Walking Around Houhai

Gorgeous views of Houhai that show a very serene-looking lake

New York has Central Park, Vancouver has Stanley Park, and Beijing has Houhai, 后海, or literally the "back lakes".

After a giant meal of Peking duck and other delicious dishes, we walked it off by heading to the Drum and Bell Towers, but got there minutes before they closed so we couldn't go up the towers. We lingered a bit to watch a middle-aged woman perform a ribbon dance before we walked west along Gulou Road to find a way into Houhai.

One bride getting ready for her close-up

It took a while to finally find an alleyway in and then we wandered along a side street before finally getting into Houhai. We had a pleasant stroll around as it was relatively quiet and we did lots of people watching.

One couple was taking pre-wedding pictures and the groom had trouble hoisting his slightly overweight bride up onto the railing. We also came across a mother and daughter feeding ducks some bread, and an older woman who had a large cylindrical trap that she caught some really small fish in.

For the most part we hardly saw many people at the back of the back lakes, and once in a while there were exercise areas with grannies to young people working out. One man in his early 50s was really buff and showed off by walking around shirtless and doing some tricks on the handlebars. We also saw a stray tabby cat hanging out and didn't care for humans.

Another woman catching small fish in the lake!

Finally after walking for what seemed like ages, but apparently Houhai is only 6km long, we managed to walk to the entrance of the back lakes. It used to be bustling with lots of restaurants and bars blaring music, and even a Starbucks at the front. But these shop spaces were all boarded up and looked very sad.

The area around the lake isn't as boisterous as it used to be -- which is a good thing -- but its local flavour is not so edgy anymore. Or is it me just being nostalgic?