Beijing Day 1: Hutong Tour, Beijing Bell and Drum Tower, Yinding Byway and Hutong Pizza

Hey hey hey! Remember my post about getting a Chinese Visa HERE? We got approved and I said see you in China right? Ohh I do hope you saw us. We went there six months ago! Hahahaha! Ang tagal na! Sorry naman. Busy ang bakla e.

So going back, we went there just in time for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival! We reached Beijing International Airport early morning on September 19. That's the exact date of the festival. We were fetched by some Chinese friends. We rode a rented taxi that took us to our hotel which was one hour away from the airport. They said it's cheaper than the hotels in Beijing especially then that it's holiday. We just settled our things in the room, rested for a little bit then larga na agad! Here's our room by the way -

Ang ganda diba?? The CR was equally stunning. Tapos meron pa nito -

Pano kaya yun? Hehe! Hindi lang namin tinry. May kamahalan kasi. Hahahaha!

Next, hutong tour! Hutong, by the way, are eskinitas in tagalog. As in bike and kabayo lang ang kasya. Then there's a lot of stores and street foods! Our guide pointed out that you'll know it's holiday based on the mass of people in the hutongs. On normal days, the alleys are peaceful but during holidays like that day aba hindi mahulugang karayom! Ganto kasikip -

Here's D trying out the street food. Mejo hesitant pa sya - 

Masarap naman e! Here's a sample of what you will find inside the stores -

Among other things. There's a lot more to see! Then when we got tired, we hailed a cab. I mean a bike. Whatever! Eto sya -

Our destination? The Drum and Bell tower tandem. They were built side by side. According to our friend, these towers were used in the ancient times to alert people. For what reasons? Hindi rin alam ng guide namin. Hehe

Unfortunately, we came late na. As in sarado na yung mga towers. We can climb it pa naman daw then watch the dance inside the drum tower. In case you're interested, here's the schedule of the dance.

Our next destination was another Hutong. This time it was the Yandai Byway.

Pakitranslate nga mga ateng! This hutong has more items for sale on the street naman. We found these cute bike-thingys!

May mga garments din. I wanted to buy this shirt sana - 

Pero inuna kasi namin ang pagkain. Hehe! Here's D trying out a native street food. Parang apple dipped in caramelized sugar. Maasim!!

At the end of the alley, there's a bridge. It's called the Yinding Bridge.

Pagod na ang feet ko by this time, so we went to find food na. We saw this - 

We got curious what's the difference of this Hutong pizza to our pizza. Not much naman. Mejo mas healthy lang talaga ang kanila. Forgot to take picture na kasi super gutom na kami by this time. Then after dinner, we transferred to the inuman area. Shempre we have to drink the local beer. I'm not much excited for this. I tried this already e, and I have a not-so-good experience. Basta secret na lang! Hahaha! My verdict? May ok pa rin ang San Miguel.

 We spent the night watching the supermoon. Ang laki nya talaga promise!

Wala naman masyado kakaiba sa festival nila. Sabi time lang daw yun for the family members to get together and watch the big moon. In cases where some family members are not in the house, the idea is they can look at the moon daw and feel happy knowing that their other family members are looking at the same moon. Kinda nice noh?

More kwento on the next posts!

Xie Xie,

Yosh

Beijing Travel Diaries:

Beijing Day 2: Walking in Fucheng, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Xidan Shopping District

Beijing Day 3: Great Wall of China and Temple of Heaven

Beijing Day 4: Beijing Zoo and Beijing Olympic Park