Huludao Xingcheng Ancient City, Liaoning, China

4GD-NC-Tx-Beijing 5:00 PM Oct 4, 2012

Fun Day Trip from Beijing
A friend of mine and I decided we wanted to get out of Beijing and go someplace off the beaten path. We looked at the railway timetables for places within 3 hours of Beijing by high speed rail, and found Huludao. We left at 7:15 and got there at 10:30, We caught a cab to the XingCheng ancient city. Good things: the ancient town is still populated by people who live and work there; it is not a disneyfied tourist trap. There is some domestic tourism, but we seemed to be the only westerners. We had our picture taken a few times, but no one hassled us. In particular, there were no vendors shouting, "Hey Lady you buy" or grabbing at us, as has happened at other places in China. We spent most of our time in the ancient town walking the city wall and looking at the architecture. We found a Halal street vendor selling meat sticks - his cooker was clean as a whistle, so we each had 4 lamb sticks. They were delicious. We also ate a pomelo and some rice cakes purchased on the streets. We missed out on the hazelnuts - they were there, but we didn't recognize what they were until later. They would have been a good snack. Along the sea shore, the sand felt coarse, large grained, but it was nice enough. There were a number of restaurants along the shore selling you-pick-it-we-cook-it sea food. They looked tasty. There was one hotel that stood out - the Four Seasons. It was no relation to the large chain you see in the States, but it looked like it had a high standard of cleanliness and comfort. If I go back, I'd overnight there.

3gobey 5:00 PM Sep 25, 2015

Worth checking out but only if you're in the area
Great to walk around here and check out the daily life of locals in a walled city. Not too touristy yet. Most truly old buildings would have been demolished years ago. There is a strong smell of rubbish and human waste in some of the back streets that much stronger than your typical Chinese city. Still worth seeing if you're nearby.