We came across The Hutong earlier in the month when we attended a Christmas event at The International Canadian School of Beijing. They had a stand showcasing some of their events and we picked up a schedule for the month. We’d already attended the Tai Chi class a week ago and booked ourselves onto a Chinese vegetarian cooking class too. Our teachers were Sophie from The Hutong who translated for the main chef; a lady from Inner Mongolia. The food we were taught was from the North that you wouldn’t really get in Beijing unless you were cooking it yourself.

On the menu we had:

Vegetable Kung Po with tofu.
Egg & tomatoe with green peppers,
& mushroom and celery stir fry.

We learned how to use the blocky knives that everyone cooks with over here, the head chef was pretty strict when it came to “The” way to chop carrots, tofu and the like. With the Kung Po dish everything was meant to be the same size so that the cooking time is equal. Some of us were spot on with this…whilst others perhaps a little more experimental!!

When it came to cooking there was a hell of a lot of deep frying going on- eek! Especially with the first two dishes. The tofu was cooked first and then put aside whilst the remaining ingredients were cooked, it then rejoined the dish towards the end with the seasoning. The egg and tomato dish is a classic Chinese meal and this was Dave’s chance to shine! He seasoned the dish very well with more pepper, chili and green peppers! We actually preferred this to the one that was cooked earlier on!! Helen had a go at the mushroom and celery dish, which was more like stirring the wok ingredients whilst the chef adds what’s required!

We didn’t get to do much hands on cooking however we really enjoyed the class and eating the food afterwards. There was a great rice dish which we took down the recipe for, although didn’t actually cook as it was ready to eat with the food. Sophie who works there is a lovely lady too! She had great knowledge about the foods we were cooking and info about why dark mushrooms are good for you in the winter.

After the cooking class we walked to the Drum and Bell Towers. They’re based not to far away from Nanluoguxiang and so we knew where we could go to warm up as it was foggy and bloody cold! The views across the city were limited but it always adds an atmospheric feel to the photos when it’s like that. We reached the towers in time for their drum performance, this too is impressive and a nice change from the norm. It was too cold to stay for very long but we lasted until the end of the performance before heading for some hot tea down the road.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We arranged to meet Jen who we’d met on the hike at the weekend at midday outside the ticket office area of the Aquatics centre in the Olympic park. It was a really foggy/polluted day so we didn’t have great weather for photographing the Birds Nest and the Water cube, but it’s still a worth while thing to do if you have time in the city. The Birds Nest is an amazing structure and certainly draws in the sightseers for a spot of photo time. We spent around half an hour or so walking around the site before making our way to the ticket area for the Water Cube. We had planned to do a swim with Jen in the Olympic pool but when you start enquiring about tickets it goes a little like this: Entrance only: 50 RMB. Swim in training pool: 70 RMB. Water park: 200 RMB.

So if you want to swim it’s for 2.5 hours only, and it’s not the Olympic pool itself it is the warm up pool. The water park is unlimited in one entry so you can spend the whole day there but you can’t use the same ticket if you want to swim. So our dilemma was should we swim…in a cold pool, buy goggles (which takes it up to around 200RMB) and only have two hours or so? Or should we have a really good laugh, go on the slides, wavepool, yes it’s over our budget but we thought we would have loads of fun! So what did we do? Well of course we wanted to have fun, and we managed to persuade Jen to do the same. It’s an interesting experience being in the water park area, it’s not quite warm enough for you to feel fully comfortable in your swim suit and many of the locals don’t really like swimming, so you tend to see people in lifejackets a lot. The slides weren’t being used so we soon started getting ourselves onto the slides and Dave went for the scariest looking one first. A slide that both Helen and Jen thought they wouldn’t end up doing!

