Saturday was a day for exploring another part of Beijing we hadn't been.  We had heard that the Houhai Lake area was a lovely part of town, so we set out for food and fun on a Saturday afternoon and found both.  First stop, Houhai lake where we had a nice lunch lakeside and then a boat ride around Houhai and the connecting lake, Xihai.  You can see the photos in the slideshow below, but Hannah boated us all around the two small lakes and we enjoyed the peaceful setting and relaxing atmosphere (something not often found in Beijing!). 

We then walked from Houhai to a nearby Hutong area.  In ancient times, the Chinese used to live in nothing but Hutong (or what we know as courtyard) houses.  Walls are built up around your few house buildings that surround a small courtyard.  Street after street you can see walls, but no houses -- although you know they are in there.  Today, there are a number of old Hutong that are run down and not so nice for living.  Many, however, are being torn down and refurbished or are newly renovated and are very nice.  We saw a few around Houhai and Xihai that have 3 car garages even!  Anyway, we walked through the Hutong alleyways and caught a few glimpses inside the courtyard homes.  It's an interesting experience -- something that's quite different from the views of modern China with all the highrise buildings.

We finished our day with a walk to and through what is known as "ghost" street in Beijing -- a long street that is lined with restaurants all aglow with Chinese lanterns hanging above.  Centuries ago this street used to be a market that was open all night long.  Lanterns would light up the street so peddlers could sell their wares at all hours -- hence the term "ghost" street.  It's a very interesting and bright site!

Now we head into the weeklong Chinese National Holiday.  October 1st is the 58th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China (Communist China)and the whole country is off of work and goes shopping!  We went to the grocery store in one of the shopping malls yesterday and oh my gosh it was insane.  We have never seen so many people all in one place!  But, perhaps we will see even more when we make a trek to Tiananmen Square sometime this week for a view of all the festivities -- along with about 2 million Chinese people.  It should be interesting!  We'll let you know!