Beijing Weekend

I made a weekend trip to Beijing and it reminded me how much I enjoy that city, but at the same time, made me appreciate Qingdao a little more. Beijing fascinates me because of its history, sheer size and population, and the multitude of things to do and eat. At the same time, it is so jam-packed with people constantly shoving and pushing that it can be overwhelming. Nevertheless, I miss it a lot and had a great time this weekend.
I went with another teacher, Jenna, to visit my good pal Charlie who has been living in Beijing since February studying Chinese and will finally be returning at the end of December. The rest of us thought he might never return!

It was really nice to get out of Qingdao because it is such a smaller town over here. I feel like I’m going to run out of things to do and see soon. I’m already kind of over the “scene” and fear the day when I run out of things to do on the weekends or foods that interest me. Anyway….

Jenna and I took the bullet train to Beijing and it was really cool. It was completed before the Olympics and has made the ~888 km trip under six hours long. The train went up to 243 km/hr at some points and was just amazing to watch out the window. It also had airplane-style seats and tray tables, which was nicer than Amtrak!

After dumping our stuff at Charlie’s apartment and leaving him to take a phone interview with the States, Jenna and I went to Lush in Wudaokou for dinner because I was really craving their foccacia sandwich, which turned out to be just as good as I remembered it!

Saturday we got up early and went to meet my old teacher, Linda, at Peking University. The campus is beautiful and is possibly one of my favorite spots in Beijing. Imagine going to a campus that looks like this:

Then we headed over to 789 Art Space which is actually located in an old factory center that has been converted to several art spaces. It’s a really great location and has some really interesting pieces to look at.

We then went to the famous Wangfujing Snack Street, where you can eat things like, seahorses, scorpions, and starfish on sticks. I stayed with fresh made fishballs and a delicious skewer of octopus tentacles, my favorite!

On the obligatory tourist destinations, we visited the Forbidden City, which never fails to amaze me because of how intricate and HUGE the place is. It’s really a trek across the thing and I can only imagine those poor guys running around the place with cymbals and stuff (I have a very Last Emperor imagination, ha).

Tiananmen was overrun with 60th anniversary propaganda, including giant pillars depicting the fifty-one minority groups as cartoonish dancing figures. It’s not exactly what I would consider pretty either.

There are also the giant screens on the Square, playing a rolling loop of inspirational music, dancing people, and panoramic scenery from around the country. Oh and don’t forget the recap of the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony. Happy 60th Birthday, China.

I also made an obligatory Silk Market trip on Sunday and emerged with these goods: a grey Jimmy Choo hobo purse, Longchamp purse, LeSportsac satchels, Black boots, and a scarf. Not too bad but I was definitely restrained. I really want a Mulberry purse next time I go back!

Food post next time… yeah go ahead and laugh at me always taking pictures of food.