It has a vertical drop of around 40 foot, loops around and then splashes you out at the bottom. A capsule at the top of the slide holds you in place and a countdown begins. “3, 2, 1″ and the trap door opens and away you go. Pretty scary stuff but a real thrill. Helen and Jen were unsure and took some gentle persuading but eventually they climbed the stairs and took the plunge. Both loving it, Jen even went twice! Another favourite was The Tornado which places you in a large rubber ring two persons at a time and sends you thundering into a big bowl, lots and lots of screams and laughs by everyone.

After spending a good few hours inside the water park we headed off for some food before our Tai-Chi beginners class. We stopped by at Grandma’s Kitchen and to our dismay we realised that it was Western/American food, ooops, although Jen felt very at home and we enjoyed some American grub. After a meander through the local Hutong we headed to “The Hutong” cultural centre and began our lesson in the art of Tai-Chi. This was with Eric who was very keen to educate us about the history and tradition of Tai-Chi and what benefits it can bring to your life. We only practised for around 30 minutes out of the whole hour dedicated to the class so we left feeling a little disappointed and cold. We did go away with a better understanding of the martial art though and all of us are keen to explore it further.

It was time to say goodbye to Jen but we did have plans to meet again for some bargain shopping the following week. We’d had a really fun day and would like to thank Jen for hanging out with us, I think we all felt a little younger and satisfied with our brave efforts of going down the deadly red slide!

The following day we were leaving on an overnight train to Xian so we had planned to catch up on washing, buying some food for our trip and packing.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We wanted to capture some more of Beijing’s famous temple sites and had been recommended to visit the Yongegong Lama Temple along with the Confucius Temple, both located very close to the subway stop on line 2 and not far from the Drum and Bell towers.

The Lama Temple is described as being the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet and houses several shrines, incense burners, pavilions and an 18m high statue of the Maitreya Buddha sculpted from a single block of sandalwood. It’s a very impressive sight and draws people from all around to burn incense and pray to their gods. It’s a busy place to go but during the week it is quieter and nowhere near as crowded as The Forbidden City. The colours of brick work have been maintained to a very high standard and on a bright day it’s a really beautiful place to be. Further south from the Lama Temple and down a tourist Hutong we found the Temple of Confucius. Much quieter than the Lama Temple and a little less looked after this place does have some controversial history surrounding one of Beijing’s most famous writers Lao She. We didn’t really know much about this but have read up on it since. Aside from this though it has some impressive Chinese Classics engraved on huge stone slabs kept in a cold and dark warehouse. It’s quite eery in there and very cold!

After our Temple sightseeing escapade we walked along the streets to an area we’ve grown to love in Nanluoguxiang where we grabbed an okay bite to eat at Passby Bar before making our way back to Xinjeikou on the tube. Just a quick note on the subway over here in Beijing. At times it can take a while for you to get to your final destination due to the lack of lines joining in convenient areas…but it is incredibly cheap and if you don’t mind the masses of locals using the subway you can get anywhere for 2 yuan per person which is around 20p. Sometimes it’s quicker than getting a taxi and it certainly helps for those on a budget.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Having visited the Forbidden City on a previous week we missed Tiananmen Square, so we decided to head that way and have a look. Subway line 1 is always very busy and today did not disappoint however we battled our way through the crowds and made it in one piece. Security is very tight at Tiananmen Square, but if you have nothing to hide you wont have any issues, the obligatory X-Ray scanners are put through their paces in Beijing’s Subway stations and check points. The percentage of plain clothes officers and military wandering around in the crowds would be an interesting fact to find out!

We wandered around the square with the other hundreds of Chinese tourists and felt the very patriotic grasp of China through flags, massive TV screens with more flags and music on loop, stone monoliths, the museum where you can visit Chairman Mao himself (preserved in a glass coffin for all to see) and large socialist “can do / power to the people” statues. We did not go to see Mao but you can still feel the past here in many ways. China is moving forward but relics of the past will be a continuous reminder of a grander/darker side depending on which side you lean towards.

