BeijingRX

Blog moved to Posterous

2010-06-24T01:17:00.002+08:00

I forgot to leave a post that the blog was sick of blogger and needed a change of scenery.

See u there!

GFW

2009-05-27T21:27:00.001+08:00

There has been a serious lack of blogging over the past 2 wks as Blogspot has been GFWed (Great Fire Walled)! I suspect this is due to the upcoming June 4th anniversary.

I am now only able to get around the GFW and write this cause of a proxy site I discovered. I feel like a prisoner who has managed to find a small mouse hole in the prison wall....just enough to drop this msg.

Anyway, hope things are good outside the GFW and will try to write as much as possible b4 the GFW police discover the hole!

Xi'an Trip: City views

2009-05-13T00:38:00.005+08:00

Select photos from Xi'an, mostly taken while cycling on the excellently preserved city wall (dates back to the Ming Dynasty).

Panorama taken from one corner of the city wall, stitched together from 3 pics (better viewed large).

I think Xi'an models are as skinny as HK models...

I love the laundry peeking out among the roofs of these old Xi'an homes.

These are the drum stands at the drum tower.

Another well-preserved street seen from the city wall. I believe this is the school district.

Xi'an Trip: Cute park signs

2009-05-11T00:49:00.004+08:00

Sign poetry painted on stones seen strewn around the park paths at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Whoever came up with these must be adorable!

"The plants are just beginning to sprout, to walk upon them is shameful no doubt."

"Happy is the tender grass when here your feet do not trespass."

Xi'an Trip: Shanxi Snacks 陕西小吃

2009-05-08T00:38:00.006+08:00

Xi'an consumables:

Paomo 泡馍 - shred 2 pieces of bread...

...then add some lamb soup...not much different from lamb noodles.

Sour & spicy cold noodles 酸辣凉粉 - not bad but difficult to eat standing in the street.

Persimmon cakes 黄桂柿子饼 - deep fried, sweet with different fillings...

...a bit oily but the yummiest snack in Xi'an!

Some deep fried meat-filled pancake

Some kind of sticky cake 小镜糕 - cute steamed cakes...

...kindof like sticky rice with sweet toppings

Xi'an Trip: on the train

2009-05-08T00:28:00.005+08:00

To get there, took the overnight hard sleeper train. Left at 930pm, arrived around 9am. In the 6 bunk cabin, got the top bunk. Note to self: if cabin-mates are smokers, trade for the bottom bunk.

Used the site Huochepiao.com to buy the ticket, very convenient, delivered right to my door within a day!

Anyway, the train was comfortable enough and is comparable to European trains. Would not mind taking the train again. Cost: 256 RMB.

Xi'an Trip: Terra-cotta Army 兵马俑

2009-05-05T22:54:00.010+08:00

Made a weekend trip to China's ancient capital of Xi‘an 西安 back in April. Xi’an is actually a large city of 8 million+ people, more than HK. Of course the most famous thing in this city is the massive tomb of Emperor Qin 秦始皇 - the first Emperor of China and the life-size terra-cotta army 兵马俑 guarding it.

Upon entering the tomb area, we are greeted by a sign proclaiming the tomb to be the 8th Wonder of the World. At first I thought no way this can compare....but after seeing the sheer scale of the tomb, I believe it is worthy of debate.

Only an absolute dictator could have ordered such a massive necropolis built (50 square km!!!???). At present, 4 pits have been unearthed, filled with an estimated 6,000 terra-cotta soldiers. But there are still many pits that have yet to be unearthed, the most important being the Emperor's tomb itself which is said to have rivers of mercury running through it and gemstones inset in the celing as the stars.

In addition to the sheer number of warriors, the level of detail on each is amazing. Here you can see intricate hairstyle of this one. Each worrior had unique facial features, hair-style, armor and weapons. They were even painted in full color but due to oxidation, the color on these have faded.

Here is a higher ranking general, you can see that his hands were specially carved with the index finger pointing as if in signal to the army under his command. His hands originally rested on the pommel of a sword that had probably been looted.

Our guide said that there are about 50 full time archeologists working on restoration of the warriors. Each piece must be painstakenly examined and fitted together, the ultimate jigsaw puzzle.

No small detail was spared, even the horses are strikingly life-like, as if poised to gallop into battle.

The tomb is definately a must see in Xi'an. I hope to come back here in another 30 years. By then, how many other pits will have been unearthed? With new technology, will we see an army regiment preserved in full color? Will the mystery of what is contained in Emperor Qin's tomb finally be solved?

The end of spring

2009-05-04T18:14:00.002+08:00

The hot weather in Beijing (25C+) over the May 1st holiday weekend seems to mark the end of spring....bring on the heat!

Taken at Summer Palace 颐和园

North Face 10km run completed!

2009-04-29T11:11:00.000+08:00

First time in a race for me this Saturday, ran the North Face 100 endurance challenge in Changping 昌平. The race was divided into 100km, 40km, 10km (obviously I did the 10km).

I completed the race in about 1 hour which was my rough goal. Here's the route map, the green route is the 10km race (I think this pic expands if you click on it).

For 50RMB I got:
- 2 TNF t-shirts
- 1 TNF cap
- 1 red bag
- 1 snickers bar
- 1 bottle of water during the race which I threw away after 2 gulps.
- beautiful scenery in Chang Ping
- hellish wind (one of the windiest days I've seen in BJ)
- knowledge that my left knee is not very strong
- satisfaction

I just found the 100km winner won in 6:52!!!??? How the hell do you run 100km in mountainous terrain in that time????

Mima, cafe no, bookstore yes

2009-04-28T01:02:00.004+08:00

After reading this interesting piece, I went hunting for Mima Cafe by the east gate of the Old Summer Palace 圆明园东门. Unfortunately when I got there, the cafe gate was closed and hung with a sign "Renovation".

Fortunately, all was not lost, I found this peaceful bookshop the One Way Stree Library next door, opened by the same people.

Here's the entrance, I like the bamboo fences, very green / back-to-nature. This place is an oasis in the middle of the hustle & noise of Beijing. An out-of-the-way but great place to relax!

The bookstore is a long rectangular shape with shelves filled with books reaching the ceiling.

Inside, the books were mostly Chinese (of course) and with a design / academic focus. The customers were mostly students, sitting on the 5 couches studying. There were also guys sitting outside on these lawn chairs just chilling in the outside yard. Too bad this place doesn't serve coffee.

I asked the bookshop keeper if she knew when Cafe Mima would re-open, but she didn't know. Apparantly it's been under rennovation since the fall.

Painting with a camera

2009-04-24T01:44:00.005+08:00

Here's my 1st attempt at a watercolor effect with a camera. These are actually blossoming trees in Yuanmingyuan 圆明园.

To make this effect I set the shutter speed at 1/5s and panned the camera vertically, trying not to make any horizontal movements. I wanted to keep the lines of the tree branches in tact.

Here's a pic of the actual trees.

War games, BJ style

2009-04-16T20:05:00.004+08:00

This past weekend went to Majoy in Babaoshan (八宝山) to play war games Beijing style! This is sort of a bad pun, as Babaoshan is the city's most famous cemetery, when you say "I'm going to Babaoshan" 我要去八宝山 you're saying "I'm gonna die".

Anyway, war games here means laser tag. This is because paint balling is illegal within the city. But this is not your father's laser tag, it's super high tech digital laser tag! In addition to the sensor vest & helmet, everything is tracked by the central computer including number of bullets, hit stats, kill stats, health points, shield points, etc. Each player carries a PDA where they can check their hit points, ammo, shields and first aid kits. And get this, whenever you make a kill, the dead guy's ammo & first aid kits gets added to yours! It's like being in a live computer game!

We played some games inside the Majoy building (small) and also outside in the public park. I bet it was quite a site seeing uniformed & armed people running around like mad in the park alongside moms with baby strollers & grandpas taking their morning walk.

All in all was good fun but not as fun as paintball, the fear of pain makes a BIG difference.

