Hi-Ho, Houhai!

Houhai is the name given to the north part of the body of water that's a stones' throw away from the Forbidden City. The body of water which is divided into two parts, Houhai and Beihai (Back Ocean and Front Ocean, respectively), is in fact, not an ocean, but rather, a lake.

It's not just any old lake though. This one's surrounded by hutongs, many of which has been upgraded to support the large number of foreigners and tourists that frequent the areas' historic charms of yore to the bustling nightlife of bars, pubs, and clubs at night. And yes, there's a Starbucks here too, decked out in hutong style right at the mouth of the bar street.

It was friggin' cold when Kim and I set out to explore this part of town but we braved the wind-chill and found our way to a neat little pizza place, appropriately called Hutong Pizza, for something to warm our hands, and body. You'd never guess it at first sight, but this place made great pizza! It didn't come in the traditionally round shape, but rather, in a rectangular arrangement cut into many wedges.

Most of Houhai lake was frozen over, but in one small area, we had witnessed a couple old men swimming in it wearing nothing but swimming trunks! They kept us amused for a short while.

Because of the high concentration of tourists in the area, many of the local merchants offering everything from pirated DVDs, Lady Bars, massage services, cheap trinkets of sorts, and rickshaw tour guides spoke just enough broken-English to convey to passing tourists of their offerings. And boy were they annoying. Like flies drawn to a pile of steaming shit, these merchants swarmed around Kim and I who were all offering us the same things of little value. I'm bringing a can of RAID on my return.

Moving away from Houhai, we headed for JingShan Park for a scenic panoramic view of the Forbidden City and the rest of Beijing from high atop a mountain. Located directly and immediately behind the Forbidden City on a man-made hill, this perspective also offered a great view of Beihai park with the Tibetan styled White Dagoba . The five pavilions situated on the hills of JingShan Park once housed unique Buddha statues representing values such as Happiness and Virtue. Unfortunately, four of the five buddhas were stolen by the Eight-power Allied Forces in the 1900, and the remaining one was badly damaged.

Coming down the hill, we observed the very tree in which the last Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen, hung himself from. Couldn't have picked a better place myself.