Antique Market and Hutong

Our last day in China was our free day. We didn't have much of a plan, but we started out at an Antique Market (or Flea Market) fairly well known in the area. There were over 3,000 vendors, but very few tourists.

Alison was able to get the lamps she wanted.

There was a lot of bargaining back and forth between the Alison and the vendor, but no hard feelings:).

There was stuff everywhere! And because it was all Chinese stuff, we found it all pretty fun. I'm sure if we had been at a gigantic flea market in the States, it wouldn't have seemed near as interesting.

I got a little bit of a flute-playing lesson from one of the vendors. Of course, then I had to buy a flute. But it's China; everything is cheap in China:).

There was so much to see, we spent all morning in the market.

Outside of the market, there were rows of bikes and bicycle trailers. This was apparently how many of the vendors got their goods to market. Bikes are still a very common method of transportation in Beijing.

For lunch we went to a restaurant in one of the nearby Hutongs. A hutong is a fairly traditional-style neighborhood with courtyard style houses connected by very narrow streets and alleys. They are disappearing from Beijing at a fairly high rate, as the government clears them out in favor of buildings and parks that would improve Beijing's "image".

Our first day in Beijing, we went on a rickshaw tour of one of the local Hutongs.

For our final day in Beijing, we went to a restaurant in a different Hutong, near the Forbidden City.

It was pretty tucked away, but we found it after a few minutes of walking.

We got there a little after lunchtime and had the whole restaurant to ourselves. It was charming.

The food was Szechwan style, and it was delicious! We must have had about 15 different dishes by the time the meal was over.

Unfortunately, it was a lot more expensive than our outdated Beijing book had suggested. So we didn't exactly have enough yuan for cab fare home. Between the three of us, we had 14 yuan. It had taken us 15 yuan to get from our hotel to the restaurant.

We figured we could walk 1 yuan worth, then catch a cab.

First we had to explore the Hutong. Some of my favorite Beijing pictures are from the afternoon we spent here.

Then we started walking.

But it was such a beautiful walk, we ended up walking the rest of the afternoon.

We walked by the Forbidden City.

We followed the moat that surrounded the ancient city.

The sun was setting as we reached Tian an Men Square. And we ended our trip right back where we had started, four days earlier.