Explore Beijing’s Hutongs: What to See, Eat and Do

been converted into shopping \ndistricts and tourist attractions\n\nCycling around the Hutongs is not easy\n\nThis one here has a got like six or \nseven bends already and you have to\n\nbe very careful when you turn around the corners\n\ncoz you do not know what's going \nto happen if there is a car or\n\nif there's anybody who might be in your way\n\nThat was a close one\n\nCycling through the Hutong is a \ncompletely different experience\n\nNow you get to travel through the \nhutongs so much faster. Pretty cool\n\nOn my previous trip to Beijing \nI

also visited the hutongs\n\nbut the experience was completely different\n\nI was sitting on a trishaw \nand we were just going around\n\nI didn't see all the these shops and all these\n\npeople selling vegetables and meat \nand also like snacks and breakfast\n\nThis is so interesting and so different \nfrom the previous experience I had\n\nWe are heading to the main \nstreet to park our bikes\n\nand then we will continue \nwalking through the hutongs\n\nSo we have came to this place that \nis right in the middle of Hutongs,\n\na place that probably not a

lot \nof people except for locals who\n\nknow about this place to get Jianbing ???.\n\nJianbing ??? is like a rice pancake that has a lot \n\nof ingredients inside almost \nlike a burrito kind of feeling\n\nand this shop here in the Hutong is a \nvery very local and very popular spot\n\nSuch a mystery.\n\nI think they don't want us \nto see their secret recipe\n\nThere's no secret recipe\n\nWhat! There is?\n\nIf not, why is it so popular?\n\nThere's so many Jianbing around\n\nHuge!\n\nOh my gosh!\n\nThis is so big\n\nI have no idea how we're going to eat

all of these\n\nLook at this\n\nIt's as big as the size of your face\n\nThere's so many ingredients inside I don't think I \n\nwill be able to try everything \nin my first bite but I'll try\n\nOkay I only got a skin. Haha\n\nThere is this been paste with the egg and then if\n\nyou can see inside there is the \nham and then there is the cheese\n\nPiping hot and piping fresh\n\nSuper\n\nIt's really worth the wait actually\n\nSuper delicious\n\nEvery bite is like full of flavor\n\nwow\n\nI wish there's so much more meat but the same \ntime like this in

itself is super delicious\n\nThe next place we want to go is to find miancha ???\n\nFor some reason it's called millet mush.\n\nIt's a peanut butter and sesame \nwith some mush at the bottom\n\nOh it's so hot\n\nI can't tell what it is\n\nThe person was saying like do not mix and stir it\n\nIf you mix and stir it like \neverything just blends and gels in\n\nSo like he recommended not to do that\n\nIt's very very hot\n\nIf you have never eaten millet before, it's \nkind of like mashed potato, but it's not\n\nWith the sesame on top of it, it is super

fragrant \nand then with the peanut butter sauce over it\n\nit makes it super delicious\n\nyou wouldn't have expected somebody to\n\nsell miancha ??? like this at this \nhutong in the middle of nowhere\n\nit's like mashed potato to \nme and I love mashed potatoes\n\nFor lunch, we decided to go to this \nplace that sells really famous noodles\n\nIt's called PangMei ???? and we waited \nfor like 15 minutes before we can get in\n\nI think we got a feast here\n\nChickpeas\n\nSo I think this is supposed to be \nlike chicken shreds or something\n\nIt's

good\n\nOne more dish that we ordered is the beef \nnoodles and this beef noodles looks incredible\n\nThis is really spicy but it tastes so good.\n\nI will try the beef\n \n\nSuper delicious super tender I think \nit really deserves this Michelin bib\n\nThis is the drum tower behind \nme and that is the bell tower.\n\nThese two towers are the tallest \nbuildings in the entire Hutongs\n\nso everybody will be able to recognize \nwhere these two locations are\n\nwhich is the south one and which is the north one\n\nMany of these relics have been \npreserved

