Rickshaw Tour of the Hutong - Beijing

I recently wrote some reviews of the services I used on my trip to China. You can see all of them by clicking on the China category over there on the right >>>

Today I wanted to write about an amazing experience we had there, and I'm hoping to mix posts like this in with my reviews. Traveling isn't just about booking your trip with the right travel agency or staying in the right hotel. It's about experiencing cultures, food, and people!

One of the activities that was included with our tour package was a rickshaw tour of the hutong. I don't know the name of the company we used since I didn't book it myself, but if you're interested in doing something similar (and you should!), just do an internet search for "rickshaw tour of hutong" and you'll be able to find it.

We rode through the streets in this rickshaw which was pulled by a man on a bike. The hutong is an older area of Beijing where the streets are less than nine steps across. With roads that narrow, transportation is either a bike or your feet.

We stopped at this woman's house, and she cooked us a traditional meal for lunch. It was delicious! She didn't speak English, but our guide translated for us. She was so sweet and funny, and it was such a fun afternoon.

You can see most of her home in this picture. She lives here with her husband and 15 year old son, and this room is the living room and her son's bedroom. To the right is the bedroom she shares with her husband. In the very front of the picture you can kind of see the edge of a doorway into the kitchen, and that is her entire home. She had set up these two tables to make room for us, but normally there would be a little bit more open space.

Standing at the front door looking out, this is the courtyard her family shares with several other families. In the hutong, a group of houses like this will have a single door coming in off the road, and each house faces the center courtyard. There is also a single bathroom that is shared by all the houses. There is a great sense of family among the people. Because of its location on the Dragon Line, a home here costs more than if they were to live in an apartment with a bathroom in other areas of the city.

One of my favorite things about traveling is seeing how other people live. I mentioned in my review of smarTours that having local guides who told us about their lives was fascinating to me, and this tour of the hutong added even more depth to our cultural exposure in China. With our guides, we heard stories about their lives and that was wonderful, but sitting in someone's home we got to see it as well. I left there feeling grateful for her generosity and amazed by a culture so different than my own.

If you're visiting Beijing and you're looking for a unique experience that is fun and educational and something you'll never do at home, I recommend this tour completely. It was unforgettable!

#rickshaw #hutong #Beijing