Not too far from the historic and splendor of Tiananmen we went in search of Beijing’s underground city streets. Instead we found the deprived areas of Beijing with falling down Hutongs and streets, a big contrast from where we had come from. The underground city was closed (possibly due to safety concerns) so we headed for a Chinese massage which had been recommended to us. We eventually found the venue and enjoyed a 60 minute session at The Dragonfly Retreat which we both loved. Very low light, serene music and the full body massage were a lethal combination, Helen fell to sleep at one point! All for a bargain price of £15 each.

Within walking distance is the more commercial street Wangfujing. Here you have department stores and old electronics shops that appear to be waiting their doom as construction is happening all around. St Joseph’s Church is a little further up Wangfujing and as we approached there appeared to be some kind of fude going on in the grounds of the church. Like the locals we decided to have a little nosey at what was happening. We saw a bride wrapped up in a man’s coat, whilst her husband to be argued with an official from the church. The police were on the scene and there was some kind of dispute surrounding them having their wedding photos taken on the grounds of the church. They were all still there 15 minutes or so later and the bride and groom did not appear to budge from their request.

We have seen quite a few couples having their wedding photographs taken in Beijing, it’s a common site especially around the 798 area. We heard from a friend that they have their wedding photos done here one year before their wedding day!! So on the surface is the bride dressed in a beautiful dress, hair and make-up styled professionally and underneath is a pair of jeans and trainers with a coat nearby to cover themselves up. The wedding photography industry is booming here apparently! We can see why!

5 minutes further down the street and you find the city’s most famous snack street. Although this is relatively new to the city it is a short strip of several food stalls selling anything from souvenir tat to fried wriggling scorpions and star fish ready to eat, if you so desire. We passed on the offer of a char-grilled chicken fetus on a stick! We decided not to opt for the snack street that day. This really is one for the gallery! Street food in China is a big thing and we have seen people with sticks of fruit coated in sugar happily scoffing down this sweet treat. We purchased this Winter Beijing snack and can see why people love them, they are great, like little soft brambly apples covered in syrup, if you have a sweet tooth you would be hooked!

We headed back to the apartment and cooked up our own evening meal of noodles, vegetables and tofu in a soy sauce.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

As we are staying in a Hutong it makes sense document the way of life here. On the surface many of these alleyways look pre-historic and worn, but we know that inside they may be completely the opposite and often you will see a huge 40 inch TV screen through the window. There is always construction occurring throughout the Hutong area and it seems that the community are the one’s who get behind the backbone of the work. Washing is left to dry on the street and many still don’t have wash/toilet facilities so every 50 meters or so there are public toilets. There is a huge element of trust and respect in the Hutong, children safely play in the streets whilst old women chat on the corner selling oranges or dried fruit. The alleys are always busy and where we are staying we’ve noticed a games room of a night time packed with locals playing the local board game. We’re not sure what they’re doing but it sounds and looks like they’re having loads of fun. You can get good street food and since we’ve settled into out area we often get the nod from our service operators for the apartment block. This is certainly an experience we will never forget.

In contrast to this we have The Village in Sanlitun. If you’re ever feeling homesick as a westerner in Beijing this is the place to go, however it’s very easy to forget that you’re in China at all. The Village is a huge shopping, restaurant and apartment complex with stores ranging from Adidas through to Prada. Although parts of the Village are bustling with expats, at the northern end the designer stores seem to be lost in an architectural maze of glass, lights and space. We walked around one of the malls at 6pm and it was completely empty. We’d been to see the Frank Gehry exhibition, which we enjoyed and Helen enjoyed a new hair cut, afterwards we couldn’t stop ourselves from photographing the empty vast spaces that surround us. It all seems a little eery but also as if everyone is waiting for something to happen. The designer retail market hasn’t quite hit off over here yet but we’re sure that in the next few years Gucci will be frequented more and more as the capital grows.

