Coffee and Gardens

I thought I would spread a bit of love about my favorite little cafe in Chiang Mai: Baan Narumitr. It is well hidden from the rest of the city, and that was exactly why I liked it. Tucked back into a small alley this cafe is surrounded by lush gardens with lovely music filling the air. It's the perfect place to surf the web while consuming iced coffees and tea. 

Unfortunately, we didn't always have such an amazing time here. On one of our visits Cassie, as usual, got something stuck in her eye. But unlike most times, we couldn't get it out. The workers attempted to help us as I splashed water from the sink into her eye. But this thing wouldn't budge. As we walked back to our place I kept shooting water bottle water into her eye as well with no success. Next up, was an eye doctor but they didn't want to help us. Finally after we got home, an hour or two later Cassie pulled back her eyelid far enough and I was able to finally get this little rock out to a much relieved Cassie.

Hutong Schmutongs

One of the great but quickly becoming exploited neighborhoods of Beijing would be the hutongs. The hutongs are alleys formed by the courtyard residences of Siheyuan traditional houses. While a lot of the original hutongs have been demolished to make way for new roads and buildings some have been protected. Recently even some hutongs have been reconstructed since they have become a tourist hotspot.

While some Hutongs seem overly touristy we were lucky to find a few off the beaten path where the coffee was delicious and the beer was cold. Our two favorite liquids to drink while exploring a new city. There were also some cheap shopping to be found while walking around at night. Plenty of dresses, bracelets and and Mao inspired goods lined the dark alley ways.