Exploring the Hutongs of Beijing, meandering on foot, was my time in the city, far above the palaces and heritage sites (which are certainly amazing too). Life of a city or any place always happens at street level and how people move, interact and carry on thieir lives, how they shop and where they eat, tells you far more about a people than any museums, tourist sites or sanitized tours.

Hutongs like one in the old city centre are disappearing, perhaps already gone as Beijing remakes itsself and redevelops the area. When I was there in mid-2006 it was already under heavy change in the build-up to their olympics and Hutongs already endangered. I wonder if this one is still there, perhaps kept as a tourist or cultural attraction. I am not one to hold onto the past at the expense of the future - I like shiny, tall urban cities - but the balance of these wonderful twisting, vibrant streets is something I hope remains.