Beijing Day 5: Walking through a Hutong (Last Day) 北京第五天：胡同的散步（最后一天）

After waking up pretty early on the last day of our Beijing trip, we all (Diego, Ms. Ma, and I) decided to go visit a near by famous Lhama Buddhist temple called "Yonghe Gong" [yohng huh gong]. To do that we had to walk through the narrow streets of Beijing's 胡同[hoo-tohng]. 胡同s are the streets between the old fashioned courtyard style houses that once dominated Beijing's living quarters. Lately they have been torn down and replaced by space-efficient apartment blocks. But some 胡同s are being preserved now.
It was a freezing cold morning that day, and not a soul was moving about the 胡同 that we were walking down (save a few bundled up people on bikes). Inside the 胡同 it was less windy though because the streets are so narrow that wind is blocked by the houses. The weather made this walk a bit miserable at first, but the movement kept us warm. I enjoyed taking pictures of the entrances to the courtyard-style homes. Ihope to go back to another 胡同 one day, because during this trip we only saw one! There are many famous 胡同s throughout Beijing!

(Looking down the 胡同.)

(After coming out of the neighborhood we caught a glimpse of the Temple, which we visited after a warm breakfast.)