My Winter Travels, Part 16: Beijing, Again

Beijing Picasa Photo Album

After seeing the Army of Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, my parents, Allen and I took a night train back to Beijing. We had previously seen most of Beijing's sights, but there were a couple more things we wanted to see, so we decided to stay in Beijing for a day before heading back to my school for the start of the semester. Specifically, we wanted to see Beijing's hutongs and the Great Wall of China near Beijing.

The Great Wall of China

Qinhuangdao has two places to see the Great Wall--Lao Long Tou (where I've previously been and was not very impressed) and Jiao Shan. Several people have told me they like the wall better at Jiao Shan than in Beijing, but only because it's so much less crowded. The views in Beijing are definitely more spectacular. So we decided to see it in Beijing, and I'm glad we did. We went to Badaling, wear most Beijing tourist see the Great Wall. It certainly was crowded, but the views were really something.
On to the pictures:



Beijing's Hutongs

A hutong is a narrow street/alleyway where communities of families have lived for generations. Many of them are disappearing as Beijing undergoes more and more construction, but a number still remain. They are littered throughout town, but there are a few areas where there is a concentration of them. We visited one of these areas where you can take a rickshaw ride through them.