and the way they do so \n\nis by using the same materials and \nthe same designs as the original\n\nWe got tickets\n\nSo the drum tower and the bell tower are\noriginally used for musical reasons\n\nand afterwards they were used by \nthe governments to actually tell \n\nthe time to the people living \nin this hutongs around the area\n\nAaron come and play the games\n\nWhat games?\n\nSo there are two games here\n\nThe first one is like you have to play with the \n\nmusic rhythm and the second one \nyou get to ring the bell, I think\n\nWhich one do you

want to see this one?\n\nThis one\n\nI got perfect score all the time\n\nWow\n\nmy final score is it's still increasing\n\nStill keep increasing\n\nThis takes a while\n\noh yes\n\n109,000\n\nGood job\n\nMade it!\n\nThere used to be 25 drums in \nthis tower but only one survived\n\nThis is probably the tallest \nbuilding in the 1600s in Beijing\n\nBurned down thrice but \nevery time it's burned down,\n\npeople need a way to actually figure out \nwhat's the time so this has to be rebuilt again\n\nIt is actually pretty interesting to \nsee the hutong from

all the way up here\n\nNow we're heading towards the \nbell tower right behind me\n\nThis is the king of ancient bells.\n\nNan Luo Gu Xiang ???????\n\nSo right behind me is Nan Luo Gu Xiang ???????\n\narguably the most popular hutong \nstreet in the entire Beijing.\n\nIt is full with commercial \nshops, full of tourists,\n\nfull of locals there's a lot of food \nto eat there's a lot of things to see\n\nSuper refreshing\n\nI'm going to have the whole thing by myself\n\nAaron is navigating\n\nTrying to find the siheyuan \n???? or the courtyard house\n\nNot

every house here is open to the public.\n\nI really like how they dress up the last time\n\nI wish I have one of this in my wardrobe at home\n\nI wish I can wear this when I \ngo for like important gatherings \n\nso that I'm the most important \nperson in the whole entire space\n\nIn 1949 there were over 3,000 Hutongs and \nright now there are less than 1,000 Hutongs\n\nmany of these hutongs have been converted into\n\ntouristic areas such as bars \nand souvenir shops and cafes\n\nThere is this beautiful garden right beside \nthe Hutong that we are

walking through and \n\nin this garden which is sitting beside the lake\n\nThere is a watchtower and this \nwatchtower looks super stunning\n\nSuper pretty\n\nThere's so many lakes in this area of Beijing \nin northwestern site within the second loop\n\nand this lake is one of the larger ones\n\nThere's so much excitement and energy going on\n\nSome of these streets have turned into a commerce \ndistrict and now there is just so much hubbub\n\nYou can buy and eat food and ride on this trishaws\n\nI think it's pretty exciting nowadays\n\n14 years ago I

was literally \nstanding right here at shachahai ???? \n\nand I was impressed by the fact \nthat this place was super beautiful\n\nLooking around at how the willows form\n\nso much feels coming back today again\n\nStopping over for some tea \nto beat the heat out there\n\nHot tea is always good tea\n\nWe got the jasmine green tea and it came with \nlike some teapot and two other contraptions\n\ntwo of them are glass and then \none of it is like the teapot\n\nbut I have no idea how she makes it\n\nThis is the collect the \nloose leaves that will

fall\n\nBrew for about 10 to 20 seconds\n\nSuper good\n\nThis place changes so \ndrastically as the nightfalls\n\nAll the bars are popping up or they've \nalways been here but they just start \n\nplaying like live music so it \nkind of catches our attention\n\nand almost every single bar has like \nsomeone singing there instead of a band\n\nThis is so bustling\n\nIt's more crazy than I've ever remembered\n\nAs the night falls, the other side \nof Beijing's hutongs come alive\n\nwith bustling night life and street vendors\n\nThis metamorphosis mirrors the

transformation seen \nin historic urban districts all across the world.\n\nCity governments often have to \ndecide between demolishing old spaces \n\nto make way for modern \nbusiness or tourist districts\n\nor to preserve the cultural heritage.\n\nBeijing, however, seems to \nhave found a middle ground\n\nThe hutongs stand as a testament to the success \nof blending tradition with contemporary needs\n\nIn this video we've only \nscratched the surface of hutongs, \n\nthere is a wealth of history and \nculture waiting to be explored\n\nso Beijing, we'll

be back someday