Hutong sights

Happy New Year, everyone! Guess I haven't said that yet... it's good to be in 2006, or as my kiddos keep telling me: "er ling ling liu" (2-0-0-6 in Chinese). On Tuesday of this week (we had two days off for the solar New Year), Dave, Ryan, myself and three American teachers living in South Korea visiting Beijing went on a "hutong tour" in the city. A hutong is a traditional Chinese house with the thatched roof and courtyards and all (sort of what you picture) and the tour is through one of these old neighborhoods. We rode in pedaled rickshaws through the streets, and though we didn't pay extra to see the inside of anything, it was an interesting trip nonetheless. These are some of the sites from riding and walking through the neighborhood (some of which obviously isn't so old anymore).