Today we leave Beijing, but not until a hutong tour by rickshaw. A hutong is a narrow street. At first glance, this looks like the poor part of town, especially after seeing so many diverse skyscrapers. The buildings are only 1-2 stories tall. There are no flashing neon lights. This is a small preserved part of old Beijing.
It is raining at the start of the tour, and I wonder if the man carting Sky and I around on his tricycle-powered cart would rather be doing something else this morning. I am grateful to be doing this rather than another tourist market.
Our hutong guide is a young woman named Candy. From her we learn that a single residence in this area sells for 5 billion ($1 billion US). The courtyard of the first place we visit is very beautiful but simply decorated. We eat lunch at a second residence (real REAL Chinese food, two steps removed from Canadian Chinese food, and one step from restaurant food, and delicious). Lunch for our group and a second group upstairs was provided by the woman of the house, whose name sounded like Maurine to my ears. Candy informs us that there are only two residences in the hutong area that provide this experience, and that there is strong competition to be this kind of host.
After the tour, we head to the airport, 2 hours early to catch a 2 hour flight. The flight is delayed one extra hour due to heavy rains. Then another. Then a couple more.
We arrived in Zhuzhou, our destination, around 3 in the morning, so what happens next is another day and so, another post.
-Paul Stinson
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