Hangzhou Dumplings

Since I'll be in Beijing longer than I expected, I have the luxury of not rushing to see all the key tourist attractions in one day. Today's itinerary was to walk over the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, and then to Forbidden City. I read about a good dumplings spot near the Bell and Drum Towers area that didn't look too far from the hotel, so dumplings for breakfast - local style. The location of the dumplings spot (Hangzhou Dumplings) was "Baochao Hutong, off Goulou Dongdajie" according to my iPhone app, but that meant nothing to me as I didn't have a clue where Baochao Hutong was and the locator on the map had the restaurant pointed few blocks away. I spent at least an hour walking around in the wrong area looking for Baochao alley. When I ran out of alleys to search, I asked a storeowner and she pointed down the street and then right (but I had no clue which street I'm suppose to turn right). After several alleyways I thought about turning right, and then finally I saw Goulou Street (yeah!). Within minutes, I came to Baochao Hutong! By the time time I got to the dumplings spot, they were sold-out of vegetable dumplings (frack! Yeah...I decided to go vegetarian in China and Mongolia). Now me trying to tell the woman "I would like to have vegetable dumplings" and her telling me they only have pork dumplings left was just comical! She was making pig noises and faces and I was showing her a translation of "vegetables" on my iPhone. In the end, the dumplings were quite good, pork not vegetables, and cheap! Just like the review said - 4.5 yuan for 10 dumplings (that's less than a buck!).

If you visit Beijing, one must check out restaurants on Hutong alleys, that's where the locals go (forget about English menus let alone anyone speaking English).

Now that I've been indoctrinated to Beijing's Hutong alleyways, I felt comfortable tackling the rest of the city! Off to the Bell and Drum Towers...ok, it's only few hundred meters from Hangzhou Dumplings spot.

Bell Tower:
Along with the drums in the Drum Tower, the bells in the Bell Tower were used as Beijing's official time keepers throughout the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and on until 1924. The Bell Tower was built during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, in 1272, and was rebuilt in the 1440s after being destroyed in a fire. This current structure was built in 1745.

Drum Tower:
Along with the older-looking Bell Tower, the Drum Tower used to be the city's official timekeeper, with drums and bells beaten and rung to mark the times of the day - think the Big Ben of Beijing.

Originally built in 1272, the Drum Tower was once the heart of the Mongol capital of Dadu, as Beijing was then known. That structure was destroyed in a fire before a replacement was built, slightly to the east of the original location, in 1420. The current structure is a later Ming-dynasty version of that 1420 tower.

For 20 yuan (both towers), you get to climb the incredibly steep inner staircase for views of Beijing and the surrounding hutong alleys, and to watch drumming performances on reproductions of the 25 Ming-dynasty watch drums which used to sound out across the city. The best view of the Drum Tower is from the top of the Bell Tower. Annoyingly, you can't see the Bell Tower from the Drum Tower because visitors aren't allowed to walk round to the north side of the Tower's viewing balcony.

Forbidden City:
Home to 24 emperors, spanning two dynasties, the Forbidden City is the largest palace in the world. The Forbidden City used to be at the centre of a much larger, walled Imperial City, 10 times the size of the Forbidden City and contained no less than 28 major temples, many of which no longer exist. In turn, the Imperial City was at the centre of the walled Inner City, which was to the north of the Outer City, also walled.