Cost: 150 RMB for half a day

Spring blossoms

2009-04-13T11:00:00.002+08:00

Blooming blossoms seen at Yuan Ming Yuan 圆明园

Slope Tunes

2009-04-10T13:57:00.000+08:00

Totally off topic post, I'm doing this only so that I don't lose the link to Gizmodo's pumpin' snowboard soundtrack mix x 3. I'm always looking for new music to ride to so I'll definitely be checking out these tunes later.

Incidentally, here's my own mix, mainly rock & alternative, that I've been boppin' to on the slopes this season (yes, I bow to the Foo Fighers):

What's your favorite song to ride to?

Cycling Route 2 - Tsinghua -> Xiangshan

2009-04-07T13:19:00.000+08:00

Chingming Monday was another beautiful day. Didn't want to stay indoors so took the old bike out for a peddle, this time Tsinghua -> Xiangshan or Fragrant Hills (清华－香山). The whole route is about 25km and flat. Btw, why is Tsinghua not spelled Qinghua?

Xiangshan is famous for its red leaves in the fall and blossoms in the spring. Didn't go inside this time, way too many people. Xiangshan is also next to the Botanical Garden that I have yet to goto. Will definately visit next time.

Everyone thinks Xiangshan is so far but actually it's very close to Summer Palace 颐和园. Start from Tsinghua west gate and keep going west, follow the road boardering the north of Summer Palace and then you will hit Xiangshan Road 香山路. Follow it all the way there, easy! You should be sharing the road with the public buses.

This time I was on my normal everyday bike so the going was slow. On the way there got lost so took about 90min to get there. The way back was much quicker, about 50min.

Cycling Route 1 - Cyclosports

2009-04-06T18:04:00.004+08:00

Went for a bike ride with Cyclosports on sunday. Every weekend, these guys meet near the south gate of Chaoyang Park to go cycling. For 100 RMB you can rent a proper road bike (super light with many gears) and helmet. If you have your own bike, you can just join for free! Sunday is better for the beginners as the 60km route is flat and therefore easy.

Here's a map of the route we took. The first bit is on the street with many cars but after the first left turn you are into village / river scenery, very nice! I only got halfway before my front tire blew out, I think a pebble got stuck in the tube and caused it to pop. Anyway, was great fun, I felt like I was in a cycling race! Gonna try again, gotta finish this route!

What should I eat in Beijing?

2009-04-01T23:59:00.007+08:00

Lately I've been reading food blogs and here are some of the better ones I have found to answer this most important question:

Appetite for China - Reviews of restaurants in China and recipes
Too much food in Beijing - One man's journal about eating in Beijing
Boom Beijing - Beijing restaurant reviews (bilingual)
Chowhound China - Public discussions about where to find the best food in China.

SiuYeh - HK food blogger, writes about travel too
ChaXiuBao - HK food blogger, witty commentary

Spicy Peanuts 麻辣花生!

2009-03-29T17:49:00.005+08:00

For a quick fast hit of Sichuan spice, these Mala Penuts 麻辣花生 are perfect! They go great with beer (recommend yanjing 燕京) or baijiu 白酒. Would never find a snack like this in quick-gimme-some-water-can't-handle-spicy-food-HK.

Carmina, snowboard buddy / short-story writer / podcaster extraordinare, introduced them to me on the ski slope (checkout her dark fiction here). I finally found a pack in my local market and they cost just 2.50RMB!

This brand is called 玉辉牌 but I'm sure many other companies make them.

Art or Tomato Abuse?

2009-03-24T01:05:00.008+08:00

Another visit to 798 blah blah. This time went to a British art gallery opening.

Here's a cool display, the letters are all airport codes. Being ex-airline industry, I can recognize most of them. CTU = Chengdu; FOC = Fuzhou. Anyway here's a website I always used to use to decode.

The highlight of the gallery was this super-weird performance art involving tomatoes! Here the artist is facing the wall throwing tomatoes. Yes he stood there bouncing the red veggies off the wall while his partner was blending them into juice. Then he would pour the juice all over the head of Van Gogh!

Handstand time, note the video also stars tomatoes.

Pouring fresh tomato juice all over his pants...room smelled like V8 juice.

Tortured artist drenched in tomato juice then starts crawling around on the floor of the gallery! Is this art or tomato abuse?

Review: Made In China

2009-03-20T04:08:00.000+08:00

My dear friends Kylee and Steph came up for the weekend to visit, so we all went to Made In China for dinner last Friday to sample their famous Peking Duck 北京烤鸭.

Made In China is a modern Chinese restaurant located in the Grand Hyatt. As such, the decor and ambiance is top notch. The restaurant itself is not very big at all. Coupled with the much-buzzed-about open kitchen, it gives the place a cozy, comforting feel.

Spices for duck.

Making dumplings.

Of course we had to order the duck. These birds are rosed in a large woodfire oven just behind the kitchen.

Great maple-brown glaze!

Steph waiting for her duck. In the meantime, the raspberry ice tea was very yummy.

We were quite disappointed with the duck. The taste was just ok and they only gave us 3 plates of mostly skin. The rest of the duck was quickly whisked away somewhere never to be seen again. Also there were only 3 condiments (sweat sauce, garlic, sugar). At 200+ RMB per duck, I expect a lot more (see rival restaurant Da Dong).

Also ordered their famous Beggar's Chicken. It is wrapped in clay and cooked. Got to break open the clay with a wooden hammer!

Meat was falling off the bone. Very tasty, complex flavor with a tinge of wine. I thought it was better than the over-hyped duck.

Bottom line: Not worth the 200 RMB per person. Can pay slightly less for more food and better duck at Da Dong. If you must come here, skip the duck and order their regular dishes. Drinks were very good.

Ok no more blogging at 4am, gnite!

Bike Hotel

2009-03-16T16:46:00.002+08:00

Owners leave their bikes here so they won't get lonely while they explore the Forbidden City.

Everything tastes better with 腐乳

2009-03-10T21:14:00.005+08:00

Pickled tofu 腐乳 (fu2ru3) aka Chinese cheese is awesome! It tastes great on bread, egg, rice, veggies, ham, etc. It's China's equivalent to ketchup; everything tastes better with 腐乳!

Here's the 腐乳 I ate with my toasted bread (gotta be toasted) today 王致和-香辣腐乳, can be found in any supermarket and keeps forever. I'll be trying out these 腐乳 recipes later.

If I ever build a fallout shelter, I'll be sure to put a box of 腐乳 on the shelf between the AA batteries and Ritz crackers.

Snowboarding season's ending

2009-03-08T11:38:00.004+08:00

Went to Nanshan on Friday on my own, legs are still wrecked.

Weekdays @ Nanshan are great! No people, no lines, less than 10 people on the park. Oh and the all day lift ticket was super duper CHEAP! only 22 RMB! They now have a 90% off deal since the season is almost over!!

I can't believe I spent a whole day snowboarding for less than 100 RMB including bus, ticket, food. Good times :)

Last official day for Nanshan this season is March 10th....gotta find another hobby...sigh

Spring visit to 798

2009-03-04T10:09:00.003+08:00

This Sunday, paid a visit to one of my favorite places in Beijing - 798 art district - after a long hiatus (too cold in winter to walk around there). If you don't know what's 798, you can read my previous posts.

Unfortunately, many large galleries were empty, I think because not many people went in the winter. Here are some highlights of what I saw:

Incredibly life-like animal/person/aliens lounging around in their space pods, awesome!

Artist name is Unmask, find out more about the gallery & artists here.

Yum, I love cabbage

Main reason for visiting this time, is the opening of a friend's shop on 798 street west 西街.

Caicai's shop is called Gezidian 格子店 and she sells small locally hand-made nick-knacks great for souvenir or gifts. Please visit her shop if you get the chance!

Here's another cool sculpture exhibition, theme is about the 5 elements: wind, water, fire, wood, earth. But I'm not sure which element this one is :P

This one is wind, very cool

Fire, the pile of black stuff is all charcoal.

