We Fly to Beijing China Via Tokyo Japan

Allie and I  had a rather eventful trip to Beijing- though we arrived 2 hours early, we had to run to make the plane due to several delays. I had such a time with my luggage since I should have downsized more.
Japan Air has the smallest economy seats I have ever seen but we adjusted over the course of 12 hours. On our layover in Japan, Allie stopped to replace her CD player and purchase duty-free cigarettes as gifts for village leaders and again we had to RUN to make the plane, but we were very pleasantly surprised to find that we had been bumped to business-class (the equivalent of domestic first class)- perhaps because of my fractured foot (healing).  We walked right by our seats and had to sheepishly drag everything all the way back to the front- we just couldn't believe it- it was Allies first (hopefully not last) first class experience. The legroom was enormous- fully reclined I still had a foot in front of me! Though I don't sleep well on planes, neither of us wanted to get off after that very comfortable 4 hour leg of the trip!

We checked into our hotel- the 3-star Cui Ming Zuang, which is historically significant for formally housing the Communist Party Military Meditation Section that apparently maintained the ceasefire between Communists and Nationalists during WW II.

After a good night’s sleep, we wandered a bit- we are having fun practicing our limited Mandarin. We feel pretty pleased with ourselves if we can make ourselves understood! We encountered some interesting people-a scam artist, people who asked for the drinks out of my hand (which Allie did actually give at least once) and many compliments on our hair!

Next we headed to the Back Lakes area of Beijing that consists of several small lakes and the “hutongs” (narrow lanes with courtyard houses), built at least 100 years ago) in Old Beijing City. We had an amazing time that will be hard to top- we started off in a lake-side restaurant named for a famous scholar-bum character in a short story by Luxun, the Chinese father of modern literature. The restaurant was decorated with the trappings of scholarship such as scrolls and bookshelves, and had a lovely bamboo garden. The food was fabulous - braised pork, foil wrapped whole fish in a sweet sauce, and we had a dish they are famous for- drunken shrimp. They bring live shrimp soaking in wine to the table for inspection and then they whisk it back to be cooked.. We then took a long, wonderful walk along the breezy tree-lined walkway.

Next, we bargained for a trishaw (a pedicab- pulled by bike) tour of the hutongs. We really enjoyed getting to see this quiet and ancient part of the city- it had such a laid back atmosphere -just people living their lives in these old courtyards. Highlights included touring a resident's home and courtyard (for an extra fee of course- quite a good deal they had going on), -- at about $1.00 for residences of persons of historical interest and a 700 year old Drum Tour that served as the clock tour of the old town. It had about a hundred extremely steep steps to reach the top, but the view and drum performances were incredible. Our driver was so friendly and also protective (from aggressive vendors and interested men,) and though he spoke no English he seemed to generally understand our effort to communicate with each other via facial expression and gesture. I marveled at how well Allie was able to communicate with him- I wonder if it has to do with her innate intuition of people, or something about her background with the Chinese in while living in Singapore. Anyway, the payment situation was interesting- we had gone far over the agreed upon hour (which we realized but decided to just pay more) and when we stopped, the bike was surrounded by drivers all trying to explain to us that we had taken a longer tour so it was more money. I don't know if it was an attempt to intimidate us (if so it didn't work or they felt it was a group effort to get us dumb Americans to understand. In any case, we paid the fair amount and he even dropped us where we wanted.

 
We had tea at one of the lovely lakeside cafe/bars with outdoor lounges outfitted with couches, candles and umbrellas- very atmospherically nuanced. Later, after hunting down an organic teashop (after a few lost turns and a taxi cab accident, a bus knocked off the passenger side mirror!) we found another eatery recommended by Frommer's Beijing (my bible.) The restaurant was another great spot by the water with lights and lanterns shining on it, stonewalls and wood tables. The cuisine was Hakka (means "guest people”) It is very popular and lived up to it's reputation.  We enjoyed our Hakka vegetables and baked bean-curd (tofu.)