Beijing Blog 2: Visiting Nan Luo Gu Xiang Street and Hou Hai
As promised, here is Beijing blog number 2. This entry will be about my trip to Nan Luo Gu Xiang Street and eventually Hou Hai. Both these areas are very touristy, aimed towards foreigners and the younger generation of girls, and young couples.
The first of the two places (Nan Luo Gu Xiang Street) is essentially a little neighborhood looking street filled with small shops, boutiques, bars, and hole in the wall food areas. This place like many other places in Beijing is filled with people but more specifically this area is occupied mainly by 3 types of people: foreigners, younger girls, and a lot of couples (this trip really made me miss my girlfriend back home!)
(Below are some photos of items that were sold in the little shops around the area. Like everywhere else in Beijing, these shops didn't allow photography inside, so I either sneaked the photos or took pictures of the displays from outside the shop windows.)
(Apparently the little ghost looking things are very popular right now because I saw them in almost every toy shop in that area.)
(These little animal ear clips and headbands seemed to be very popular as well. There were a lot of girls wearing them around. I guess the anime kids in America aren't as weird as I previously thought,I guess they are just trendy.)
(A lot of couples in china like to wear matching shirts and pants etc, but I noticed that this couple took it to a whole-nother level by matching shoes... with tails... so I had to be a creeper and get a photo of it haha. A little tacky for my taste but its pretty cute.)
Apart from shops that sell little toys there were a whole lot of in-the-wall food places, restaurants, and cart food. You definitely have a lot of choice when it comes to eats in this area.
(Above is a photo of a Beard Papa stand, this is a international branch originally started in Japan however I recognize it from back home in Oregon. What I found interesting about this place was that the menu looked completely different from the menu back home, I didn't recognize one single item on the menu and I dont think they even have cream puffs which is what the chain is known for :\. But perhaps I didn't notice it on the menu because my Chinese reading skills are not up to par. Theres no english menu in a lot of these small food shops so it's a bit hard to gage what's available.)
(Above is a photo of a stand called Tama Yaki. This place I haven't heard much about, however I have seen it around some other areas in Beijing which leads me to believe that this is a chain of some sort. I didnt pay too much attention to what was offered here but it seemed like they offer Teriyaki and other types of asian foods (Im not entirely sure). Judging by the cute faces and typography I am guessing that this place is targeted more towards younger kids, and girls? I will have to try it sometime and write an in depth review of this place.)
(Above is an example of many of the hole-in-the-wall food stands offered at Nan Luo Gu Xiang. This one in particular specifically sells lamb kabobs and not much else. These types of traditional food stands look a lot less sanitary than many of the other food places offered around this area however they look to be the more authentic in comparison to the newer (better) looking places that offer just the same things. As you can see behind the stand there seems be someone's residential place. This is because back before they turned this little street into a commercial area people actually lived in these narrow pathways called Hou-Tong. Some of these Hu-Tongs are preserved in the area, but more on that a little later.)
(Above is a photo of a sit down bar type of restaurant called Burgers & Hotdogs? Pretty bad name in my opinion, but places like these seemed to be more targeted towards foreigners. They often offer less traditional foods, and a variety of alcoholic beverages. As you can see on the sign this place offers Mojitos and Rum&Coke as well as Uno Fries (One Fries??? Jk).
My mom and I decided to get our lunch from a more traditional hole-in-the-wall place. Although not the most sanitary looking place in the world, it did look relatively clean compared to most of the other traditional food places available. Most importantly this place offered one of my all time favorite Chinese traditional street foods called Jian Bing.
(Above is a photo of the "restaurant" which was just a little hole in the wall with a kitchen inside and 3-4 workers.)
The Jian Bing is basically a large crepe with chopped vegetables thrown into the batter. It is folded after applying a variety of sauces, and a crisp dough material.
(Below is a photo of the crepe portion of the Jian Bing being made. The man is using a spatula looking thing to spread the dough and egg into a thin circular sheet.)
(Below is a photo of the crisp materials that they put into the Jian Bing. This place offered the traditional crisp material (Left) as well as an alternative option called Youtiao (Right) which is basically a delicious fried stick of dough (sounds appetizing I know). But all jokes aside it is pretty bomb. The Youtiao is often sold separately as a breakfast food to go with soups and other types of breakfast food.)
