Beijing, baby! (part 2)

There was of course one more obligatory stop: a visit to the forbidden city... so we made our way to Tiananmen square (full of oblivious tourists posing in front of Mao's mausoleum, happily waving tiny chinese flags...but remember this?)

Once you get into the forbidden city, however, the beauty of it all draws you in and leaves little room for anything but awe and admiration: 

After all this well maintained (and well-guarded! the military is everywhere) splendour, it was strange (but also strangely refreshing) to walk around the hutong of real Beijing, a maze of alleyways and courtyards:

A butcher's shop in one of the Hutong - this is not a glass window....

Sadly, most of these old neighbourhoods are being torn down to make room for the new Beijing: 

The city is a strange combination of splendour and poverty. But we couldn't help asking ourselves, is there more than this? Is the city more than this combination of cultural heritage, military presence, and cultural revolution memorabilia? The search for the elusive alternative Beijing led us to an amazing place - but that's enough for now...more on that next time! :-)