part 6




We had friends who did the hutong tour just last week and who were told that the home they visited was worth about $500,000.00. Either inflation is way out of control, or the home they visited was considered on the wrong side of the tracks! ;)

The woman who lived there was willing to answer any questions that we had about her life there, and even though the home was very small, I liked the fact that it was in an enclosed courtyard with four other homes. It had very much a "neighborhood" feel, unlike the highrise apartments that are replacing all of the hutongs.




When I asked the woman what she did for a living, she said that she was retired. Turns out she retired so she could stay home and give tours of her home to tourists. I was a bit disappointed as our guide wrote out some type of receipt for her before we left and signed it and handed it to her. I don't know if she turns them in later for money or how it was handled, but it all just seemed so commercialized. I know it is foolish of me to think that way because of course she doesn't share her home just based on altruistic beliefs, but perhaps he could have slipped her the receipt on the way out the door when we wouldn't have noticed.

She had postcards from all over the world and little trinkets--most of them from big cities in the United States--on top of her television. When I asked where they came from, she said previous visitors had sent them to her. She also had some food out on the table that looked as if it was mid-preparation, and our guide told us that on some tours, the visitors stay and make a Chinese lunch and eat with the family.




Apparently we had the "cheap seats" because that was not part of our tour. She said that the families who ate with her were mostly the ones who sent little gifts, so she must give her address out to them.

After we finished at her home, we headed back to the starting point of the tour. We had paid for visits to the Drum and Bell towers in Beijing as well as part of our tours, but I didn't complain or say anything to our guide when they didn't take us there because he had spent the entire day with us the day before at the Great Wall when it was supposed to have been a half day tour.

Continued...