After buying the Jian Bing we ran into a little bit of a problem. We bought a couple of things around the area and were carrying our cameras, and most of these hole-in-the-wall places didn't really offer a place to sit down and eat. So we had to find a place to sit down and chow down more comfortably. So where did we go?
Thats right, we took our cheap street food Jian Bing and went into a nice fancy Starbucks... Haha aint no shame! We bought drinks of course.
(Above is a photo of the inside of that Starbucks. It was A LOT fancier compared to many of the other restaurants and stores in that area and they even offered Free Wifi! The Wifi sucked though, and it kept kicking my phone off every few minutes :( so sad.)
(Above is a photo of my mom ordering at the front counter of Starbucks. I got a Tall Carmel Frap but apparently they call it an Extra Coffee Carmel Frap or something. Maybe it was different but it tasted pretty much the same as the Carmel Frap back home. The price was pretty much the same, maybe a little pricier than in the US, but it felt like we were paying for a clean and comfortable environment rather than the coffee itself so it seemed worth it.)
(Above is a photo of my Jian Bing after I took a few bites and realized that I hadn't taken a picture of it yet. It may not look like the best thing in the world but its pretty close to being the best thing in the world you'll have to trust me on this one.)
Starbucks is one of the few places in Beijing that is tailored more specifically towards foreigners. You can tell not only by the good appearance of the place, the high price of the beverages, but also by their bathrooms. Most bathrooms in China are the type that look like a hole in the ground, and you are required to squat down to go in them. Starbucks on the other hand has toilets, the kind that people from foreign countries are used to and love (me included!). You can tell that a place is designed for a specific type of person just by their use of toiletries. Americans are used to having toilets, and Chinese people are used to going to the bathroom squatting so although some places may have the money to put in toilets, they choose to stick with the hole in the ground style of toilet in order to keep their Chinese customers happy. Places like McDonalds and KFC even have these type of squatting toilets. This forces foreigners who are uncomfortable with the idea of squatting and going to seek out places like Starbucks because it is more comfortable to them, thus paying the price for drinks etc.
(Below is a photo of the Starbucks bathroom with a toilet! Its like one the happiest things in the world to see one of these in Beijing. A clean bathroom with a sit down toilet what more could you ask for!)
After eating lunch we headed back out to explore the rest of Nan Luo Gu Xiang, and walk towards Hou Hai. While walking I noticed that there were a lot of "cool" dessert foods around the area, most of which also appeared in Hou Hai as well.
(Above is a photo of a guy selling these Tang Ren, shaped into things such as animals, and gourds. Tang Ren is basically a treat that is made of melted sugar which is than blown up and sculpted into different shapes on top of these sticks. Very visually appealing, however these things have been sitting outside all day collecting dust so I probably wouldn't eat one myself. And he's selling them inside a Corona container haha. I did see a lot of little kids, and teenage girls eating them though so it seems to be pretty popular.)
(Above is a photo of a bunch of these little yogurt containers. These simple containers are cups with a paper cover held on with rubber bands. People drink out of them with straws and they are easily refilled by taking the top off and replacing the lid (upon cleaning of course (cleaning not guaranteed))).
(Above is a photo of one of many stands that sell these GIANT cotton candies. Yes, I know ur drooling right now (you know who you are). These things look awesome and I saw a whole lot of couples sharing them around the area however they are made and left on those sticks sitting out all day. Like the Tang Hulu they are made of sugar, and things stick to sugar so being in a area filled with dust and debris, these wont be the cleanest things that you'll be consuming.)
(Above is a photo of some not so usual kabobs... On the left they have some type of bug kabob, below that is a array of scorpion kabobs, in the center is a starfish kabob, and to the right of that is a kabob filled with seahorses... I cant say how popular these are in Beijing but I honestly didn't see anyone at that booth buying these things nor did I see anyone with them walking around.)
