Hutongs



 A hutong is a small neighborhood/barrio, of narrow streets with homes on both sides of the street, filled with vendors selling all sorts of goods. There are several hutongs near downtown Beijing.  But because of the labor day holiday, we chose to visit two of the smaller, less crowded ones.  One was called "Tobacco Road or Tobacco Alley" for the shape of the hutong streets.  

We saw all sorts of things for sale from the expected:  silk scarves, jade stamping stones, red paper cut outs and cute touristy kitsch like cold steamy mango passion fruit drinks, ObaMao t-shirts, to Hello Kitty and Garfield the cat stuffed animals.

The unexpected included: long lines for huge roasted bugs, scorpions and other insects, more towards my taste of yummy Hong Kong cheese (looked and tasted like sweet yogurt), and get this, mojitos and CHURROS!