Day Three

This was our first day on our own, and we were very anxious to see the “real” Beijing. That meant the hutong, or old neighborhoods. We chose a hutong just north of the Forbidden City. The area was full of rickshaws looking to provide tourists a ride through the neighborhood. Most were ridden by young men who were very aggressive in trying to get us aboard. We decided instead to explore on foot-- until we met “Captain Cao” that is.

Cao Yu Yue looked different as we passed him. Long white beard, traditional silk clothing, big dragon belt. But when he approached us for a ride, we turned him down like the many others who had approached us. Unlike the others, however, he pulled a shopping bag from his handlebars and showed us, one after another, articles about him in newspapers and magazines. “Is me” he would say each time he pointed at his own smiling face in the accompanying photo.

Before long we were squeezed into Captain Cao’s fancy rickshaw bouncing through the narrow streets; the Beijing that has barely changed in centuries. After an hour of showing us neighborhood sites he stopped in front of an entry gate that led to several old adjoining stone-walled homes. As he unlocked the gate, he proudly said “Is my home.”

For the next two hours we were the lunch guests of Cao and his wife. What better way to discover a bit of what life is really like in Beijing! During our lunch of noodles, cucumbers, and jasmine tea we were shown a DVD of a story done on Captain Cao on Beijing’s Channel 7. As he watched it (for probably the umpteenth time) he was as engrossed as if it was the first time.
After lunch Cao pulled out his photo album. As he turned each page and pointed at the photos, he would name the country of his lunch guests; “Canada, Germany, USA, Norway”

A few pictures and goodbyes later, we were back in the rickshaw and bouncing again through the streets. The Captain dropped us at an ancient bridge, and was off to pick up his next passengers. As we watched him peddle away, we knew we had gained more from those few hours than from all the shrines and palaces of the great dynasties.