Back in early May I spent a weekend in Mutianyu to see the Great Wall. Everything was amazing, including our accommodations at The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu, which includes great food and even glassblowing.
One great thing I’ve seen a lot this spring in Beijing is people selling pets on the sidewalk. First, I saw tiny rabbits being sold outside of McDonalds. Then I saw more tiny rabbits being sold on a bar street in Sanlitun on a Friday night. Then one day I’m heading into the subway after class and a lady is selling 3 adorable little kittens in a bowl in the subway entrance. That same day I saw someone selling puppies out of a cart on the sidewalk. In TianJin last weekend, I saw this pile of pets on the sidewalk, followed by a large bowel of turtles. I’m sure one could find some problems with this style of pet-selling, but it sure makes my day when I get to see it.
I spent a weekend in Qingdao recently with some great friends. Here’s a video of the non-brewery part of the vacation, which still involved drinking a lot of Tsingtao. Stray cats, amazing seafood, fresh beer, great city views, cool European-inspired architecture, hilly streets with hidden staircases- I highly recommend the city if you ever get a chance.
I couldn’t find the Laverne and Shirley theme song for my brewery tour video, so I went in a totally different direction (Minneapolis hip-hop, WARNING: some explicit lyrics). The Tsingtao Brewery in Qingdao, China, was started by the Germans, run for a while by the Japanese, and now is a state-owned enterprise. While in the town we had access to beers I’ve never seen in Beijing, including a green beer that was apparently fermented with seaweed. All over town the beer was served in tiny glasses, so even though we started drinking every day around noon, we never really got past tipsy.
Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy -Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism
China is full of all sorts of delicious local treats which are lots of fun to try. Of course, Western food is always available at a hefty price (we had $10 burgers last night that were absolutely mediocre), but it is more affordable and adventuresome to expand my Chinese food knowledge.
I take a fair amount of regular cabs, which are almost entirely Volkswagon Jettas or Hyundai Elantras, but since I’ve started taking the subway more, I see more of these tiny metal boxes that are also cabs. They are like an autorikshaw with a different outfit on; they are basically motorized three-wheelers. In most of them you sit facing backward, with your back to the driver. You negotiate the price up front and for local people it’s usually around $0.25 – $0.50 for a short 4-5 block ride, but for a foreigner like me it’s more like $1.25. Here’s a short video of my rides in them:
I’m told Beijing is the rock capital of China. I have yet to see a band play, so we’ll see about that, but Jon did fine a guitar store. For some reason the guys working there wanted to take pictures with him.
I also found a good blog about the local music scene, China Music Radar, that has THE BEST LOGO I’ve seen yet here in the People’s Republic. Peaches is playing in April, so I’ll probably go see her.
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. -Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism
Yesterday we spent some time in the hutong neighborhood near the Drum and Bell Towers. A hutong is a traditional single-story residence that has several rooms off a courtyard all in a maze of tiny alleys. In this area, which includes the popular street Nanluogo Xiang, the buildings have all been converted into retail. There is everything from clothes to food, guitars, notebooks, tea, art, bars. The food stands have hot dogs, Tibetan yogurt, churros with ice cream and chocolate (that was a good one), and stinky tofu. Navigating these streets is a bit tricky, as cars are actually allowed to drive through and it is very popular and full of people. It’s all pretty hip and interesting.
The street I live on
View from my bedroom
It is also very different from the neighborhood where we live, which is full of big, tall, modern buildings with crazy architecture and neon and glass. The stores are mostly brands I recognize and the streets are at least 2 lanes going each way. To be honest, I’d rather be in the hutong neighborhoods. They are just more my style- a little more low key and maybe even more original. But the reality is that without better language skills, it would be really hard to live there. I guess I’ll just have to visit a lot.
Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world. -Napolean Bonaparte, describing China as a sleeping dragon
We’ve arrive and settled in a bit. Our apartment is very nice (too nice, really) and someone comes and cleans and does the linens for us, which is very convenient. I’m not sure how I’d dry something as big as sheets anyway as we do not have a dryer.
We live in the Chaoyang part of town, near Sanlitun. The apartment is near the famous CCTV building, which the locals apparently refer to as “Big Underpants” or “Big Boxers”. What’s even crazier is that the building right next door was fire damaged in 2009 due to some fireworks incident and it is still standing awaiting renovation. The upside for me is that it is an easy landmark that I can use to navigate.
Overall it is going well; I’m adjusting to the lousy air and discovering where I can find good restaurants. I’ve tried the subway, which only costs $0.25, and am getting proficient with getting around by cab when I can’t actually speak the driver’s language. It’s cold here but you can tell that warmer weather is just around the corner.
Here are some things we squeezed into our final days in Beijing (in no particular order):
