Hutong Heat Stroke

To take advantage of it being sunday, this morning we headed out with a Frommer's guide to Beijing and an intention to follow one of the book's suggested walks that was claimed to show us the 'real' life of Beijingers.

As we emerged from the subway, we plunged straight into the little hutong lanes, almost like the ones around where we live --- the only difference is that where we live the alleys are straight, but in this area, it looked like the design was based on a cobweb!

And yes, just a few steps in, we already felt it was one of those places that make you love this city. Imagine being in the middle of this concentration of 15 million (or more!!) people, and having am athmosphere of a small village. No other sound than the wind and the birds, old men sitting on little stools in front of their houses....

(Unfortunately, most of these amazing hutong areas are being torn down all over the city to make way for hidious apartment buildings and other modern monstrosities. It supposedly s a sign of the prosperity and development of the city and the country. Who will tell the people in power that most of us would appreciate the protection of the local culture as a sign of wisdom much more? This picture was taken not far from where we live.)


Having walked for quite a while, and visited some of the marked sites along the way, by around lunchtime we ended up at a Buddhist temple, which according to the guidebook is the 'closest thing you get to a real Buddhist temple in Beijing' ----whatever that is supposed to mean.

But it was real enough for me, another oasis of cool, calm and green in the middle of the city. But in fact, the reason of our going in was not really a spiritual one, on the contrary both me and Fabio were starting to let our stomachs do the thinking. The book said something vague about a vegetarian restaurant, but as there was no such thing to be seen, I asked a passing monk if there was one nearby. After talking for a while and trying to figure out where the nearest one was, the monk simply invited us to have lunch at the temple cantine, together with the monks and the staff of the temple.

And what a beautiful meal of simple veg and rice it was, eating at the long wooden tables with the temple's inhabitants. :) Sitting there, I could feel the kindness in the simple act of inviting us to eat, not to mention the continuous invitations for us to take more, if we wanted.

Although refreshed after the lunch, the walk was soon to get quite uncomfortable. The burning midday sun was at its worst when we emerged from the cool dining hall, and after another 20 minutes of walk, the two of us were starting to feel desperate. Only a drink and sitting down in the cool would help.

But of course, in a city with possibly millions of bars and cafes, when you really need one all you can find are music shops or hardware stores. Step by step the sun was getting hotter and my vision was going blurry. "Let's try just around that corner, there'll surely be something there. No? Just one more corner!"

In the end, it was a taxi home, where the airconditioners and cold drinks from the fridge did the trick. We'll save the rest of the walk for the autumn!!