I spent the second day around Tiananmen Square and Hutong.
[1] The cafe menu at Tiananmen (which actually shouldn't be photoed) [2] One of the antique clocks at the Clock Museum
[3] The walk at Tiananmen [4] Locals playing chess at one of the houses in Hutong [5] Chocolate ice-cream I got from my guide before we rode the rickshaw [6] Collection of refrigerator magnets at local tourist shop [7] Fruit seller at the street
[8] Chinese Sprite. I'm not racist. [9] Sliced melon at the street. I't's melon right? Or it isn't?
As always, because of the heavy pictures.
We had breakfast at hotel, and then we went to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. And took a photo in front of the famous Mao Zedong. We rent a wheelchair and its pusher for ¥300 or yeah, it's about half a million rupiah in Indonesian. Such a price. But then the wheelchair pusher was a very powerful pusher because when we began walking he'd already been on the other side of building :p
So yeah we took a lot of photos... Oh and that building in the top of the hill is the temple, our guide told us. But it required a lot of walking (it's a hill!) and we'd be exhausted, kinda. So after spending a morning in Tiananmen, we went having lunch.
Fyi, in Beijing, you don't cross the road by crossing on it. They have a underground tunnel that connects one way to another, also connects to the underground train and that kind of things. I think it's a great way to avoid unwanted accident (between pedestrians and vehicles) and also a very clever idea to keep every public transportation close to the heart of the citizen.
We had lunch in this Middle-Asian themed restaurant. Actually I forgot about what kind of food it was, like maybe Turkish or something, but it has lamb and spiced fried rice. For the first time in Beijing, the food is eaten by spoon, fork and knife and not chopstick! The restaurant has a nice decoration, and I think it was somehow connected to a hotel. The toilet has wooden door with colored glasses, which was pretty amazing... okay why do I even need to mention that.
And then we went to Hutong! Yeah basically Hutong is a term for a village with traditional view... like it's untouched by technology. The houses are traditional, and we rode rickshaw there, which was cool, because the rickshaw driver (puller? driver?) was handsome. No, not the one in this picture. It's my dad. I took a picture with him but I think I should keep it personal haha.
I think Hutong actually means a type of narrow streets or alley, but it's commonly associated with Beijing's hutong (from here). Anyway we also entered some locals' houses, and actually the environment felt somekind familiar... It's like entering Indonesian village alleys, but this in China and with Chinese architecture and people. The locals welcomed us as they sat together and played chess. Some rooms are available for rent. Hutong is a really nice place to visit.
Oh ya they there's also a part of Hutong that look like Pantai Jimbaran in Bali (They have pubs and restaurant facing the lake) but since we visited in the afternoon, the restaurants and pubs haven't opened yet. Also, people can actually ride boat and that kind of thing in the lake... but we didn't. Just not in our itinerary I guess. :/
Anyway I captured a lot pictures of Hutong (also testing my phone camera actually... which has a pretty amazing focus) and off that much I took some and put it here. See, in the third photo, it's our guide with his backpack. After getting back to Indonesia sometimes I would think about how funny our guide's Indonesian pronunciation was... and I kinda remember all his accent too. Such a time. When I asked him about a building, he would answer (in Indonesian) like this, "Umm ini adalah suatu gedung... umm gedung besar ya umm, ada banyak orang terkenal umm datang kesitu dan... umm-" He said so much umm because he's still learning Indonesian, too.
Oh right have I said anything about electric bike? In Beijing it's rare to see motorcycle I think... People usually ride bike or electric bike (like in the middle picture).
Finally we had dinner in (which according to our guide is) the best Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing. And guess what? The. Duck. Was. Uh-maz-ing.
It's the only picture I didn't edit because it would ruin the foods' greatness here. Just look at my Opa's face looking at the food. Priceless, right? In my four-days stay in Beijing, this dinner is the only dinner we finished our food. And the duck... Oh the duck... Needless to say it's the best Peking duck I've ever had.
Unlike Peking Duck in Indonesia, their duck has a perfect crispy skin but tender and juicy meat. We eat the duck by putting the duck and some scallion to a pancake, then we dip in on hoisin sauce. Super gorgeous. Peking ducks in Indonesia contain too much fat... The skin isn't crispy but oily and fatty, and it has minimum amount of meat... Just a rip-off. Even in big restaurants. Sigh.
After dinner we crossed the road because my dad saw a fruit stall. My dad loooves fruits fyi. I think my dad made friend with the fruit seller because then he gave us so many fruits (we already bought many though) and he let me taste some strange fruit I've never known? Like in the middle picture, I think this fruit didn't grow in Indonesia.
We went to the nearest supermarket and bought some water and beer (and then I mixed the beer and some fruity drinks... Went better then I expected. Beer and grape juice tasted best, I think).
Ending this post with some peaches that look adorably like baby's butt... Okay shouldn't say that.
