China, 7th of October

On the 7th I decided to go explore an area where there was a lake I could walk around. I had been told This area was really great to see and headed out in the morning unsure of what I would find. As I walked the streets I spotted an ancient tower and traveled through a hutong to find where it was. I knew the Drum Tower was in this area and assumed that is what it was. Well I did find the Drum tower but first I had found the Bell tower.

In the Hutong

Bell Tower

These two towers are in the same small area and were used as a way to communicate time. The Bell tower had a huge bell in it and the view from the top could have been amazing except for the smog that hung over the sky. The stairs up were also very steep...this seemed to be a general theme for all of China. A secret plan to exhaust your enemy before they reach the top of the tower :)

In the Bell Tower

Drum Tower

View of the Hutong from Bell Tower

View of Drum Tower

The Drum Tower was used for time keeping and they even had a water clock the Chinese would have originally used. They even gave a demonstration of the drums for us to hear what it would have sounded like. I took a couple video's which are at the end of this post.

One of the drums

Drum Demonstration

Rickshaws outside the Drum Tower

After leading the Drum and Bell Towers I wandered down the road in the area I knew the Lake must be in. After walking through more hutongs I came out on a road that surrounded the lake. It was very picturesque and I wished I had more time to walk around the entire lake. But this would have taken too much time. I was sad that all the smog was making everything look hazy but very excited that I found the lake. Some people were even riding in rickshaws around, which looked charming but I didn't want the hassle of trying to get a fair price for a ride. (Everyone I talked to told stories of being ripped off)

Ally way in a Hutong

Along the street

At the Lake

Shoe rack?

For lunch I walked back towards the main street and found a random restaurant. They didn't seem to speak much English so I simply pointed out which food I wanted. They seemed to find this very funny, which I ignored as I ate the yummy noodles.

Shopping at the Silk Market was an interesting experience. First of all it is set up like a market inside, but is much to nice for me. Plus I felt kind of strange shopping in a Silk Market knowing over half of what they were selling I could get cheaper in Cambodia. I did buy a really cute red wool dress that I can wear when I come home. Being a girl, I already know my brown/black boots will look great with the dress. I also got a tradition Chinese dress, also in read. Unfortunately my none Asian body doesn't quite fit. So I will be going to my tailor to have a few alteration made, but I am excited about wearing this dress here. I also found some really fun earrings made of shells with Chinese artwork on it.

Thought I was going to a show, but it got cancelled. Before finding out I had to wait another night to see the Chinese acrobats I went out looking for dinner with a German girl who had moved into our room a couple days before. As we were sitting on the streets chatting a drunk Chinese man came up and tried to get us to go get a drink with him. This was all done in hand gestures as he spoke no English and we only knew a few words in Chinese. He was rather persistent and so we settled on ignoring him, our continuous head nods of "no" didn't seem to mean much. As soon as he left we got up and quickly walked back to our hostel. We spent the rest of the night chatting and reading books. I also made plans with another girl in our room to go eat on a food street she was telling me about. Here are a couple video's from the Drum Tower:

Here is another Video of the drums...