Another circle of elements

Be sure to haul your ass 798 if you come to Beijing!

Satellite View of Forbidden City

2009-03-03T19:43:00.003+08:00

Here is a great satellite view of the Forbidden City. Home to former emperors, it is at the very heart of Beijing. It is the world's largest surviving palace complex. There are 980 surviving buildings covering an area of 72 hectares. What an amazing architectural achievement.

I visited back in autumn and walked and walked until my heels ached. This place is HUGE. I'll have to go back later and take some cool photos.

Don't have time to come see the city yourself? Checkout the next best thing: virtual Forbidden City by IBM.

Key to China's economic miracle - don't sleep

2009-02-25T01:48:00.007+08:00

Here is a picture taken around 10am this morning from my balcony window. My those guys are hard at work at a new luxury apartment complex here in Wudaokou.

Here is the same picture taken last night at 2:30am! The trail of trucks is even longer than in the daytime! Sleep, who needs sleep?? I have also heard them working in the middle of the night on a Saturday!

Microcosm of China's insane rate of growth. If Chinese people are willing to work around the clock for just an apartment complex, we'll have this aircraft carrier sooner than the world thinks!

Accomodation in Harbin - Mudanjiang Hotel 牡丹江宾馆

2009-02-19T22:32:00.003+08:00

Looking for a cheap, clean & decent place to stay in Harbin? Forget the tourist traps in Zhongyangdajie 中央大街. Look no further than Mudanjiang Hotel 牡丹江宾馆 located right in downtown, about 5min ride to Harbin train station.

This place is a very good 3 star hotel comparable to any business hotel abroad. Carpeted rooms with TV, shower, hot water kettle, tea, slippers, etc. Best thing about it is the price, just 150 RMB per night for a double! What great value! We just walked in and got a room, didn't even need reservation. Will stay there next time I'm in Harbin.

牡丹江宾馆
哈尔滨市南岗区马家街188号
T：0451－8257－4000

Snowboarding in China - Yabuli review 亚布力

2009-02-18T23:25:00.002+08:00

1. Intro
On my CNY trip to Harbin 哈尔滨 in northeast China, apart from enjoying the snow & ice festivals, Denis and I traveled to Yabuli 亚布力 "中国最大，设施最先进，条件最为优越的雪上运动场所 translation: the biggest, baddest and bestest ski resort in China."

Yeah maybe that was true back when they hosted the 1996 Asian Winter Games, but if you ask me, Yabuli left much to be desired.

2. Getting there
We joined a rip-off local tour in Harbin that included bus & lift ticket. It's about 200km SE of Harbin so the drive took about 3 hours. The drive was quite beautiful with snow blanketing everything as far as the eye could see.

There are other ways to get to Yabuli. There is a train that runs twice a day from Harbin station to Yabuli station. The station is about 5-10min by car to the main slope. Apparently there are lots of cheap and nice long-distance buses from Harbin to a nearby town, but I forgot the town name :P

3. Slope
In terms of snow, thanks to it's latitude, Yabuli is one of the few resorts in China to have natural snow. You can see from the map below, there are many sections to the resort. The yellow circle is the main mountain and where the advanced runs are (where we spent the day). In terms of skiable area, its definately one of the bigger ski resorts in China, if not the biggest. BUT, only IF and that's a big IF, they open more of the runs. From the map it seems there are 4 major runs but when we were there, only the run on the far left was open (see red arrow).

Here is a pic I took from mid-mountain, just before getting off the 1st lift. The run on the far left is the only one open, the big run in the middle was effectively closed. Someone said we could hike there from the top of the left run (???), but it didn't seem worth the effort.

Here's the interchange to the next chairlift (its a gondola!) that takes you to the top. Only people with "advanced" level armbands can take this one (and tourists). Most of the people you see here are beginners.

As there was only the one advanced run, we all got bored quite quickly. A 2-night trip turned into a 1-night trip. On the bright side, the weather was good, the snow was decent (they were grooming the trail on day 2) and the lifts have covers! The one run was quite long, probably the longest in China....from top to bottom would take around 5-10min. We also got to ride with guys on the junior national team...they practice everyday from 5-10am and then 2-4pm!

4. Base
This is basically the entire lift ticket / rental / food area. The rental gear looked pretty bad but the more expensive rental stuff looked alright.

Here's Denis & Jon having lunch in the restaurant upstairs. Lots to choose from the menu and food quality not bad. Not many people ate here, I think because most people were on tours and had to eat with their tour group.

5. Middleman madness
One big turn-off about the trip was that we were forced to deal with an incompetent local guy when we reached the ski slope. He works with the tour company to arrange the lift tickets, rentals, accommodation, etc. Actually there were several of these middlemen hanging out at the bottom of the slope. We had no choice as we had already paid the tour company, but for anyone else, try to avoid these guys.

6. Accomodation
Denis & I stayed in a traditional Chinese hostel called huokang 火炕 - which is a room with a raised block of concrete and inside there's a compartment for a wood fire to heatup the concrete. See here the concrete is covered with a yellow mat. We had a 150 RMB dinner (that's how they make $) and then setup our futons, concrete kept us warm throughout the night!

7. Bottomline
It's good to goto Yabuli as a side trip from Harbin. Definitely not worth it for snowboarding / skiing alone. Maybe when the sport becomes more popular and they open all the runs then it might be worth its own trip. Yabuli is alright, but the service at comparable resorts like Wanlong or Nanshan is better and more professional.

8. Cost
Our tour was 580 RMB for transport there and back + 1 day advanced ski pass.
Accomodation was 300 RMB (includes 1 day advanced ski pass)

Just one all day weekend lift pass 320 RMB

Snowboarding in China - Jundushan review 军都山

2009-02-11T21:44:00.006+08:00

Jundushan 军都山 is a small resort about a 45min car ride from Beijing. Sorry no pics cause I didn't have my camera.

1. Intro
I'll give you the lowdown: unless you are a beginner, don't waste your time. This hill is tiny! Only 1 two person chairlift that's like 1/2 the length of Nanshan's.

2. Transport
I went to a night session on a Wednesday night back in Jan with Icon-X. They arranged a van to take us there. Not a long ride.

3. Slope
Tiny, only 1 longish chairlift. Elevation is zero. Lots of beginners. Only 2 realish runs. Park is small with 1 medium jump, 2 rails and a box. I spent all of my in the park and didn't even bother with the chairlift.

4. Base
The locker / cafeteria / rental area is quite new and pleasant. There were even a good number of shops there, unlike in Wanlong which only has 3 shops for such a huge resort.

Cafeteria and food looked decent, but I only got a peek.

4. Lowdown
The one thing that remotely saves this hill is the night skiing / boarding. I think it's the only hill that offers regular night sessions. So if you are dying to ride and you can only get out after work, then be my guest, shitty riding is better than staying at home.

5. Cost
Day pass.........130
Nightski pass......95

Snowboarding in China - Nanshan review 南山滑雪场

2009-01-29T10:29:00.014+08:00

1. Intro
Just an hour away from Beijing, Nanshan 南山滑雪场 is a decent sized place to spend a day polishing your shredding skills. Cost-wise, it's not that cheap compared with other resorts in the Beijing area, but that's because it's the best one. Also on weekends it can get quite packed, but then again that's China.

Nanshan is especially good for those who like to freestyle as this resort has the biggest & best park in all of China! (Here's Denis in the park doing a grab)

2. Transport
The best way to Nanshan is car. But, if you don't have a car, the second best way is to take the Nanshan shuttle bus. It departs every morning at 08:30 from Sanyuanqiao 三元桥 in northeast Beijing.

OMG I just checked the website and starting from Feb 1st, there's a new bus departing from Wudaokou 五道口! That's just like 2min from where I live! Awsome, no more getting all geared up with board, taking the subway and getting stared at by the locals.

How to get back home? No problem, the bus will take you back at 17:30.

