Shibaozhai Temple
Asian Adventure: Cruising the Three Gorges
Asian Adventure: Three Gorges Dam
Asian Adventure: Jingzhou City Walls Tour
Asian Adventure: Wuhan - Hubei Bells Performance and Provincial Museum
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Shanghai Museum
Asian Adventure: Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Old Shanghai and Yuyan Gardens
Asian Adventure: The New Otani Tokyo Hotel
Asian Adventure: Tokyo - City Tour
Asian Adventure: Mt. Fuji and Hakone Tour Returning by Shinkansen
Asian Adventure: ANA Suites Lounge Review, Tokyo Narita
Asian Adventure: All Nippon Airways B777-300ER First Class Tokyo Narita to Houston

Our last day in Beijing and it was gorgeous.  Where had all this lovely sun been the last three days?!  It was a little cooler but we were glad to exchange a few degrees on the thermometer for the sunshine.

Since our flight to Xi'an was not until the afternoon, we had time for one last set of activities.  While the Roof of the World tour can be taken in either direction, if you choose the Shanghai-to-Beijing routing you do not get to do this activity - and there's no price cut - so that was one reason we chose the Beijing-to-Shanghai direction.

Hutong Tour

A hutong (hoo-tong) is a traditional neighborhood where several courtyard residences were joined together to form a group. These are generally one-story homes with narrow alleys to separate one home from another. The first hutongs were established back in the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. There may be communal bath houses for several homes.

Rickshaws lined up and ready to go!

We were driven around the hutongs via bicycle-powered rickshaw (or pedicabs) which was a nice quiet way to tour the older parts of this very modern city.

As recently as the mid-20th century hutongs were being destroyed to make way for new roads and buildings.  But since that time folks have come to realize their historical significance and these are now prized (and pricey) and protected as a symbol of the communal ways.

This tour gave us a look into real people's everyday lives.  We saw laundry hanging on the line, bicycles left outside instead of put away - just like you might see in any number of other countries, including the US.

Touring the back alleys of the hutong. The wooden covers to the car wheels helps protect them from dog pee!

Touring the hutong

Laundry? Check!  Bicycle?  Check!

Touring the hutong

Viking had arranged at stop at one lady's home and she served us all jasmine tea.  We had a local hutong guide who served as an interpreter while the lady talked about life in the hutong and how long she'd lived in the house.  She was retired now but her niece, an inside painter, lived with her.  Having never heard the term before I thought an inside painter was someone who painted the inside of houses and buildings but I was very wrong.  An inside painter actually paints inside bottles and vases.  The designs were amazing and quite intricate.  This is a profession that is quite prestigious and takes a number of years' worth of study to perfect.  The niece had been one of several painters featured in a magazine that they passed around for us to look at.  Here is some of her work.

Inside painting

The rickshaw tour ended at a local park near a senior citizens' home.  There were a number of tables available and we noticed another situation that could have happened anywhere in the world: tables were set up for playing chess.  The women were at one table and the men at another.  The women were all talking and not playing chess; the men were playing chess and not talking.  Some things are universal!

Talking, not playing chess

Playing chess, not talking

Drum and Bell Towers

Near the park were these two large towers.  Their original versions date to the 1270s during the reign of Kubla Khan.  In 1420 they were reconstructed in this location and significant renovations took place in the early 1800s.  In the 1980s they were opened to tourists after a great deal of repair work.

The Drum Tower

The Bell Tower

Flowers in front of the Bell Tower

In between the two towers was a paved area and here we were entertained by this man who was known for his ability with this small, feathered toy.  His skills were a bit like hackey-sack, kicking it with his feet both in front of him and then over his shoulder only to kick back in front.  The toy looks a little like a badminton shuttlecock except that instead of a rubberized nose, the heavier end is a small weighted disk which lies flat and then a few feathers sticking straight up out of it.  His skills were quite evident because we were each given one of these toys but when we tried to just keep it bouncing in front of us we all became extremely uncoordinated.  Good thing we weren't afraid to laugh at ourselves or our group!

I am NOT this coordinated!

Tea Tasting

Inside the Bell Tower is a tea shop.  We all went into a back room and were guided through a testing session by a young woman who spoke fantastic English.  I even asked if she had studied in the US but she had not.

Each of us was given two small dishes: a taller one where the tea would be poured and then we'd pour that into the smaller dish with the wider opening that looked like a small bowl.

Though we tasted five different types of tea I forgot to take photos of one of them so you'll just have to make do with these.  The first was jasmine, like we'd had earlier in the hutong.  It has a light yellow-green appearance and is readily available all over the city.  It's not a favorite of mine but lots of folks like it.

Jasmine Green Tea

The second tea was a darker yellow and was called Emperor's tea.  It's Oolong tea with ginseng leaves.

Emperor's Tea

Next was a decaf fermented tea that I forgot to photograph.  It was said to have herbal/medicinal uses.  The fourth tea was more gold than the others and was made from Lychee and Rose Hips.

Lychee and Rose Hips Tea

A dessert tea rounded out our tasting.  It's good for summer and is called Fruit and Flower tea.  It was noticeably sweeter than the others and its red color was a clue it would have a different taste from the others we'd tried.

Fruit and Flower Tea

Flying to Xi'an

When we'd left the hotel, we only had to set our luggage out in the hallway and it magically was taken downstairs for us.  The luggage elves then took our bags to the airport and got them checked for us.  I could get used to this!

The airport was pretty warm and I was glad we weren't there in the heat of the summer as I suspect it would have been very warm.  I've read that due to the energy consumption in the country, public buildings (including airports) below a certain latitude are not equipped with heating, which can make for very cool buildings indeed when an area dips below their norm in the winters.  I don't know if the same is true for air conditioning above that latitude or not but it's something I've wondered about.

After being spoiled by flying business class to China, we were given a reality check by flying an all-economy flight to Xi'an.  At least it was an A320 and not a regional jet!  Even though the flight was only 1.5 hours long, we were still served a hot meal that was pretty good.  Amazing how other countries can manage to do this but the US cannot.  On the other hand, US airlines don't require virginity checks, permission to have children or require flight attendants to quit at age 35 so there are trade-offs I guess.

We arrived on time and all we had to do was point at our bags on the belt and the luggage elves took care of them for us.