Beijing: Hutong (胡同, hútòng) and Hou Hai (后海, hòuhǎi)

Hutongs are alleys, and the ones in Beijing are formed by lines of siheyuan (traditional courtyard residences). Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong.

Guozijian Hutong or Guozijian Street is famous for housing two historical cultural heritages - Confucian Temple and the imperial learning institute of the same name, Guozijian. We strolled back to Andingmen where our hostel was located via Guozijian Street after visiting the two historical heritages.

One of the oldest and trendy hutong in Beijing was a hutong translated in English as Skewed Tobacco Pouch Street. LOL. In mandarin, it was read as Yandai Xiejie (烟袋斜街). It was said that the origin of the name came from the many smoking pipe stores on the street in the Qing Dynasty. Among the stores, there was one where the store owner put a huge wooden pipe in front of his store as a sign. As time passes, the street was known for its giant smoking pipe, hence the name. There were also talks that the street shaped like a smoking pipe.

Yandai Xiejie now house cool looking cafes, shops selling trinkets and snacks.

Cosy cafe

Postcard shop

Tiny ocarina (小陶笛 Xiǎo Táo dí)

Awesome paper cutting (剪纸 Jianzhi)

 

The making of another of those delish grilled lamb skewers!



At the end of the hutong (we started from the Di'anmen Dajie side), this leads to Silver Ingot Bridge (银锭桥 Yinding Qiao). Yinding Qiao divides Hou Hai from Qian Hai. It was so named due to it's upside down silver ingot shape.

The ingot bridge

One can find bars and restaurants in this area.

We had dinner here on our first 'real' night in Beijing, a superb lamb hotpot as recommended in Paul's awesome blog. (Technically we landed at night and just crashed to bed.)

Smiley face secret sesame sauce

Night photos cos this was taken on night number 1

Side note: Where can I buy good bak chang in Melbourne? :(