**Remember, reserve a bus seat or lift ticket one day in advance by calling the hotline: 89091909. They will then message you a discount number that you can use when you buy your lift ticket!

3. Slope
Snow at Nanshan is of course all manmade. There are 3 chairlifts and about 4 main runs. Most are quite easy, green / blue runs. There is one short section from the top of the mountain (see picture below) that is steeper, some might consider it a black, but anyway it's quite short. Here you see the 2-person lift next to Mellow Park.

View of Mellow Park, it's a great place to practice your jumps. They also hold the annual Red Bull Open here, apparantly the biggest snowboard competition in China.

Checkout those monster kickers!

This is on the way to the top. The lifts are quite slow.

4. Base
There are 2 buildings for rentals & lockers. I think it costs about 30 RMB for rental plus you gotta pay a deposit. There are also 5-6 stores selling gear.

Here is the canteen where we had lunch in front of Mellow Park. There is an outdoor and indoor section. A great place to recharge and get some sun. There are 2 other places to eat, apart from the standard rice + chicken / pork meal, they also serve Korean. A set meal of rice+meat+soup or noodles will cost about 30RMB. Of course there's always the skewers 串 and my favorite - roasted sweet potato.

5. Bottomline
Shuttle bus.................................30
Resort entrance ticket....................20
All-day weekend lift pass
(with 40% reservation discount)........200
Total..................................RMB 250

SALT

2009-01-24T11:46:00.003+08:00

Last Sunday we went to SALT for Frances' farewell brunch. SALT is located in the Lido disctrict 丽都 in NW Beijing, known for being a quiet expat area.

SALT is an upscale restaurant that serves a modern western cuisine. It has won a number of expat foodie awards including Best Restaurant, Best Steak, Best Contemporary Cuisine, etc. They have a great brunch set menu that's not to expensive, you can choose 2 course (138 RMB) or 3 course (158 RMB).

I had the cold muscles (not pictured) which were fresh with a tangy flavor.

Here we have some sort of soup that Denis ordered. Seemed okay.

Here's my main dish, risotto. The rice was fine and taste was fine, nothing special though, what I should have ordered was....

The STEAK! This was the highlight of the brunch and I didn't even order it. The steak was very jucy and soft and done just right at medium rare. Sauce was also delicious, I will have to come back to order a full portion for myself!

Banana pancakes with chocolate sauce for dessert. The bananas were good but pancakes were weird....sort of hard and crispy, not soft and fluffy...i think they got a bit too creative here. Chocolate made it all better though.

Score: 3/5, if i ordered steak would have been 4/5

Only in China

2009-01-20T00:12:00.001+08:00

Seen on the road to Wanlong ski resort

Live inside a transformer

2009-01-16T15:13:00.002+08:00

Alright this has nothing to do with Beijing but this guy's tiny Hong Kong flat is so cool....it transforms into 24 different configurations!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/garden/15hongkong.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Snowboarding in China - Wanlong review 万龙滑雪场

2009-01-13T00:32:00.012+08:00

Wanlong 万龙滑雪场
I'm sure all you boarders & skiers are wondering what's a Chinese ski resort like? Let me preface this by saying that I've experience in a number of ski resorts in countries like USA, Canada, France, Japan, Australia, so I like to think I know what I'm talking about.

Needless to say considering there was not a lot of natural snow, I was impressed with Wanlong. The snow is decent (hard packed & dry), runs are medium length, resort seems organized, food is good, hotel was great.

Wanlong is about 4 hours from Beijing above a town called Zhangjiakou 张家口. Because it is so far away, you usually stay overnight.

The mountain itself is not very big...there are 2 main charilifts and a 3rd one in the middle that goes to the top. There is also a cute cabin at the very top where you can rest and warmup. The runs are medium in length (much longer than the better known Nanshan Ski Resort 南山滑雪场). The difficuly is also much harder than Nanshan, steeper gradient + harder snow. This is not a place for beginners.

I was pleasently surprised with the average skill level of all the skiers/boarders. This means there were less people and no long lift lines! The only few improvements would be to speed up the chairlifts and put in more jumps or a park for doing tricks.

I also must warn you that during Jan it is damn cold. At the bottom it is about -5-10C but on top with the wind sheild it must have been -15-20. Goggles and face mask are a must! Especially if you are going full speed down from the very top. I could see frozen drops of water on my friend's eyelashes.

Food
There is a large cafeteria in the 2/F main building. There was much variety: noodles, dumplings, rice, pasta, sandwich, etc., quality was not bad. The only bad thing is everyone must purchase a card and put $ in the card to buy food.

Shuanglong Hotel 双龙酒店

Besides snowboarding, this was arguably the best thing of the trip. 5 of us stayed in a 2 bedroom suite, with 2 beds in each room, so we just added a mattress for the 5th person.

The rooms were fully equipped, and I mean fully equipped, includes the usual plus complementary: desktop computer, humidifier in shape of bear, Dove chocolate bars x 5, plate of fruit, ski magazines, hotplate & hotpot, eating utensils, plates, bowls, water machine, coffee mugs, coffee, toothbrush, toothpaste, toothbrush mugs, etc. Breakfast was full Chinese + Western buffet with tonnes of choices. Most impressive for a Chinese hotel.

Overall a nice resort and I would be happy to go again.

Cost (RMB / person)
Bus there and back......................200
Hotel (suite for 4+1bed)................324
Lift ticket 1.5 days (15% discount)....399
Total........................................923

BEIJING TIP: sites for learning Chinese

2009-01-06T23:36:00.003+08:00

Seeing as I've been in Beijing a while studying Chinese, I have come across a number of online resources to use. As you can imagine, there are countless sites devoted to this, but here are some good ones I have come accross:

MDBG - a great English-Chinese-English dictionary, I use it everyday!
nciku - dictionary and more, lookup characters by drawing them with your mouse. They also have mini lessons a vocab tracker.
chinesepod - great podcast with new audio lessons each week, too bad you gotta pay.
popupchinese - audio lessons for crazies taking HSK
skritter - good reading & writing drills

Beaches

2009-01-03T20:57:00.003+08:00

Ok first post of 2009 but i'm continuing my San Diego series

What's a trip to San Diego without checking out the beach? The beach is definitely a major part of San Diego culture and one of the main reasons why someone would choose to move here.

Here are some nice pics from my visit to Pacific Beach

Loong pier, the white huts are also very cute

Only a few ppl and the gulls here today as it's still winter....

Nothing better than clam chowder by the beach!

The moon is an early riser

2008-12-30T11:31:00.002+08:00

The moon peeking out from behind this tree in Balboa Park

Star Trek Exhibition

2008-12-28T10:26:00.004+08:00

Lucky for me there was a Star Trek exhibition going on at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park!

Here's the entrance, check the cool posters. And that's a SR-71 Blackbird on the right. Inside, there was a whole timeline of Star Trek, TNG, Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise. Also had some cool replicas of sets, props and uniforms.

Although the price of admission was $26, it was worth it just for this picture: Captain Wong of the USS Enterprise! Um, where's my crew??

Scotty, beam me down to the restroom!

Can't wait for the new Star Trek prequel movie directed by J.J. Abrams coming out this summer. It looks great! Checkout the trailer here!

Balboa Park

2008-12-26T00:24:00.001+08:00

For those who have an afternoon to kill in San Diego and don't want to goto the beach, I would highly recommend Balboa Park. One of the largest urban parks in America, Balboa Park is home to many mid-size museums, lovely gardens, performing arts venues and the famous San Diego Zoo. Try to go on a tuesday as there is free entry to 2 or 3 museums on that day. I went to the photography, art and aerospace museum (more on that later).

The park is filled with spectacular greenery such as this ginormous Ent tree that was looking after the garden. There was also a Japanese garden but I didn't go in.

I spend a good 5min marveling at this monster tree.

Here's another giant that some local schoolkids are learning about. Look at the size of those roots!

