Checking out Wudaoying Hutong

Cars sometimes pass through here, but mostly it's pedestrians

A friend who lives in Beijing recommended that I check out Wudaoying hutong near Yonghegong Lama Temple, as it hasn't been commercialized like Nanluoguxiang hutong.

I remember when Nanluoguxiang was just starting to have shops and it had rough edges to it that gave it some charm.

Does this cat look like he could be Brother Cream's cousin?

But now it's very gentrified, and as my friend says, there are the independent shops there, but there are also ones run by the government that you can tell are trying to push Chinese arts and culture in a Friendship Store 2.0 kind of way.

Having been there twice on my trip, I can attest to that!

So I checked out Wudaoying and I remember I did go there once many years ago to a western restaurant called Vineyard Cafe and it's still there. On the whole Wudaoying is still a residential area with shops down the main strip.

Some are clothing shops selling qipao or Chinese shirts and jackets, some with embroidery, jewellery shops, there are snack shops, mostly cafes, and several pottery shops that have several throwing wheels, where people take classes.

A not very happy looking mud grass horse at Plastered 8!

One of the pottery workshops had a giant fat cat with a bowtie, lazying on the table by the entrance and he could be Brother Cream's Beijing cousin!

A shop called Plastered 8 that opened in Nanluoguxiang also has a store here, and it has pretty funky T-shirts. The store front here includes a sculpture of a caonima, or "grass mud horse", which sounds like a swear word, but it is like giving the finger to internet censorship in China. I think we all feel like that!

On a happier note, we also saw a couple taking wedding photos there, probably the equivalent of Hong Kong couples taking pictures with the tram going by.

A sign indicating the entrance but we started from the back

On the whole it was fun to poke our heads into some of the shops and seeing what was going on. Some of the prices were expensive, some were OK. Although we didn't buy anything, we enjoyed soaking up the laid back atmosphere with a dose of crafts.

Picture of the Day: The Bike Masses

A mass of bicycles just outside Nanluoguxiang this evening

When I lived in Beijing 10 years ago, bicycles were starting to die out and being replaced with electric bikes or cars.

But in the last year or so, the humble bicycle is back, thanks to traffic jams and environmental concerns.

There are at least four companies that rent out these simple bicycles for a very cheap rate. Just download the app, put down a deposit and then for around 1.50 kuai you can ride a bike for any hour and leave it anywhere for the next person to use.

Here is a ton of bicycles parked tonight just outside Nanluoguxiang, a famous hutong near Houhai.

Seems like everyone rode over here...

We love this trend of people riding again, bringing back a Beijing tradition back to the city.

Jazzy Evening

La Mademoiselle et son Orchestre kicking up some lively jazz tunes

I just got back to my hotel after a fun evening catching up with an ex-colleague. After dinner we rode rented bikes -- my first time riding a bike in Beijing on the street! -- to Nanluoguxiang, a hutong a few blocks from Hou Hai, or the back lakes.

We walked down this busy street filled with small shops and eateries, and near the end we turned left into a small street where a bar called Jiang Hu or "river lake" is located. It's in an old Chinese-style house where a band was playing jazz.

The band, La Mademoiselle et son Orchestre, features two French musicians including the female singer, hence "the lady and her band".

They were lively, fun and played so well together. In between songs she would chat in Putonghua with the audience making small jokes we could all understand.

The space was crowded at first when we arrived after 10pm, but thinned out about 45 minutes after, when they finished a set.

So nice to hear easy-listening jazz in a cozy environment! Not something you would easily find in Hong Kong!