Today was exhausting. We saw so many things. The first historical site we went to was the Forbidden City. It was so much bigger than what I expected. I thought it was just like one big court yard with a gate at one end and the palace on the other. Instead there was gate after gate, and large court yards accompanied each one. The gates were all very intricately painted, and towards the end there was a large garden that was very crowded. A lot of the people there were taking pictures of our group. We would be standing listening to our tour guide, Joe, and while he was talking a few people would slyly walk past with their phones taking pictures or taking a video. In a way it is kind of funny when this happens, but it gets old pretty quickly. Jane and Liliana would purposefully place themselves in front of their cameras to try and block us from view.
After the Forbidden City we got back on the bus and rode a short distance to the Hutong. A Hutong means ally but in Beijing it is this very old section of the city where people live in traditional housing. Mostly older people live in these homes because there are some older customs that are upheld in this part of the city. For example, there is a curfew I think at 7:00 p.m. After this time, people are not really supposed to come outside, so there is little night life here. These houses are very, very old. To see some of the Hutong, we rode in Rickshaws, which are these tiny carriages attached to the back of a bike. Walking through the streets, you would think the area was very dirty and very poor. But in reality, the people who live in these areas are rich. We had the opportunity to see the inside of one of the houses and the one that we saw was worth about $9 million. What’s even more surprising is that few of the houses in this area had personal bathrooms. Those that live in this section of Beijing must use communal bathrooms that are found on every street. I am just amazed that something can be so old when the country that I live in wasn’t even thought of yet. Although seeing the Forbidden City was very interesting, I liked touring the Hutong much more. The Hutong is a tourist attraction, but it didn’t feel like as much of one as the Forbidden City did. At the Hutong, I felt like I was really seeing a part of older Chinese culture.
Our final stop was the Temple of Heaven, but before we walked up to the temple itself, we had a Taichi class in the park. I’m still not sure if I enjoyed it or not. We were having the class in a very public place, and after a few minutes into the class we had an audience of people watching us and taking pictures. A group of American tourists in the middle of a Chinese park trying to learn Taichi would be something to see.