Back Lakes (Hou Hai), Beijing, China

5Tony K 5:00 PM Jan 24, 2014

Touristy, But Worth Checking Out
The individual businesses and attractions need their own pages (but they don't), so this will be for the area. My friends and I visited the hutong (authentic, old, local) across the street. THAT was its own experience. I highly recommend visiting a real hutong. I digress. We got a map from the "Official Tourist Office." The Hou Hai area information was all written in Chinese so we thought it wasn't for us. But when we looked over there it looked like fun! So we went anyway. Wow! Good thing we went. It reminded me of a destination mall in Las Vegas. The open area near the entrance was full of people. Some locals selling trinkets. Other locals playing games with those trinkets (ping pong, hacky sack, etc.) And even more playing on some drum/cymbals. Walking further in we saw a tons of restaurants and bars. In hutong around Hou Hai there are shops and more restaurants. We ended up at a bar on top of a building. Very basic, but cold beer, cool view, grilled food items, and live music. What else do you need? It looked like you could rent a paddle boat and cruise the lake. At night the place is electric. Many, many, many bars. Neon lights were everywhere. I have a great photo of the group with the neon reflecting off the water. There aren't many "cultural" experiences to be had at night in Beijing. Spend one night here and just take it in. While it is touristy, it's NOT Americans who are here. WAY more Chinese tourists were here, which also makes for an interesting experience. Google translate is your friend. :-)

4onechase 5:00 PM Jan 2, 2007

Most atmospheric part of Beijing
The Back Lakes are easily the most photogenic part of Beijing, save the old Forbidden City. While the modern city of Wangfujing Street is unspectacular and the even-more-modern city of the new CBD bears little resemblance to the China you imagine, the Back Lakes offer great restaurants, a lively bar scene and interesting scenery. Go for dinner, stay for a drink, and then leave-- late at night, the area is trolled by prostitutes looking for Western men.