The Grinch hiding behind one of the theaters getting ready for his evening show.

Free entry to all to the botanical gardens. It's housed in this interesting building at the end of the lilly pond.

The garden itself is not very big but there are interesting specimens such as carnivorous plants and plants that give of strange smells.

I spend most of the day there wondering around and even took a nice nap on the lawn.

Kim Qi

2008-12-25T11:21:00.002+08:00

Seen on a highway in San Diego, the driver was not Korean, not Asian

Racine & Laramie - old school tobacconist

2008-12-24T21:36:00.004+08:00

I visited San Diego's Old Town one afternoon - its basically a recreation of what a town would have looked like back in the 1800s. There are a bunch of houses & stores surrounding a town square / commons all renovated in the old style.

I generally don't like very touristy places and Old Town was no exception - too much blatant souvenir selling and too many tourists. However there was one gem to be found and that was Racine & Laramie, an old style tabacco shop.

Racine & Laramine was apparently San Diego's very first tobacco shop. Today it's one of the most interesting shops in Old Town.

Here is the old school entrance, complete with native Indian statue to greet visitors.

Inside is a plethora of antique or antique style tobacco products & accessories like lighters, cigarette cases, pipes, zippos, cigars, posters, etc. I really like the old school atmosphere of the place. As you can see things were just strewn everywhere on those wooden counters & display cases.

Here the very knowledgeable grey-haired salesman is debating the intricacies of an antique pipe with an equally well-informed, white-haired customer.

Some cigars on display. There was also a separate room for the fine cigars...no Cubans though.

The entire store with the wooden panelling and old-style furnishings made me think I was in a time warp. If you are a tabacco enthusiast or like old fashioned things, this just might be worth coming to Old Town for.

Lunch at Georges

2008-12-15T15:30:00.000+08:00

Went to a classy restaurant overlooking the sea the other day. It's called Georges at the Cove located in La Jolla. There is a proper restaurant on ground level which is very $$$. So we had lunch at the Ocean View Terrace on the roof, which is much more affordable and just as good (same chef).

Here's my fish taco, seafood with a Mexican flavor, a favorite with San Diegans. It was tasty, crispy and light. They also came with red and green taco chips, very festive!

Here's Chris' shrimp kabab, it was pretty good as well.

Jumbos by the sea.

Exploring an aircraft carrier

2008-12-14T02:21:00.008+08:00

The USS Midway has a long and decorated history. It was first launched in 1945, was involved in the Vietnam war, Desert Storm and was the first carrier group to be stationed in Japan. It was finally retired from active service in 1992.

Today it functions as a museum at Broadway Pier in downtown San Diego. The entrance fee is $17 which includes a great audio tour. There were also a number of past crew members employed as museum guides on the ship. It was particularly fascinating talking with them. I don't think there's any other actual aircraft carrier museum in the world....highly recommended!

Walking to the entrance, what a huge boat!

Chris as a hot seaman. How did they fit into those bunks???

These huge chains are attached to the carrier's anchor.

Engine room - imagine having to man this station...

Gotta keep the ship well oiled

Hilarious guide to the organizational structure of the Navy.

On the deck of the USS Midway.

Here is a model of an F-18 Hornet. By strange coincidence there was a tragic F18 crash in a San Diego neighborhood a day later.

Here is the bridge of the ship, too bad we didn't get a chance to go in as there wasn't enough time.

Finally we're at the bow of the ship. San Deigo is the largest Naval base on the west coast Those two ships on the other shore are both active aircraft carriers based in San Diego.

Here is the menu of what the crew ate everyday.

Living in San Diego

2008-12-12T10:49:00.007+08:00

Ever wonder why San Diego is such a laid-back place? It's because of the 300+ days of sun and the gorgeous beaches. It is so laid back that it's common for people to goto work in their flip-flops and shorts! Wearing khakis & a collared shirt is considered dressed up. People even go surfing during their lunch hour! It's no wonder that people who live here never leave.

This is a great view of La Jolla shores, look at that sky!

Here is Matt & Amy's house. Its a cozy 3 bedroom, 2 floor house in a new suburb right next to a section of farmland. Sometimes we can see hot air balloons landing nearby!

There place is about 30min drive from downtown and is not far from the mall. I wouldn't mind living in this neighborhood!

Imagine surfing here every morning...this is like the exact opposite of Beijing...sigh....

News: Free WiFi in BJ by 2011

2008-12-10T15:01:00.002+08:00

Interesting news from Danwei says that there will be free WiFi access throughout Beijing by 2011!!

Too bad, I probably will have moved back to Hong Kong by then.

San Diego - Food

2008-12-08T19:00:00.001+08:00

The last time I was in the States was about 6 years ago, so I was looking forward to eating some good wholesome (fat) American food and real Mexican food this time around. Here are some pics of the food I had in day 1 & 2:

Ah, the breakfast burrito, a staple of the SoCal morning routine. Scrambled eggs, bacon, fried potato chunks and cheese wrapped in a warm, soft tortilla shell - the perfect start to the day! Don't forget to add the jalapeno hot sauce!

Breakfast was so filling that I didn't need to have lunch. So dinner was at Bamboo Hut - a Hawaiian joint. What's Hawaiian food? Creative sushi rolls, rice and lots of meat. This was pork and garlic rice.

Here's Amy's favorite spam sushi - everything tastes great with spam.

Some kind of fried sushi roll - not bad!

This small joint called El Pescador (means fisherman in Spanish) in La Jolla sells fish caught fresh everyday. I had fresh grilled seabass sandwich and clam chowder soup. The fish was very fresh, making the sandwich nice and light...the best sandwich I've have had in a long time!

I definitely have to visit this place again!

stay tuned for more food posts!

Union station, LA

2008-12-08T08:00:00.000+08:00

Here's the inside of Union Station, LA, quite a nice and cozy train station. I was waiting for the LA - San Diego train.

Stopover in Tokyo airport

2008-12-08T04:00:00.000+08:00

On the flight from HK to San Diego, I had 2hrs in Tokyo airport. Just enough time for lunch!

Hamburger steak set - Japanese love to eat a grilled hamburger patty with rice. I love it too, especially with the egg on top!

This must be the poshest looking airport smoking lounge in the world.

Great Wall - Mutianyu 长城－慕田峪

2008-12-08T02:01:00.005+08:00

Last month my friend Christy visited Beijing and we went on a hike to the Mutianyu Great Wall 慕田峪. The Great Wall is split into many sections around northern China. Mutianyu is one of the most accessable, only about 2hrs north of Beijing. As this section is so easy to get to, it is also the most popular (other than Badaling section) and hence is very well maintained.

The Wall is nestled among the tress all wearing their fall colors.

A group of school boys on a field trip taking a break under the golden trees.

Watchtowers are spaced out along the wall. We hiked along 5 watch towers following the contour of the mountain. There were some steep sections but as the steps were so well maintained it was not difficult.

Christy taking on the Great Wall.

Looking out from a watchtower. As we went on a weekday not many tourists were there.

Me and Denis at the top of the watchtower.

Beautiful fall leaves.

Only 3:30pm and the moon is already out!

Taking a break 休息休息

2008-12-04T12:05:00.000+08:00

Reason for lack of updates: I'm now back in HK getting ready for my trip to the states....in the meantime enjoy these cute kitties! (seen sun bathing in Beijing University 北大）

Vehicles: more bikes!

2008-12-03T21:39:00.003+08:00

Bikes are still the most common mode of transport in Beijing - Tsinghua University 清华大学 campus.

