Bell and Drum Towers and How Chris Got Into A Fight
星期日, 五月 07, 2006
calm before the storm: the vendor cuts candy
Apparently quite a few cities in China have their own Bell and Drum Towers, so after seeing the ones in Xi'an, we couldn't disregard the ones in our own backyard now could we?
So the bell was a little larger (okay, a lot larger) and there was a nice little drum performance, but frankly, neither the bell nor drum tower in Beijing could compare to the ones in Xi'an. Both towers were a bit too run down, dingy, and touristy (are two souvenir stands in the drum tower really necessary?) for my taste.
The views however, were great. Some of the best-kept hutongs in Beijing are in this area and it was something to see the hutong 四合院 siheyuan roofs fit together like a pieces of a puzzle.
Since we were right by Houhai (an entertainment district built around the shores of two lakes - Houhai and Qianhai) we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the area. At this point, we come across a cart selling a kind of Xinjiang candy which consists of a huge slab of a nuts and dried fruit confection. You tell the vendor how much you want and he carves off a piece and sells it according to weight.
Chris has been meaning to try this stuff for ages (it's sold everywhere in Beijing) so he requests a slice. The guy then weighs the piece and tells Chris that it costs 48 kuai. We estimated the price would be well under 10 kuai. Granted the slice is larger and heavier than expected but 48 kuai is ridiculous - you could get an entire pizza for about 30 kuai.
So Chris tries to bargain down the price. The vendor refuses, pushes the slice towards Chris, and again demands 48 kuai. Chris asks if the slice could be reduced. Again, no. Chris refuses to purchase the candy and begins to walk away.
At this point the vendor becomes belligerent and starts following Chris while loudly demanding money. Several other candy vendors (presumably friends of vendor #1) also gets involved. At one point, Craig literally steps in to block Chris when vendor #1 started to push and grab at Chris. Add yelling in mandarin which escalates to the point where Chris shouts for someone to call the police. Which is when the vendors finally gave up and left Chris alone.
Needless to say, we attracted a lot bystanders. And where was I during this kerfuffle? Standing on the side praying that punches won't be thrown while trying to look inconspicuous. Which is difficult when wearing a bright pink t-shirt (the looking inconspicuous part not the praying).
Anyway, we scooted as fast as we could away from that vendor and resumed wandering around the area looking for a place to have dinner. We end up at Hutong Pizza, the coolest little restaurant tucked away in (as the name suggests) a hutong, where we soothe our shattered nerves by consuming thin-crust pizza.
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