Upon return from the bus trip from Badaling, Ben brought me to Houhai.
Houhai is the middle lake among three lakes, Xihai, Houhai and Qianhai, located north west of the larger Beihai. It is a pleasant walk along the tree-lined lake.
Local people come to the lake to fish.
Houhai is surrounded with hutongs. The above is a typical hutong lane with tall walls and narrow pathway.
Houhai is famous for nightlife. There are many restaurants, bars and cafes here. It is popular with foreign tourists and expatriates. You can see a roof top bar in the above photo.There are a lot of tricycles for rent in this touristy spot. But Ben was warned to avoid them by his colleague who got scammed. The story was the tricycle operator will give you a very low rate for the ride. After a short ride, another operator will take over the tricycle and at the end of the trip, the new operator will charge you an exorbitant rate. The new operator will argue that he is not aware of the arrangement between the first operator and you.
Houhai is connected to Qianhai by a very narrow waterway. I’m standing on Yingdingqiao above the waterway.
Another view of the Yingdingqiao.
A night scene of Houhai with the moon on the rise. The reflection of the night lights on the lake is mesmerizing.
I was at houhai three times, two in daytime and one for the dinner. I do enjoy the atomsphere, a typical tourist destination. For the Tricycle, I went to the area where the tourist bus unloading the tour group for the ride, I asked the guy who is supervising the bikes and he told me to get a ticket from the ticket booth, the cost is $100 per person. Try to have a lunch in one of those tiny restaurant and soak up the feeling of the area or have a night dinner in an upper floor, so you can have a good view of the street, mind you the price for the dinner is expensive.