The Hutong that abuts the Botanic Garden

Actually, I'm not sure if "Hutong" is a word that's only used to describe oldstyle neighborhoods in Beijing, or if it means old residential community in any city. Anyway, as today's warm and clear, everyone's washing their comforters and drying them in the sun. The main walkway has been recently cleaned by the street sweepers, and I walk past a small flock of copper colored chickens pecking in an alley. There's a feral puppy sunning itself on a rock wall. This is my first time walking through this neighborhood. I pass a woman harvesting some cilantro from a small garden plot. It's a deep green, but I won't ask her to sell me any. I've finally figured out where the peasants, who carry fresh vegetables through the streets every morning in baskets hung at each end of a wooden pole, grow their crops. I've also confirmed that these crops are grown using untreated human waste as fertilizer. Around here no one eats uncooked vegetables (for good reason) and I continue to peel things like peaches, apples and apple pears.
I've been buying my vegetables at supermarkets like Tesco or Suguo. Now, I realize there's no guarantee that their produce isn't also being grown in this age old but disgusting way. Before coming here, I had a course of hepatitis shots, but this way of life remains a pathway other nasties, like cholera and typhoid. I'm not sure if China really can upgrade its methods of waste disposal and treatment anytime soon, but I sure hope someone in municipal government is looking into it.
I exited the Hutong where I thought it would end, near the caged bird sellers behind the pot plant shops. I've noticed this lane before, as sometimes I walk home from Tongling No. 1 HS through another Hutong that's the mirror image of this one. Some of the students at No. 1 live in these shabby homes. It's a testament to their ambition that they're so poor, yet working hard to improve their lives through education at a good high school.
In my 45 minute stroll I've experienced things that make China interesting and things I'd really rather not deal with. It's such a curious mix of 1st, 2nd and 3rd world around here.