Beijing, Day Five

I slept in until 7 Am today and then stayed in bed and read for an hour. I had picked up Hiroshima by John Hersey in the airport in Seoul, and even though it seemed like a strange selection at the time, it has been an interesting and educational read. After being on the go early the past three mornings, it was nice to be lazy. I went downstairs to the hostel's cafe for breakfast and debated in my head whether or not I was too sore to spend another day on a bicycle and if I should give motorized vehicles a try. I decided on the bicycle, despite my very sore left knee and hip. Fortunately for me, my same hot pink single-speed rental bicycle was available, and off I went down the hutong alley. I rode south to a street that has several antique shops, though whether or not what they're selling was really made all that long ago is anyone's guess.

The antique storesI found some quirky and fun gifts for my family and then wandered the alleys through a residential area. Despite Beijing's facade of skyscrapers, ornate palaces and temples, and manic Olympic construction, it's more than evident in Beijing's hutongs that many people live a hardscrabble life--one and two room cinder block houses, mostly lacking electricity, plumbing, and some even doors. Wealthier families, by Beijing standards, live in apartment buildings with electricity and water. In the hutongs there are rank-smelling public squat-style toilets in the neighborhoods. Small, meager businesses--a barber, a cobbler, a take-out restaurant, a bicycle repair shop, a fruit shop, a tiny grocery store--were scattered here and there. Most of the shops were so small that the proprietor stood inside and the customer stood outside, and business was transacted through the door or window. Clothes were hung out to dry in the windows and doorways. Grandmothers dutifully and dotingly chased after toddlers--mostly boys--wearing split-crotch pants and no diapers. When duty calls, they either squat where they are, sometimes on a piece of newspaper hastily supplied by Grandma, or are rushed to one of the public toilets. When you consider how many diapers a toddler in the U.S. goes through--and the associated cost and environmental impact--the diaper-free crotchless pants actually make sense.

Some snapshots from the hutong alleysI spent the entire morning and part of the early afternoon at the antique street and surrounding hutong and then got on my hot pink single-speed rental bicycle and made my third attempt to visit Mao's mausoleum. By then it was late enough that the lunch time that was posted yesterday was over, and I was sure the third time would be a charm. However, it seems that Mr. Mao likes to begin his weekends early as the mausoleum is closed after 11 AM on Fridays. I guess he'll just have to wait until my next trip to Beijing. I don't think he'll be traveling to Korea anytime soon.

I got back on my bicycle and rode past Tianamen Square again to Wangfujing Street to buy some souvenirs for friends and family. Then I rode my hot pink single-speed rental bicycle past St. Joseph's Church and paused to watch the skate-boarders for a while.I returned to the hostel in the early evening, took a shower, and went for one last walk up and down the alley that my hostel is on. I went back to the hostel and ran into Grace, who had just returned from a Great Wall hike. She and Nina and I compared the things we bought. It was interesting to see the unique things that they each picked up. At 10:30 PM, as I was packing my bag for the morning, I remembered one person I still needed a souvenir for. Fortunately a few of the shops near the hostel were still open, and I was able to pick something up. Now I'm back at the hostel and have finished packing, sad to be leaving Beijing in the morning.