|
The area north of Beihai Park has been subject to very little modernization, and the street plan remains a tangle of alleys, centring on the two artificial Shisha lakes , created during the Yuan dynasty, and the port for a canal network that served the capital. The choked, grey alleys show Beijing's other, private, face: here you'll see cluttered courtyards and converted palaces, and come across small open spaces where old men sit with their birds. There are also two giant old buildings, the Bell and Drum towers, hidden away among the alleys. CITS has cottoned on to the appeal of this area and runs a hutong tour (Y180), which leaves daily at 9am and 2pm from opposite the northwestern entrance of Beihai Park. More imaginative than most of their tours - visitors are biked about in rickshaws - it's very popular with tour groups (ring tel 66159097 for more information). The best way to get around by yourself is certainly by bike. Traffic is light and you're free to dive into any alley you fancy, though you're almost certain to get lost - in which case cycle around until you come to the lake, the only big landmark around. The best point of entry is the hutong nearest the northern entrance to Beihai Park - to get here by bus, take trolleybus #111 from Dondan Bei Dajie, or bus #13 from the Yonghe Gong. One destination to head for is Prince Gong's Palace (daily 9am-4.30pm; Y10), residence of the last Qing emperor's father and the best-kept courtyard house in the city. Follow the curving alley north from Beihai Park's north entrance - Shishaqian Hai (the lower lake) will be on your right - then take the first left, then the first right on to Qianhai Xi Jie. If you're trying to reach the palace directly by bus, you'll have to get off on Dianmen Xi Dajie and walk the same route. The attractive, leafy garden of the palace, split into discreet compounds and imaginatively landscaped, is host to irregular performances of Beijing Opera - though you'll have to time your arrival with that of the tour groups, at around 11am and 4pm to witness these. There are plenty of other old palaces in the area, as this was once something of an imperial pleasure ground and home to a number of high officials and distinguished eunuchs. The Palace of Tao Beile, now a school, is just west of here on Liuyin Jie. Doubling back and heading north along the lake side, you'll come to a humpback bridge at the point where the lake is narrowest. Over the bridge is the excellent Kaorouji Restaurant, which boasts good views over the lake. To get here from the east, it's the first hutong on the right walking south from the Drum Tower. Keep going along the south side of the lake and you'll find a little park about 500m farther up with a bird market in it and beyond that the ramshackle Houhai antique market , signposted in English, just before Deshengmennei Dajie. If you're exploring by bike you could consider a diversion out west to the Xu Beihong Museum from here. Back in the hutongs, head north along the lakeside and loop around to the east and you'll reach Song Qingling's Residence (daily 9am-4.30pm; Y10), another Qing mansion, with a delicate, spacious garden. Song Qingling, the wife of Sun Yatsen, commands great respect in China and an exhibition inside details her busy life in a dry, admiring tone. From here, an alley will take you on to Gulou Xi Dajie, a major street, at the eastern end of which squats the Gulou or Drum Tower (daily 9am-4.30pm; Y6), a fifteenth-century Ming creation. From this vantage point drums were beaten to mark the hours of day and night and to call imperial officials to meetings. In the gloomy interior is a small exhibition on hutongs and a drum you can beat for Y10. Its twin, the Zhonglou , or Bell Tower (daily 9am-4.30pm; Y6), is visible from here - at the end of a short hutong. Originally Ming, it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the eighteenth century. It still has its original bell. Both buildings are formidable structures, but a little shabby on close inspection. They stand on the city's main north-south axis - head directly south, going round Jingshan Park, and past the Forbidden City, and you'll eventually come to Qianmen Dajie, a route followed by bus #5.
Your Tip for Shisha lakes
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Shisha lakes - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Shisha lakes - visit the main Shisha lakes forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Shisha lakes webguide section below! Thanks.
|