BEIJING TIP: websites to help you survive & navigate the city

2008-11-25T01:47:00.006+08:00

Here are a list of sites I have been using to help me survive in this city:

http://ditu.google.cn/maps
The indispensable google map....this map has everything, whether you are looking for restaurants, stores, banks, gas stations, you get the idea. Sorry only chinese, the english version of googlemap Beijing sucks.

http://www.thebeijinger.com/
http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/
Local expat sites for everything that's going on around the city every week. Check the forums for tonnes of tips like where to shop, dentists, employment, where to find thanksgiving dinner...

http://beijingexpert.com/
English blog with lots of info on restaurants

http://www.dianping.com/
http://beijing.fantong.com/
Chinese restaurant review sites, each with thousands of opinions and ratings.

http://www.qunar.com/
Looking to buy airline tickets in China? This is a must check! It's not a travel agency, instead its cutting edge airfare aggregator gives you a list of all the different airfares from airlines and agencies at any one time + a link to purchase the ticket. A very cool site!

3rd visit to 798

2008-11-21T01:05:00.009+08:00

Made another visit to super-modern art zone 798, this time I took more pics. For you artsy folks you can read more about my last visit to the area and its background. Click on the pics to enlarge.

This sculpture makes a powerful statement.

Massive freaky painting....all the faces are eyeless!

Fashion display by I.T.

BJers enjoying the funky sculptures

These massive warehouses are a great space for art.

An industrial feeling permeates 798

Inside the warehouse, these glowing cubes displayed all kinds of funky products.

Muji display

Now this was the weirdest installation of the day. From a pitch black room we walk through a door and lo and behold: a small black child playing in the dirt & straw with a fake vulture in the background (his mom is sitting to the side keeping an eye on him). WTF??

Obviously it's copied, I mean inspired by this incredible photo by Kevin Carter. Sometimes modern art is really hit or miss.

More funny sculptures

more autum in Beijing

2008-11-19T17:33:00.002+08:00

中山公园

autum in Beijing

2008-11-18T10:16:00.002+08:00

seen at a park next to Forbidden City

NLGX 南锣鼓巷

2008-11-13T23:57:00.005+08:00

Nanluoguxian g or NLGX or 南锣鼓巷 just east of Houhai 后海 is an 800m long street filled with hip shops, coffee lounges and bars. Apparantly it's been around for 800 years and was a residential area for officials during Ming and Qing dynasties.

I spent the better part of a sunny sunday just strolling around up and down the street.

Some locals just chilling outside, they do that a lot here...walk around any hutong 胡同 (traditional Beijing neighborhood) and you will see Beijingers young and old (usually older) just hangin' around outside chatting. Recognize my shadow?

Traditional chinese molassas candy blown into weird shapes and animals. I remember when I first visited China at the age of 7 a guy like this made me a stick of candy in the shape of a phoenix.

Here's what NLGX looks like on a sunday...

Xiaowais 小外 sitting on the side of the street acting like locals and loving the attention, there must have been 20 ppl taking pics of them.

Interesting door design I came across

Watch out for flying bikes!

Typical view of a houtong 胡同 alley, it's fun to just wander in and out of these streets.

A funny little t-shirt shop

Same shop at 6pm

Apparantly Beijing's smallest bar....just 12 square meters, i couldn't fit

Vehicles: Scooters

2008-11-09T16:52:00.002+08:00

Various types of scooters mingle with bicycles and cars on Beijing streets. Here are some more colorful examples I came accross lately:

Would you dare to drive this?

Scooters for carrying heavy stuff like water bottles, trash or kids

Vehicles: Bikes

2008-11-07T17:38:00.004+08:00

The bicycle is the most common vehicle in Beijing, everyone and their dog has a bike. However, this is the 1st time I have ever seen this species of bike. Discovered in Nanluoguxian g 南锣鼓巷.

Long lost descendant of this old boy?

My home in BJ

2008-11-03T22:55:00.003+08:00

Ok i finally took some pics of my home in BJ. I am now staying on the north west side of Beijing city in Haidian district 海淀区 in an area called Wudaokou 五道口 in Dongshengyuan development 东升园. This area is definately the student corner of Beijing. There must be more than 10 universities scattered around. I am staying closest to Tsing Hua University 清华大学

My desk where all the blogging happens....my room is facing south which is great cause I get a lot of sun during the day. I also have an indoor balcony where I can hang my laundry. Beijing is very dry and clothes just dry in half a day, unlike humid HK.

Here's the view looking in from the balcony. Pretty big and bare room....I should put up some posters.

Here is a view of our living room. Yes that I a fridge in the corner....it does not fit in the kitchen. Also have a good size tv. Alright, that's all for today's tour....

Bai Jia Restaurant 白家大院

2008-11-01T13:01:00.005+08:00

Bai Jia 白家大院 is more than a restaurant, it is like going back in time to the Qing Dynasty and dining as an aristocrat would. Definately two-tumbs up!

15 Suzhou Jie, Haidian, Beijing
苏州街15号，海淀区
tel：62658851

From the Bai Jia gate, we were greeted by walked down this beautiful lantern-lined alley - really good way to set the atmosphere - which opens up to an inner courtyard garden with tables both inside and outside.

All the staff are dressed in constume - men dressed as eunuchs deliver food to the tables which is then served by waitresses (our waitress pictured here). Service was very attentive. There is also great entertainment during the meal including singing and mask changing 變臉 (very impressive, quite an amazing talent these guys have).

Food is imperial style Beijing food. Very tasty and beautiful to look at. Here we have some sweet and sour fish. The food was more expensive than most Beijing restaurants but still cheaper than the average HK restaurant. About 200 RMB per person.

This is a tofu hamburger

Here is the waitress who took our order.

Adventure in Beihai Park continued

2008-10-24T19:42:00.003+08:00

Here are more pics of our epic journey to Beihai Park back in September. That day we not only conquered land, but also water. We went around Behai Lake in our pedal-powered duck boat while ramming into innocent vessels.

What a sleek ship!

Working on our tan

Cost of duck boat rental was 60RMB / hr

Lunch at Google

2008-10-23T17:32:00.007+08:00

I was invited to the Google Beijing office for lunch yesterday. There building is very near where I live in Wudaokou 五道口 in a commercial complex called Tsing Hua Science Park. Needless to say, it was very Google-like, with colorful hallways, lounges, some cubicles wildly decorated by stressed-out engineers.

The highlight was definitely lunch. BJ Googlers eat in a canteen which felt like a high school cafeteria. There was a Chinese corner (many choices) and a Western corner (not so many choices). The quality of ingredients and way of cooking was quite high. I had duck & lotus root soup, abalone (???!!!) with tofu, fish, chicken, salad, yam, fruit....best lunch since coming to BJ!

Facilities and freebies in BJ office:

- all kinds of drinks

- all kinds of fruit

- snacks like chocolate, biscuits, cookies

- coffee, tea

- massage chair

- massage room with 3 tables & massuse

- gym with trainer

Adventure in Beihai Park

2008-10-20T22:51:00.003+08:00

Here are some pics of our (me & Denis) trip to Beihai Park 北海公园 back in September.

Here is Denis at the entrance of the park. That white tower on the hill is the White Dagoba. It was built by the 1st emperor of the Qing Dynasty in Tibetan style architecture to show his belief in Buddhism.

Here we are after climbing up the hill.

These guys like to stand on each corner of the pagoda roofs

Peace charms decorating the side of a incense cauldron

This little man was having a blast firing cannons at invading tourists!

Denis and I finally found the fabled dew catcher statue. The story was that the emperor believed that drinking fresh dew every morning would allow him to live forever. That's Denis in the corner trying to catch dew droplets.

Hooters!

2008-10-19T14:04:00.004+08:00

Ok here is the long awaited review of Hooters BJ. Made a trip here 2 weeks ago for my b-day dinner. Actually I have never been to a Hooters in the states, so this is a non-biased review.

Food - of course American style. Very nice chicken wings, a bit on the oily side but that's what you would expect right? I also had a philly cheese steak sandwich which was only ok as the bun was a bit soggy and the steak a bit tough.

Entertainment - every hour the girls get up in front of everyone and do a little dance. It's not very exciting as they don't seem to be having much fun. I imagine that in the States the girls would at least be pretending to go wild. Here's a pic:

Here's me with our waitress, hot stuff? Maybe next time....

