Beijing: Hutongs and Fire Cupping

I was in Beijing for 5 days, at the end of the 12 day trip. It was great to have time to slow down a bit and take in the city.

The food was amazing the entire time. But I think a few of the best meals of the trip were in Beijing. The picture below is of one of our favorite street foods. It is a crepe with a scrambled egg scallions, cilantro and this very light crispy fried thing in the middle, all folded up together.


The last night Celia and I were there, after Aaron and Alex had gone home, we had hot pot. The bright red half is spicy tomato broth. The other side inferno hot, of course (thus the 'hot' in hot pot), with chillies and oil. Both are bubbling at a rolling boil right on your table. You pick a bunch of different ingredients and put them into the mixtures. AMAZING!

We also got a chance to do some real shopping when we were there. We went to an area that Celia called the Hipster Hutong. Hutongs are these series of exceedingly narrow alleys built by the Mongols. They are rapidly being torn down and their inhabitants moved to high-rise apartments in the suburbs. The Hipster Hutong is full of neat, artsy, little shops and bars filled with expats and locals smoking cigarettes. Because it has so many profitable businesses in it this Huton isn't in any danger of the wrecking ball.

This picture was a delightful example of Chairman Mao kitsch at a bar full of Chinese young people.

The day that we visited the Hipster Hutong Alex's neck and back had were so sore he could hardly move. Celia tried to help, but he needed something a bit more.


It just so happened that there was a massage and acupuncture place right in the Hipster Hutong. Full service!

While we waited in their cozy lobby for Alex to be cured, Aaron, Celia and I browsed the menu of their services. We'd previously had a discussion about fire cupping.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_cupping

We were super curious what the whole thing was supposed to do and be all about. We didn't have wikipedia at our disposal and it was cheap so we decided to try it.



This was taken the same night we got it done, 2-14, and the bruises only went away last week. Yikes. It did make me feel relaxed and energized immediately after, but I would not get it done again.

Sappy travel story conclusion: bruises fade but the memories of my trip will last a lifetime.