About a 2-3 hour drive away from Beijing are the UNESCO villages of Chuandixia and Lingshui. If you have extra time in Beijing a trip to the ancient villages are worth a peek. My friend Elizabeth and I took the trip with a local guide, Cathy, and hired a driver for the day.
Our first stop was Chuandixia. In the summer, the locals drive from Beijing to the village to get away from the chaos of the city. We were the only tourists in the entire town. The snow made it a challenge getting up and down the uneven ancient steps, and I even slipped at one point with my camera falling out of my pocket. I blame it on the nonexistent banana peel underneath the snow. Just sayin'.
When it was time for lunch, Cathy went from restaurant to restaurant yelling from the entrance if any were open. Because of the poor weather, and the lack of tourists, most of the restaurants were closed. We finally found one "restaurant." I use the word restaurant lightly because it was pretty much like having lunch at someones home. Inside the "restaurant" was a bed, a few tables, and an old TV aka a Studio Apartment. My seat was the families bed that had an old, tattered comforter that had poorly translated English quotes on it. If you think about it, it's pretty much genius, you get the best of both worlds, eating in bed and sitting around the table with family.
We gave Cathy free reign to pick our lunch. She ordered us a few things that were forgettable, but the Chinese pancakes were fantastic. The family worriedly stared at us as we ate, looking for signs of approval, or maybe because they were still trying to figure out how I slipped on that nonexistent banana peel.
I smiled, nodded my head, and they looked relieved. Yes, the clumsy American girl likes our food! High Five!
The second village we visited was Lingshui, and again we were the only tourists. Cathy asked us if we wanted to pay $3 USD to have a local of the village tour us around. Our local guide was Mr Tan who grew up in the village and didn't speak any English, so Cathy translated for us. The village has been featured in several Chinese movies, and has unfortunately fallen apart since Mr Tan was a child.
He took us around his entire village, his old school, the new school, and we climbed up a hill to visit an old 2000 year old tree that supposedly gives people luck. On our way down I asked Mr Tan if he lived nearby. He asked me if I wanted to visit his home. I said I did. For the record, I don't normally invite myself into strangers homes, but Mr Tan was a pretty cool dude. He was like a Chinese Mr Miyagi. He took us to his home, offering us potatoes he had cooked that morning, and introducing us to his father. The experience was $3 well spent.
The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square are places you need to see while in Beijing, but you don't gain an insight of the locals like you do with a visit to the ancient villages. It truly was a peek into their lives, and into their homes as well. :)