So tradition and culture versus modern urban living? We don’t think we could live in a Hutong area all year round but it certainly has character, charm and atmosphere. The Village offers comfort but you could be anywhere in the world in a sterile shopping mall with lift music ringing in your ears. We would rather have the crude neon BBQ signs and locals riding around on bikes shouting to collect your rubbish. They are protecting the Hutong around the Forbidden City which is a relief to hear as this is where the history lies and where the real Beijing exists.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Today is the day that we become semi-residents in Beijing, China. We grabbed some breakfast from the Templeside lodge which was very nice, photographed the Hutongs from the upper outdoor deck and chatted to an American guest drinking tea on the terrace. All very pleasant however there was a strong chill in the air, not as warm as Japan!

We were picked up by our host for the next few weeks and driven to the Police station to register. This was as easy as signing a document to confirm that the details were correct. Helen’s parents have friends here in China who are able to help us out with accommodation for our stay in Beijing, and we are very grateful to them for allowing us to be their guests. We climbed the concrete flights of stairs to the 6th floor and into the apartment which is very nice and spacious, I think we have been spoilt again in our travelling journey. We were then invited to go out to dinner with our host, his wife and Frank a colleague who was our translator and they would meet us at 4.30pm.

So after some relaxation time in our new temporary home and some washing in the leaky washing machine, we popped out to the local Wu-Mart to see what was on offer. This place is pretty big and they appear to sell anything and everything at rather cheap prices. It was hot and the trolly was as crappy as the ones at home! We pushed through and bought enough items to stock up the fridge and replenish any depleted stocks from the past few weeks. It does appear that we are in a very local area, I don’t think we saw another western face on our trip out, with lots of stares from the local populace which can become a little unnerving.

It was not long until our host and entourage arrived to escort us around the local area with hints and tips on local places of interest and a guided tour of the farmers market. After a visit to the local lake we headed inside to a restaurant which specialises in hotpot. Hotpot here is not the same as in England, it is a sharing experience that involves a very hot metal bowl in which water boils and you place in your bits of meat and vegetables to cook then scoop out dunk in the nutty sauce and finally chew it down, it was very nice. One thing we have learnt very quickly is that the Chinese people don’t really like you to clear your plate, it’s a sign that you are not full. Loads of food was ordered and we were most definitely stuffed by the end.

Back to our new lodgings we relaxed with the only English speaking TV channel CCTV news, let our food digest and headed to bed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We had over 30 hours to go when we woke up the following morning ready for our complimentary breakfast. Although the food announcements were made in English it seemed that the Chinese announcement was always much earlier, so by the time we arrived at the canteen they were already tucking in and the food left our for us was a little lukewarm. So we decided we would turn up for food 10-15 minutes before the scheduled timings and low and behold the food was always a little hotter and we were there at the same time as everyone else. For breakfast though we shouldn’t have bothered and on the second day Helen opted for porridge that we brought with us, whilst Dave had the left over cereal. We did have a few bowls and spoons with us which helped on the self-catering side. Chinese breakfast on the Yanjing consisted of Chinese porridge which is like a soupy rice and on this occasion flavourless broth, accompanied with some eggs that looked like they’d been boiled weeks ago. The fruit wasn’t free but was a good bonus to this poor meal. It would be good to experience Chinese porridge whilst we stay in China so that we don’t only have this experience to go by.

The only full day we had on the boat saw us catch up on our editing and writing whilst in between doing some more research and reading for China. We would pop out every so often to get some sea air on deck and noticed that the weather was changing. Leaving the calm seas of Japan led us out into some low-visibility conditions where we felt we were literally in the middle of no-where. The temperature up top had also dropped, but it was dry and we could still get outside as the sea was still calm.

We had bought a series of Peep Show, Misfits and The Hangover Movie from i-Tunes before we left Japan, however we didn’t authorise them on the laptop, so when we realised that we wouldn’t be able to watch them on the boat (no internet to authorise) we resorted back to more editing, writing and podcasts we already have. Still we did remember about the table tennis room and after hiring bats and a ping pong ball we had a few games following our own made up rules…Dave won best of 3 but Helen was starting to feel giddy due to the lack of oxygen down that part of the boat (excuses!) we were certainly better than the Chinese guys playing next to us!! Beth and Rick were busy writing but later on we arranged to meet them for another “tasty” Yanjing dinner followed by some more card games. We picked up a few more games for our travels that hopefully we’ll pass on and play with others, especially now Helen has written down the rules.

