It’s early in the morning the sun has just risen, but you wouldn’t notice it because of the smog. It is shit to live in but dam the sunsets you get are dope.

I’m sitting in KFC

In Beijing

China

third planet from the sun

Milky Way Galaxy

I’m currently biting down on an egg and date Congee which is basically a rice soup. And a cup of really shitty coffee.

Now you may be asking me why am I here at a KFC so early in the morning well the truth is I’m gonna be wondering Yonghegong Lama Temple Hutong,

I  know what you are asking now, what is a Hutong.

It is the oldest part of Beijing. If you buy a postcard booklet in a Beijing market

(do not spend more than 35yen to get it no Mather what the old mean lady says.)

it will have at least one photo of the Hutongs. It is the part of Beijing that is from the olden days and in a lot of ways it is untouched it is full of small alleyways that make you feel like you are in a labyrinth. But the cool part about the “maze” is there are lots of places to stop and have a cheap beer.

When you are wandering the Hutong’s you feel that you are are in a long forgotten past

But back to KFC.

I finish my coffee, I drink it in one gulp like it is Buckley’s. The funny thing is I made the same face as if I was drinking Buckley’s.

I stand up and leave for a fun-filled day not knowing what I will find.

I walk out of the KFC and see the Hutong it is massive with a huge walking street filled with people living there life. I see a mom walking a young kid down the and a few stray cats and dogs looking for food. But I can’t get over this street it looks like a huge knife from a vengeful god who cleaved the whole complex in two.

But I digress

The first thing is to walk as far from the main road.

the main roads always have a very touristy feel to it. It is full of vegan restaurants and bars that pander to the Caucasians foreigners and cheap crapy souvenirs that you can find in ever Chinatown all over the world.

“ O I would love a paper fan…. And 20 $ that is a bargain” lol,

That’s not why I’m there, I’m there for the real experience and literally, all you have to do is take a left or right turn and it changes the octave to something a lot cooler. If you are willing to get. Lost you can find that you are in a beautiful place like no other. It is like you walked into that postcard I was telling you about.

So that is what I do I take a coin out of my pocket and flip it. Heads are left, tails are right.

FLIP

Heads so left it is.

And no joke after 2 mins of walking I see a group of old men playing cards and smoking like they were trying to see if tobacco can replace oxygen.  And a few mins after that I see little babies running naked down the street not a care in the world. The mom is chasing after him as I pass she smiles at me and I smile back to think how cool this place is.

I feel like you’re at a different time, a time where There is fewer electronics and less worry. But I continue to walk an hour after hour getting, these little clips into true Chinese life. I passed many rusted bikes and an even more small hole in the wall restaurants that serve traditional Chinese food that I can’t pronounce.

I walk into a couple and order some food just to try by this time the sun is going down and I need to go home my belly is full and I have had a couple of beers and I noticed it’s getting a little dark.

I sit on the subway going home and I think about all the thing I saw and how it would be to live there and how lucky I am to travel the world.