Best of Beijing: A handicap-friendly city

2008-10-18T12:00:00.012+08:00

In preparation for the Paralympics, Beijing has made a number of improvements in handicapped accessibility, especially in the tourist areas.

However, not all improvements were welcomed. Gardeners at Beihai Park 北海公园 realized the utter waste of space these public phones are, as everyone and their dog has a mobile phone.

What better way to remedy this than to flowerize them!

Tsing Hua University 清华大学

2008-10-16T22:21:00.004+08:00

Visited Tsing Hua University 清华大学 back in September. The school is located on the NW area of Beijing in the Haidian district 海淀区 (also where I live).

Tsing Hua is considered one of the best universities in China, together with Beijing University, they are like Oxford & Cambridge.

Here are some pics from when I rode my bike around the Northern side of campus. It's quite beautiful!

Cool sculpture

Cammo trees (yes they are real)! I wonder why they need to hide...

Old Tsing Hua building

There is even a park in the university!

What a nice park!

Students dancing in the park. This seems to be a popular pastime for Beijingers. In many of the parks, you will see a gathering of people practicing waltz, cha cha, swing and even the macarena! All while bad music blares from a 1990s stereo system.

A soon-to-be Tsing Hua student's biology experiment

New favorite artist: 盧廣仲

2008-10-16T19:58:00.004+08:00

Ok not a post about BJ but I love listening to 盧廣仲. I'm not very in-touch with pop music so bare with me if you already have been listening to him for the past year.

He is a Taiwanese singer / songwriter who picked up guitar cause he got into an auto accident in his 1st year of uni! I think his songs are really relaxing to listen too and with meaningful lyrics. Also his music videos are all over China MTV & Channel V.

Xiao Long Bao 小笼包

2008-10-14T23:42:00.003+08:00

Here is an example of standard xiaolongbao 小笼包 you can find easily on the streets of Beijing. Clearly it is more bun-like and thick compared to the more refined and delicate Shanghainese species HKers are familiar with.

But, here in Beijing, all we have are these for around 4-6 RMB / basket. 2 baskets guarantee you will be full. Unless of course you have the ca$h and go upscale to Dingtaifung 鼎泰丰。

Rockin' at Modern Sky Festival 2008

2008-10-11T11:23:00.004+08:00

Over the Golden Week holiday I went to the Modern Sky Festival in Haidian Park 海淀公园 which is located in the NW next to the Summer Palace. It is a 3-day music festival 30Sep - 2Oct, I only attended the 2nd day. Admission was RMB 60.

This was the 2nd year for Modern Sky and because of the visa restrictions of foreigners, international acts were missing from the lineup this year. So it was all local bands and that was want I wanted to see!

Many rockers packing the main stage area. There were 2 smaller stages indoors - one for rock and one for techno. But the main stage was were the action was at. The highlight of the day was Hedgehog a sort of punk / techno group and AV Okubo which reminded me of Limp Bizkit.

Red-capped head bangers. There was a small mosh pit going on in the middle and other than that the crowd was pretty tame.

Umbrella sculpture reminding the crowd to bring umbrellas in case it rains. Luckily it didn't when i was there.

Food: the usual Beijing snacks - skewers, kababs, sausages

Drinks: BEER

Da Dong Duck

2008-10-09T21:20:00.005+08:00

So far i've been to 3 Peking Duck restaurants in Beijing and DaDong 北京大董烤鸭店 is the best one so far!

There are a few DaDongs in the city and the one we went to was at:

Nanxincang International Plaza

22A Dongsishitiao

Dongcheng District

东城区东四十条甲22号南新仓国际大厦

T:5169 0329

DaDong is an "A" class restaurant that is featured in all the guide books for good reason, the food is amazing! Each dish is presented as art with great attention to detail. As such this is quite an expensive restaurant for Beijing standards, we ended up paying RMB 180 per person (group of 9).

This tomb of a menu was almost bigger than our table! The photography of the food was amazing!

Tofu cakes

Pork ribs with honey glaze presented as a mountain where snow (powerdered sugar) has freshly fallen

Cherry tomato with walnut and mayo inside

Duck master

The duck here is famous for being low in fat but still tasting great!

Everyone gets their own personal duck condiments platter

Definitely a great place to take visitors and business clients

Visit to 798

2008-10-07T18:22:00.006+08:00

Alright, as promised, here are some pics of uber artsy & cool 798 area located in NW Beijing. I biked all there way there from Denis' place in Dongzhimen 東直門 which took about 30min.

The 798 area was originally created jointly by the PLA and Soviets as a joint military factory back in the 1950s. Read more here.

Now the area is home to many local artists and the factory buildings have been gutted and transformed into an ginormous art galleries!

There are many impressive exhibits by famous modern Chinese artists including this one below

Stay tuned for my next visit to 798 and more pics of funky art...

Park rules

2008-10-06T23:48:00.008+08:00

Clear signage makes for a safe park - seen at the entrance of Beihai Park:

From left to right

1. No motorbikes

2. No molesting plants

3. No jumping hurdles

4. No taxies

5. No littering / ashing?

6. No trumpets

7. No speedskating

8. No playing soccer

9. No rifles???

10. No dogs

11. No firecrackers

12. No bonfires

See more interesting things in Beihai Park

The Egg

2008-10-05T16:47:00.004+08:00

The National Centre for the Performing Arts 國家大劇院, aptly nicknamed The Egg, floats gracefully in the middle of a manmade lake. It would be cool if there were jets in the water so the egg could look like it was being boiled.

Hopefully I can see a show there one of these days.

BEIJING TIP: China Mobile costs

2008-10-01T11:53:00.006+08:00

The first day I got to Beijing, I got a Beijing number with China Mobile by buying a prepaid SIM card. These cards should usually cost about 50-80 RMB, unless you want to pick a number, then it will cost more.

This morning I got an SMS from China Mobile saying I only had 5 RMB left on my card. This was strange as I recharged my card just last week with 100 RMB. I called the customer service to find out a breakdown of the costs:

- Outgoing calls 0.6 RMB / min

- Incoming calls 0.4 RMB / min

- SMS 0.15 RMB / msg

She also gave me some tips to save money:

- Add 12593 before every local Beijing number and talk for just 0.2 RMB / min (this does not work for SMS so you gotta type it in everytime)

- Join the basic 10RMB / month plan and all incoming calls from China Mobile numbers are free (you can join this by texting "KTCTWY" to the number 10086, starting from the following month)

Vehicles: Motortrike complete with mod kit

2008-10-01T01:08:00.004+08:00

Motor tricycles or motortrikes as i like to call them are great for zipping in and out of Beijing's narrow hutong streets. Hop in the back of one of these babies and for just a handful of RMB you will be at your destination before you can say "Let me off before I hurl Peking duck all over myself!"

Motortrikes are modded in a variety of styles...many are completely enclosed in a sort of brownish green material that was probably cobbled together from failed prototype of the new Feitian 飛天 spacesuit....other models like this one are open so you can enjoy that fresh fume filled Beijing air.

Gotta love this guy's pimpin' paint job & exhaust mod!

BEIJING TIP: Do squats!

2008-09-27T20:01:00.004+08:00

Beijingers love to squat. They squat on the toilet, squat in the street, squat in the subway, squat while smoking, squat at the bus stop, squat....well u get the idea. For a newbie, so much squatting will put extensive strain on your quadriceps. So practice those squats!

Squatter spotted beside the entrance to the Temple of Heaven

Sanlitun 三里屯

2008-09-26T23:39:00.006+08:00

Here are some pics I took my 2nd day in Beijing of Sanlitun 三里屯 - a shopping / bar / restaurant district on the east side. I can actually cycle there in about 5min.

This massive adidas is the 1st shop u see coming from the main street. This is the biggest adidas store in the world!

Here is a huge UNIQLO building next to adidas. I quite like the patterns of the windows (that fool in the corner is Denis). When shopping at UNIQLO, keep in mind that the quality of clothes in UNIQLO Japan is much higher than in UNIQLO elsewhere as the Japanese like to keep the best fabric for themselves.

