Old Drum Tower Street...

Let's continue with my unfinished trip in China. The story of the evil tour guide continues but there was always a bright side to the downside. How did we manage to come to this area? It wasn't in the itinerary at all. Introducing the Old Drum Tower Street...

Ignore the number 152 as it carries no meaning to any of us. I just wanted to remember the place. Pinky and I were not sure where we were so when we saw an address, I just snapped it. We were suppose to sit quietly in the bus while the Doraemon-size tour guide took those who paid for the performance to watch that performance. The tour guide refused to tell us how long the performance was gonna be. It couldn't be that he didn't know the duration of the performance since he has been to the performance for the umpteenth time. See, he was just plain evil. Do you expect both of us who travelled from afar to be seated quietly in the non-moving bus with no air-conditioning system? I know it was winter but to sit in a bus with the bus driver smoking like a chimney, that was suffocating, if you can imagine yourself in that situation. 

Pinky and I did what both of are very good in. Immediately when the bus driver found a parking spot, we stepped down from the bus. The bus driver was instructed by the tour guide to go and collect them from the performance place once he called. There was no parking for tour bus at that site. The tour guide precisely reminded the bus driver not to wait for anyone who stepped down from the bus and couldn't come back in time. Hmph~! Loud enough for everyone to hear thus, the rest of them just sat in the bus, doing nothing. Ridiculous~! That street was lined with old houses. Love the different bricks used. It was the 'China' look that I've always wanted to see. Some buildings were dilapidated, old and dirty, musty smell, yucky... but I still like it. 

The narrow street in between a line of houses. The streets were not as scary as the small lanes back here. There were many people walking in and out but we didn't venture further as we didn't know where the street was heading to. 

Pinky's mom said that Beijing's yoghurt was the best. I don't like yoghurt so I don't bother trying it. But I did take a sip because Pinky insisted that I taste the difference of the homemade yoghurt. 

At first, I thought we could just pay and walk along the street with the bottle of yoghurt in hand but there was a piece of paper saying that one should not walk away with the bottle. Of course I didn't know that because it was written in Chinese, duh~! The taste of the yoghurt was richer than those manufactured in a large scale. 

Hey, look at that~! Ain't that creative? You can keep you hands warm while riding on the bike. We had a great time walking together, seeing things as that's the first time Pinky and I walked on that road. We finished walking along the street, turned back to head to the bus, seeing that the bus driver was still puffing on his chemical-lighted stick, we decided to cross the road to see what was on the other side of the street. There wasn't much to capture opposite. Most of the shophouses were closed. So, we crossed over to where we came from, found another street with many people and we followed. 

There was a museum... an old clock tower museum and it was evil of the tour guide not to tell us that. If we would have reached here earlier, we would have bought the tickets and went in. We wandered along the street for too long. The place was so large and there were more things to see outside the tower. Almost 45 minutes has passed and we have the feeling that the bus would be moving anytime soon. We ran back to the bus but it was still not moving so we ran back to the clock tower area. 

I want to go to Xi'an~!! Will get to see the Terracotta warriors. But for now this one should do. After taking this photo, all of a sudden both of us sprinted away back to the bus. God is with us. He knew when to prompt of us to move our legs. We really ran as this was quite far away from the main road. The bus was already inching out of the parking lot. Our new friend told us that the tour guide has called the driver and when the driver told the tour guide that we weren't back yet and he should wait for us, the tour guide must have shouted at the bus driver that's why the bus driver moved. Hey, my God is more able and capable~! We didn't miss the bus, we were in time.... and we get to see another extra place compared to the others.