Reaching the hotel in 南锣鼓巷 was easy enough.It was rather interesting queueing up with the locals for Bus No. 107 from Dongzhimen Bus Station. Of course I was the odd one out with the backpacks and plastic bags with gifts. I looked foreign that's one thing, I also looked like a X'mas tree with all the bags and presents! Or maybe I looked like a vagrant?
Two old folks asked me where I'm from and that started my first official conversation with the locals. OK, my putonghua did hold up! They understood every word I said and me likewise, theirs.
This is the single room that I stayed in (only for the first night...more about that later).
A little crammed for space but comfy enough. Except that the toilet water drainage wasn't that good and it kept flooding during shower, maybe I was partly to blame as during winter I loved to just stand under hot shower for longer than usual because that was a sure way to get fatigue ad tiredness out of the system. It was next to the alleyway and sometimes you could hear people walking by and even those vendors on bicycle/tricycle peddling their offerings. This was what I had expected in choosing to stay within a hutong - travel like a foreigner but live with the locals!
Anyway below are more photos taken of the area around the homely hotel:
Alleyway leading to the hotel
The hotel name was Hutong Ren, not expensive (by capital city standards) and it does comes with homecook meals if you request for it but very unlikely as you will be out most of the time except probably breakfast! Anyway they do cook your share if you inform them before hand, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. It was a shame I did not partake in any of their meals during my 3-day stay there as by the time I got back it would be too late for dinner and I left early each day before their breakfast meal. As I understood, they do in-house laundry for free too! This would be a good place to stay if you were to be in Beijing for at least a week or more. Everything would be taken care of.
The tree sprouting out from the place
Walkway to other rooms
Common area
Reception area...notice the big tree trunk?
A library of books and oddities!
The wireless internet access was excellent! However I had to endure the first night in bitter cold as the heater tripped the mains in the middle of the night, sparks and all! It was too dark and the staff was already deep in her sleep and I did not know where to locate her in any case. It was not too bad really, the comforter provided adequate shielding from the cold weather and I could still sleep reasonably well. The next morning we sorted out the electrical fault and the hotel was kind enough to move to their signature room for the rest of my stay as the booking of that room was cancelled at the last minute. So things turned out well and I got to stay in the most luxurious room at no additional charge!
This is the room, traditional enough?
Also there is no shortage of places to eat or drink in this area, even deep into the night! The bar area at Houhai is within walking distance as well where you will cut through another fabulous alleyway called the Smokers' alley or something like that.
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