While walking towards Hou Hai we got a bit lost and crossed through a few Hutong neighborhoods. These places are really old, and some of these Hutong are preserved quite well. They are populated by more traditional families and a lot of elderly people. I noticed that people who lived in Hutong are the ones who are sitting outside playing majong, cards, talking. This showed that these people are very community oriented, which is nice to see in a culture so reliant on self elevation. Instead of sitting at home playing video games the kids in the Hutong are out playing with each-other. Perhaps the families in these Hutong dont have a lot of money to spend on technology, accessories, and toys but they seem to have everything they need and all seemed to be very happy with their life. Maybe Im just a bit naive, but it really makes me happy to see this.
(Above is a photo of a group of elderly people sitting outside playing majong in the sun.)
(Above is a photo of some younger people playing cards outside.)
(Above is a photo of some kids in school uniforms playing POG! YES POG! I haven't seen those things since I was young, but I loved those things. I guess Im still young.)
Since the Nan Luo Gu Xiang area gets a lot of tourism traffic I noticed that a lot of the Hutong housing areas had signs on their doors asking for privacy. It must be hard to live in an area for so long, and to have commercialism, and tourism come take over.
(Above is a photo of a door inside of Luo Gu Xiang Street with a do not disturb sign on the outside. The same sign can be seen on many doors throughout the area.)
There were also a bunch of these bike carriage tours around the Hutong area that offer to take you around the Hutongs for a bit of money.
(Below is a photo of an array of these bike carriages and their drivers. The drivers would stand around the area and try to convince people to go on these tours.)
After walking a longgg time we finally arrived at Hou Hai. Apparently Nan Luo Gu Xiang Street and Hou Hai are pretty close to each-other we just happened to have taken a big detour. But it was nice because If we hadn't I probably wouldn't have seen the Houtong.
(Above is a photo of the river that runs through Hou Hai.)
Hou Hai is a beautiful place. There is a river that runs across these two streets filled with bars and clubs. Durring the day it looks like a nice little park with a lot of tourists, but at night it is a nightlife hotspot. The bars all lit up with neon signs, and people pack the rooftop seats to enjoy the view. We didn't stay till night time this visit however I did get to experience it with some friends the last time I came to China a few years back.
(Below is a photo of one of the many bridges that connect the two roads of Hou Hai. As you can see the streets are filled with bars, most of which have nice looking rooftop balconies.)
(Below is a photo of what it's like to be on one of the the streets of Hou Hai. I think that its a really beautiful sight nature and commercial all in one.)
(Below is a photo of some boats on the Hou Hai river. These boats can be rented (I think with a driver) and they go across the river. No real reason in renting one of these just for relaxation purposes I guess.)
(Below is another photo of a boat on the Hou Hai river with some people riding on it. It almost hit one of the sides so the guy was getting up to the mast of the ship to push it away from the rocks.)
Well that concludes my second Beijing Blog! Again I cant believe you made it to the end @_@ thank you for reading! I hope that this stuff is actually kind of interesting to some people, and Im looking for more things to blog about here in China. Feel free to let me know if you would like to see certain things on my blog or if you would like me to visit a certain area in Beijing just leave a comment on this blog post or click the Aks About Me link on the right side of my page.
Here are some pictures I took that day that I thought were pretty interesting/funny:
(Above is a photo of a nightclub called Nuts, and my mom told me that the Chinese writing states something on the line of "its a lifestyle". Im assuming that its supposed to be Go Nuts, Its a lifestyle but this can be interpreted pretty badly by foreigners like me who cant read Chinese XD)
(Above is a photo of a kid that I saw around Hou Hai. He was stylin with his bike, shades, and most importantly Spongebob Backpack!)
(Above is a photo of a tree that has Chinese theatre masks painted on it. This was outside of a restaurant so Im guessing that it was deco to entice people into going into the place. Pretty sweet paintings though.
(Above is a photo of a Stone Soldier decorated with a bunch of touristy items. This is commercialism at it's best, something old being taken over by something new in an attempt to gain profit much like Beijings Hutongs. It's actually quite sad.)
Lastly I leave u with this picture of a little boy looking into the store window. Its actually quite funny. He is staring at the statue of the woman with exposed u know whats, and after I took this photo his parents called him into the store and they asked him "what were u lookin at?" to which he replied "there was big boobs" in an innocent childlike tone in Chinese. The mom bursted out laughing and the dad told him not to say stuff like that. It was pretty cute.