In between our working and walking around the ship we would photograph parts of the boat as there was always something to document. From the rescue boats, piping, old rope, left chairs, signs and the worn interior to the guests on board playing cards, learning their dance moves and posing for photos on deck. It was worth doing this journey for the content we have captured. A little like being in a Carry on Film at times! The staff who were all dressed in uniform aimlessly pursued jobs that didn’t really exist. We did watch one girl clean the upstairs area over and over again eventually she was tested for the cleanliness of the space, the finger test was complete and she seemed to pass with flying colours. Why they didn’t pay this kind of attention to the wash and toilet areas was beyond us.

On our final day on the boat we looked forward to arriving at the port in Tianjin at around 2pm. Our own supplied breakfast did the trick and we did manage some more editing and writing followed by another walk on deck. It had certainly become our little home for a few days but it was definitely time to leave. We noticed that the Chinese guests were dressed and ready for the arrival many having been in tracksuits and pyjamas for a few days. Bags were already starting to pile up next to the exit door in the lobby area. We still had a fair few hours left though so we weren’t in a rush to pack just yet. We had great pleasure in photographing some ladies practising Tai chi and ballroom dancing upstairs for an hour and they loved the fact that we wanted to photograph them. They all seemed to really enjoy their time on the ferry and the endless episodes of a Chinese soap opera had definitely kept most people enthralled for at least half a day. Apparently they even had it on full blast in the dorms for the entirety of the night, oh how special class did us proud.

Getting closer to the port we traveled through hundreds of anchored trawler, container and fishing boats, it was really surreal traveling through the middle of this and felt a little like no-mans land. The wind up on the very top deck was immense, Helen had to run through it to avoid being blown over. Close to the front was Beth, Rick and JP all enjoying the blast so we joined them in what felt a little like being on a roller coaster; arms in the air facing the sea at the front of the boat, hair standing up on end due to the blast of the wind. It felt amazing and pretty invigorating, Dave snapped away as our mouths were shaped by the wind.

We were ready to leave and the boat eventually got into Tianjin port at around 2.30pm. After we got off the boat we passed through passport control and stepped out to the front of the building only to by hounded by taxi drivers pushing us into their cabs. We travelled with Beth and Rick to the station in Tianjin which is a good 40 minute journey from the port. This was our first experience of Chinese driving and the manic layout of the roads in this area, something I’m sure we will get used to but after a 48 hour boat journey we weren’t quite ready for. We met up with JP at the station and we all boarded the high speed bullet train to Beijing south station together. Arriving at Beijing south we said our goodbyes to our Yanjing travel buddies and decided to get the tube to our stop as it was right on the same line as the train station.

We looked at the underground map and used the ticket machine to select where we wanted to go. It came up as 4 Yuan for two tickets which equals 40p, we were not sure if this was correct as it seemed so cheap! Xisi was our stop on line 4 and the hostel was not too far to walk from here so we jumped on the subway. We were booked into a hostel in the heart of the hutong area and when we eventually found the place in a dimly lit street, we were informed that they could upgrade us to their Templeside lodgings which is their luxury house a few streets away for no extra charge. It sounded like an offer we couldn’t refuse so our host walked us through the streets to Templeside and showed us to our room. Once again we have been spoiled on this trip, the room was huge with a bed twice the size of any standard double. It felt a little like some of the furnishings had been taken from Neverland, especially the fittings in the bathroom. The only downside was the drain smell. Something again I think we will be getting used to during our stay here.

We ordered some great Chinese food that was delivered to the hostel and certainly expelled the taste of any food we had eaten on the boat. We asked the hostel to ring the owner of the apartment we are moving to and we arranged a pick up for the next morning at 10.30am. Time to head to bed for our first nights sleep in Beijing.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)