New Money in Old China

The last few days have been fairly relaxing and not so action packed as the first few. On Friday we joined some friends at Houhai which is north of the Forbidden City. The area includes some original courtyard buildings (Hutongs) and a park as well as being near the Drum Tower (a historic site where they used to beat the time for the city on large drums – Beijing’s answer to Big Ben). In winter the lake in the park freezes over and you can ice skate on the lake. Although Reece was not really enthusiastic about going ice skating (the hire skates at the Phillip Ice Skating Centre always result in painful feet), he was VERY excited when we got there to find that ice skates weren’t the only things you could hire. Also available were chair sleds in various lengths (2,3 or 4 chair), and an even more fun snow bike, which is essentially an old steel frame bike with the front wheel taken off and a small ski welded to the front fork. Some guides welded to the rear of the bike on either side provide sideways stability, and the brake is converted so it digs into the ice rather than the wheel rim.

The frozen lake at Houhai is a big one, which is well and good given its popularity with the locals.

The Guihots on the ice - Reece and Amy on the ice bikes and Maddy on the skates.

Reece getting some speed up on the ice.

The morning was an absolute hoot, as we tore across the ice and Reece had fun getting some serious sideways drift all the time hoping he would not run into an uneven section and be thrown sideways from the bike. In addition to this he also got conned into dragging Maddy’s new friend across the ice as fast as he could, which really gave the legs a good workout. Maddy enjoyed the skating but is still finding her ice legs and she spent a fair bit of time being pulled along behind Amy’s bike. The lake itself was fairly well frozen in most areas, although it looked a little thin towards the edges – we stuck to the middle to be safe. It was certainly a different experience with the ice not being the smooth, groomed stuff we are used to.

Amy in action mode.

Closeup of the ice bike - would be an absolute winner at Phillip Ice Skating Ring

Maddy and her friend on the ice - they had a great time.

After this we went to a great pizza restaurant in the Hutong area. The pizza was fantastic and the menu included a novel drink - Hot Coke and Ginger (don’t knock it until you try it – it’s really quite good. And Reece is NOT usually a huge fan of ginger).

Front courtyard of the quaint Hutong Pizza restaurant - still the best pizza we have tried since being here (and we have had pizza three times already).

We had a great wander through the Hutong area after lunch – they have been restored for the tourist trade but still serve their original purpose as well – being home for many families. It was interesting to note that the locals still share community toilets and showers, yet have the newest, flashest cars parked in the alleys of the hutong.

China's traditional past and present collide.

Traditional courtyard home (hutong).

We decided to walk to the Lama temple which turned out to be a fair distance away but it was good to get out walking the streets – we find this is often the best way to find our way around in a new city. We passed an area that had several music shops selling all types of instruments – there also seemed to be bands practicing, or music lessons/impromptu jams taking place in quite a few of them.

The Lama temple is an amazing place with many different places to worship and quite a few people coming to pray and burn incense (despite the clear signs indicating that no incense should be burnt due to the wind on the day). The highlight for us was the 28m statue of Buddha that had been carved out of a single tree trunk – it’s in the Guinness Book of World Records.

One of the amazing buildings at the Lama Temple. There are many similar buildings in the Temple complex.

We had an interesting encounter with a local on the street, who after finding out we were from Australia wanted to know where my friends “Kangaroo Belly” was (he is quite a thin bloke). Apparently Australian’s have a reputation for the larger stomach / pouch among the locals. Reece had a good time showing off his Australian belly and bouncing belly’s with the local man (who also had an impressive pouch himself).

On Saturday we decided to head back to the local market and buy some more clothes. We are still learning the true value of goods and it was some effort to get an agreed price for some of the items we were trying to buy. Reece was punched quite a few times (in a somewhat joking manner) and at one point after finalising a sale he joked to a store holder that the girl he was bargaining with “loves him” and she yelled back across the store “I hate you” – he must have gotten a good deal.



We took our friends out to a local restaurant for dinner and had a fantastic meal. There were some interesting choices on the menu (including tongue, tripe and eel paste), but we ate quite conservatively. The food was fantastic – as is all the food we have encountered to date.



Today as a much more relaxed day – we spent some time at the pool, cleaning the house and getting Maddy ready for her first day of school tomorrow. For tonights dinner though we managed to pick a restaurant that did not end up having a menu in English but did have one with photos. After a bit of struggle we ordered what we believed was a beef dish, a fish dish and sweet and sour pork. We did though make the assumption that all dishes were hot, which did not prove to be the case. The fish and the beef dish, although already cooked, were served chilled. While the fish dish was very nice nonetheless and the beef dish similar to an antipasto, we are still unsure exactly what part of the cow we were served. Mixed in with the “meat” there was certainly some tripe, which although not Amy’s favourite tends to have a very uninspiring taste. Reece got into it, as well as what we believed to be beef liver done in a peanut and chilli sauce (he said it would have gone well with fava beans and a glass of cianti). The pork did come hot, and was very nice albeit probably prevalent in MSG (which is big here). Reece will be able to confirm this later on tonight if he gets a migraine (as MSG tends to bring them on big time).



This week we are looking to get into more of a routine as Maddy settles into school hours and Amy gets more into the job. We have a few dinners this week which will keep our nights busy, but will also allow Maddy to spend some more time with her new friend before the family moves back to Australia.