What a pain to keep those windows clean!

Another building similar style to Uniqlo, i like the trees, but not sure what is inside.

Further north is a VW showroom. Here we saw some zippy paintjobs for the olympics.

Best of Beijing: Panty-hose socks

2008-09-25T23:33:00.006+08:00

Beijing ladies hate that barefoot feeling, so what do they wear before they put on those heels? Panty-hose socks = Denis' favorite thing in Beijing!

Seen prancing around in Beihai Park 北海公園....Sexaaay!

BEIJING TIP: Buy a rain poncho the same day u buy a bike!

2008-09-21T19:45:00.005+08:00

Today it started pouring while Denis and I were out biking around 798 (pics to come later). We waited inside for about 1hr and the rain still kept coming down. As it was getting late, we had to bike home in the rain, in our shorts, t-shirt & sandals (abt 30min).

Everyone else biking was wearing big ponchos that covered most of the body and bike (they come in red, yellow, blue or grey). Apparently you can buy them in the supermarket, too bad for us, there were no supermarkets on the way back home.

BJ TIP: buy a rain poncho from the supermarket!!!

update: rain poncho costs 36RMB at Lotus in Wudaokou

update: 1st post about 798

Paralympics - Water Cube

2008-09-21T19:41:00.004+08:00

More pics at Olympic Park, this time of the water cube, what a cool structure! i will have to explore the inside later.

Paralympics - Bird's Nest

2008-09-20T01:52:00.007+08:00

This past monday I went to see athletics at the Paralympics. Booked tickets online for just 50RMB. Here are some obligatory pics from my visit to the Nest:

Young olympic supporters must keep their energy up!

香港加油！！Yes a HK athlete actually won gold in athletics!

Funky guitar dude and Peking Duck

2008-09-18T10:53:00.013+08:00

Last night my cousin (who just arrived on tuesday) wanted to welcome himself to Beijing with a Peking Duck dinner. Luckily I had brought my trusty food guide and lo-and-behold there was a famous duck joint just south of Wang Fu Jing 王府井 area - Liqun Roast Duck 利群烤鴨店.

Just outside on the corner of the restaurant was an old dude singing traditional songs and playing on a weird looking instrument.

Closer inspection revealed that it was basically a lie-flat guitar (which he later told us he bought in Shanghai). It was kind of funky as the frets had keys on them which were labeled in their respective notes.

Anyway, after hanging out there for a while, we went into the restaurant. It is actually a very famous place as the walls were filled with pictures of movie stars, singers, politicians eating there. Finally we got our Liqun Peking Duck! Ended up paying 117RMB per person.

BEIJING TIP: Be proactive when purchasing electricity

2008-09-16T15:14:00.007+08:00

Last night I was blogging, Denis was ironing and watching TV and we had the air con on full blast and all the lights on. Suddenly we were drenched in darkness! Denis had forgot to pay his electric bill -_-

After a trip to the property management office, we find out that over here, electricity use is not billed to you, it must be bought beforehand.

Denis apparently has an electricity card with which he was supposed to take to the bank and buy units of electricity with. The card is then inserted into the electricity box next to the back stairwell and then however many units of electricity you bought is then allocated to your flat. But the thing is, none of the tenants have direct access to the electricity box which displays how much electricity you have left, only property management has access. So you cannot know easily how much credit you have left....over complication in China makes for interesting situations.

Zero electricity credit at night is not a good position to be in. Luckily we were able to buy a few units from the convenience store downstairs.

Moral of the story - be proactive when living in China!

Cool bar at Emperor hotel

2008-09-15T22:55:00.008+08:00

There is a great bar/restaurant on rooftop of Emperor Hotel overlooking the Forbidden City 故宮. They do some nice cocktail drinks with rice wine that are quite tasty. At night the rooftops of the Forbidden City buildings light up and you can see them from this bar! Great drinks/dinner/date spot. The layout sort of reminds me of the bar on top of Banyan tree in Bangkok. Thanks to Frances for showing me this elegant place!

Lunch for 14yuan

2008-09-15T22:48:00.005+08:00

Here's what I had for lunch the other day. Noodles 炸獎麵 + dumplings + tea = 14 yuan! Taste was good and i couldn't even finish it all!

Got a new ride!

2008-09-15T22:38:00.008+08:00

Purchased at Carrefour for 368 yuan + 10 for the lock. I decided not to get the basket attachment that Denis got as it didn't come in baby blue. Carrefour has a HUGE bike section. They have normal bikes, mini-bikes that fold up, hybrid bikes that run on battery or pedal and scooters.

It was an entertaining experience, picked the bikes by testing them out in the clothing section (next to the bike section). Then going downstairs to pay (as the upstairs cashier cannot process foreign credit cards. Then go pack up to pickup the bikes. Then riding them down through the groceries section and out the exit!

Here's a pic of our bikes with a local gal....

not quite what we had in mind....

the future of China

2008-09-14T11:20:00.003+08:00

the future of China is....cabin crew???
(seen in Wudaokou 五道口)

impressive architecture

2008-09-14T02:26:00.009+08:00

Yesterday i was walking around Guomao 國貿 district. Guomao is one of the central business districts in Beijing and is full of brand new mega-buildings. In comparison to HK, Beijing's buildings are architecturally more impressive both in variety and design. Of course it also has to do with the fact that land in Beijing is cheap compared to HK. Therefore, buildings can be spaced out much more and therefore, the viewer's focus is drawn to the building itself.

One particularly impressive skyscraper is the newly built CCTV HQ. Check the pics...i was especially interested in the window washers, what a difficult job they have!

i am a refugee

2008-09-13T00:26:00.011+08:00

I have now assumed the title of refugee. My sponsor Denis has kindly sheltered me in his ultra modern studio apartment in 東直門. It is equipped with a super strong microwave and a cannot-close-the-door bathroom.

I sleep on the windowsill with a nice view overlooking a backyard full of buildings....things could be worse. Denis is sleeping now as he is sick...i hope he gets well soon.

Shenzhen Airlines

2008-09-12T09:38:00.004+08:00

In my previous live I worked for an airline. Therefore, from then on, everytime I try a new airline, I can't help but analyze various things such as the inside of the plane, the seats, IFE, service, food, etc.

On my flight to Beijing I took Shenzhen Airlines (SZ) because of the cheap airfare. If you are wondering on the ticket price you can check Ctrip. The aircraft was a basic A320 and interior pretty std for Chinese airline - as in not particularly nice. However I was pleasantly surprised by the service, the cabin crew was polite and patient and they even did a dance with their hands while the official SZ video played!

Surprisingly, the best thing about the flight was the food! I had beef rice...although the presentation was a lacking (as expected) the beef was very soft and the sauce was a bit sweet and very tasty to mix with the rice. It also came with a side of edamame beans, pack of pickled veggies and a mandarin orange.

I am now impressed with the caterer at SZ airport.

errands are like rats

2008-09-10T19:57:00.001+08:00

ok finished a marathon session of errands today....and new ones kept popping up while i was doing the ones on my list! errands are like rats!

now i gotta get some grub and drinks with friends b4 getting back to the packing...

neverending errands

2008-09-10T00:29:00.001+08:00

u don't stop, no u don't stop uh huh uh huh.....friggin errands never get done! i still have boatload of stuff to do tmr before i takeoff on thursday:

1. Buy asthma inhaler from doctor
2. Bring tennis racket to Joyce
3. Meet office manager
4. Buy insurance
5. Sort out yuan situation
6. Pack!

Packing blows

2008-09-09T00:59:00.001+08:00

Packing for Beijing is a bitch....the weather btwn Sep - Dec will be quite cold i think. sweaters & long underwear is the way to go i think....i also think i need a bigger suitcase for all these bulky items...

test

2008-09-04T17:03:00.000+08:00

testing from Hong Kong