Day 6 Hutongs, TianAnMen and National Museum
Trip Start
Dec 07, 2011
1
8
13
Trip End
Dec 19, 2011
Beijing, Beijing, China
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Hubby and me heated up the leftovers from dinner - fried rice and diced chicken - for breakfast while the kids were still sleeping. By the time we left the apartment, it was almost 9am+ and the chamberlain is at the door waiting, again ...
Using the DK eyewitness guide, we walked to Wangfujing and started off in search of TaTianShuiJing hutong. It was indeed an eye opener for us, the state of the residences ... We also chanced upon Wangfujing night market and made a note to return that night.
Kids had breakfast at a small local restaurant along NanCiZi Dajie- noodles and red bean porridge with you tiao and veg dumpling. Of course, we helped to finish off :)
We continued walking to Changhepu park where there are a number of heritage old Beijing buildings used as government offices now. We peeped into some of them and saw shan and streams, very picturesque. There were also many local seniors doing morning exercises in the park.
The next hutong we explored was DuanKu hutong where we walked into a private residence that looked like a restaurant with a very huge floor to waist-height tank full of koi fish!!! It was lovely. A guy who looked like he was wearing a uniform told us that we need to leave :)
PuDuSi hutong was the next hutong we walked along. This led us to Mahakala temple where a disposed Qing emperor used to live but that is now used for an art exhibition.
Finally, we reached the East Gate (closed to tourists) of the Forbidden City. Interestingly, there is a buggy cart that provides transport (1 yuan per pax) from the East to South Gate. We took the ride to save the legs. Took more photoes of the exterior of the Forbidden City on such a fine weather before taking the underpass to Tian An Men Square. Again, photo taking before we proceeded to the National Museum of China. Entrance is free to the public and we spent some 2.5 hours exploring the vast exhibitions of Ancient China from 700+BC to Qing dynasty. Tiring but insightful. Oh worth a mention is that the toilet in the Museum is of international standard like back home. The best (except the apartment of coz) in BeijIng thus far!
We made our way to YongHeGong station for our next walking trip of the day. Unfortunately, there was no eatery in sight upon exiting from the station and we had to cover the guided walk through Confusian Temple to An Ding Men Dajie before finding a local restaurant. Kids were starving with a sour look ...
We went to the highlight of the day - NanLuoGuXiang Hutong - a must go for all tourists! It's full of quaint shops similar to Insadong in Seoul. We had an interesting time exploring the shops and making purchases. And we actually found 'Taste' restaurant - voted number 1 on tripadvisor - and 'Passerby Bar' 106 that is a laid back restaurant converted from SiHeYuan. We didn't enter coz we were full.
Another long walk took us to the nearest ZhangZhiZhong station where we took the subway to YongAnLi station for a shopping trip at XiuShui Market - a huge 5-storey bargain mall.
We finished the day by walking through Wangfujing Night Market where we settled our dinner at a small eatery and food from the stalls.
Tomorrow we're taking G1 GaoTie train to Shanghai HongQiao. Spent the night packing our bags.
