Have you ever been in a rickshaw? In China? Yeah, I have! I was initially scared for my life. I thought we were going to be riding the rickshaw in Beijing traffic! Did I mention I witnessed a 3 car accident – I literally watched the accident happen – in slow motion. I was 100% sure that the rickshaw ride would be deadly. And I wanted a helmet.
Turns out, we were riding the rickshaws through the old section of Beijing, along “alleys”, on our way to lunch.
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think our guy got a good deal – we’re both relatively small. But I give mad props to the drivers. Not an easy job. I can barely pedal my 10 speed up a hill and he was dragging our sorry buns as well!
Do you like our penguin blanket? Sexy.
See all the rickshaws? Probably close to 20!
And off we went!
We took the rickshaw to a hutong. Actually we road the rickshaws on a hutong to a hutong. A hutong is a Chinese alley AND a traditional courtyard residence.
Turns out we were having lunch with a Chinese family….all 40 of us!
Here’s the entrance to the courtyard and then the entrance to the dining/living room!
And our feast!
We sit down and wonder if that’s it….for 12 people. Turns out they bring the food out as it’s ready. And they never tell you how many total dishes there will be! So by the time all is said and done, we were STUFFED! At least a half dozen more plates came out. And there was rice. Lots of rice!
And the aftermath!
This hutong is a national historic site and “owned” by a single family. Typically, many families live in a single hutong and share 1 bathroom and 1 courtyard. The grandfather of the house served under Chairman Mao, so a large portrait of Mao hangs in their dining room.
I say “own” because no one in China really owns their place. If you decide to buy a condo, it’s only really yours for 70 years. With the smog situation, it’s probably not a huge deal for first time homebuyers. BUT if you plan on passing the residence down to your kids, they will have a limited amount of time in the place before it goes back to the government. And if you want to sell it 10 years in, the new buyers only get 60 years! Talk about depreciation! Seems kinda lame huh? Then one of the other people on the tour commented that we’re in a similar situation if you replace the word “government” with “bank.” Touche.
After lunch we hopped on the rickshaws and headed back to our bus.
