The apparent dearth of serious information in our posts may lead you to believe we aren't up to much. This is true. However, that does not mean that we will, any time soon, run out of things about which to post. The following is an example.
As we've mentioned many a time before, we live in a hutong (traditional Beijing alley/sidestreet) within the downtown area. As a "traditional" area, our neighborhood attracts quite a few tourists racing through on pedicabs or tramping about awkwardly with backpacks and dreadlocks. In response to this abundance of foreign interest, one hutong perpendicular to our own, named Nan Luo Gu Xiang, has become a trendy hangout filled with bars, coffee shops, restaurants, massage parlors, souvenir shops, etc. We have documented this street before in our August 9th post, "More Crazy Capers."
Seemingly unrelatedly (although unexpectedly related), Lisa and I peruse the New York Times every couple days in order to keep abreast of current events. While looking through the Travel section, and particularly the Beijing archives, we stumbled across this article: Back-Street Beijing. The article reports on our very own Nan Luo Gu Xiang, and even the Muslim/chuar restaurant we go to once every 2-3 days! We went to this place again last night and took pictures, so we will do a bit of our own reporting soon enough.
In other news, we've been buying cheap (5 kuai, or about 60 cents US) DVDs and watching them late at night. Last night's special was the Simpsons movie. Also, we went to a wonderfully creepy Daoist ("Taoist" by the old romanization system) temple called the Dongyue Temple, which features rooms of statues depicting various possible afterlives. We will certainly post on this in the next few days.
So fear not, gentle readers! Our cup runneth over with the ruddy ale of day-to-day life in the fastest-changing city in the world!
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3 comments:
One item disturbed me in your post. Buying cheap DVD's may seem like a great deal, but it supports people who have stolen these from their American producers. China has built up its industry to a great extent by stealing American (and other) intellectual property, rather than buying licenses. This hurts the writers, actors, artists, musicians, engineers and scientists (hence my sensitivity) who produce these items.
I will be interested in what other items you will encounter that have been ripped off from the West - fake Rolex's, knock-off Levi's, etc.
The NY Times article says your neighboring hutong is 700 years old. Do you know how old yours is? Does the kitchen have modern appliances?I noticed that it is across the alley from the rest of the apt. Do you share the bathroom with a number of other families? How many families? Is there a central courtyard shared by multiple families? Have you gotten to know any of your neighbors?
Tom, it does sound like you guys have a great location.
I just remembered the time when I beat you in that jiaozi eating contest. HA HA HA HA. Take that!
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