And the rest

Thursday: Cynthia's mom and aunt and uncle picked me up from the West Gate and we drove down south of Tiananmen to Qianmen Dajie. It's a recently renovated street that makes up the southern axis from the center of the city that used to have cool buildings along its sides and a tram car that went up and down the street. Now the buildings have been re-done to look ancient and soon the shops that will open there will be feichang feichang expensive. There were already a couple open, including a bookstore and pharmacy, and only about two restaurants but they all had lines out the door.

One street over to the west, normal Chinese stores and small restuarants remain, and it has a much more authentic contemporary Beijing feel. BUT one more street beyond that used to be a huge maze of hutongs that have all been torn down. It was quite eerie to cross the overpass on the nearby highway, look back at the neighborhood we just walked near, and see a raized area with only a single crumbling house still standing. What will become of that hutong area? Judging from expectations from Qianmen Dajie, some pretty expensive housing will go in... but what became of the people who used to live there is a more interesting question.

Cynthia's mom had never been to Sanlitun, so we went there next (note this is pretty much on the opposite side of town). Had dinner at a classy and delicious restuarant (I think called 1949?) located behind a shopping center. Since it was removed from the main roads it was very quite and peaceful. And best yet, they specialized in roast duck! I don't know how I've gone a month living here and still hadn't eaten that, but I was soooo soo glad to shove all that delicious duck goodness in my face. Plus other wonderful morsels that I am drooling about while I remember them.

K. After dinner we walked around the Sanlitun shopping area and then found a bar playing some acceptable live music. Only... once the musicians took a break, some random scantily clad dancers came on the stage. One did a belly dance and looked extremely unhappy the entire time, and the other did a weird repetative techno thing in a shiny silver mini skirt and white gogo boots. Awkward. We drank our apple juice in various states of amusement and horror.

Unfortunately I had tons of homework to catch up on, and had to call it a night kinda early. But we definitely had some good conversation about Beijing (better than Shanghai! Best city in the world!) and journalism and I tried to use my Chinese but towards the end of the night, as the topics got deeper, abandoned that. But at least I answered preliminary questions to the best of my ability (except when Cynthia's uncle tried to ask me how long I was in Beijing for... I blame the Beijing accent but still feel like a failure).

Fast foward to Friday: Girls night out at Nanluoguxiang. Can't get enough of this place. Love it every time. Must go back. Shopped, ate Indian food, got our nails done, and then went back and watched Gossip Girl. Good times.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Carrefour and then Wudaokou. Saturday was Cheng's friend's bday so we ate Indian food again and it made me feel drunk it was so good. Wish there was an Indian restuarant around my campus but I digress... then we went to La Bamba and had a couple drinks (their happy hour lasts till 11pm, how amazing is that?). But it was cold and rainy so I headed back early after breathing in too much second hand smoke.

Sunday I went back to Wudaokou to meet Cheng for some serious shopping. I haven't bought anything since being here except food, entrance tickets to tourist things, and transporation! So I got myself a yellow cardigan and a silver scarf, both from this little place with a bunch of even littler shops selling cute clothes, jewelry, and accessories. Next shopping destination: the Silk Market.

Ok so now I'm caught up! Tonight I've been catching up on other things, reading the news, doing some research for my project, watching the Daily Show. You know how it goes. This week is starting to look busy already, so this might be my only night to just chill. And speaking of chill, it's freakin cold here already! Too bad the Chinese socialist state doesn't turn on the heaters until October 20th. Until then I guess I'll be sleeping in my sweatshirt and taking extra hot showers so as to steam up the freezing-tile bathroom. But I shouldn't complain because after all the rain this weekend today was a true blue sky day, and nothing beats a fall blue sky day.

Gorgeous

One of the best things about living in a big city is finding a place where you can go to get away from it all. It seems hard to imagine such a thing in Beijing, but thanks to a helpful tip from our teacher, we found an amazing street tucked away in the central area of Beijing that is absolutely ideal. It's called Nanluo Guxiang and it's close to the Bell Tower but removed from all the touristy things. The small street is lined with boutiques, coffee shops, cute bars, and a range of restaurants. It's a little pricey on the Chinese side, but for us Americans it was paradise. We did a little shopping, sipped some tea and did some reading, then grabbed hot pot for dinner. Since it was raining and we didn't want to head back to campus just yet, we stopped in to get pedicures and chatted with two French guys who were there getting massages. The street is also really cool because it's a good mix of trendy Beijing locals and foreigners... overall the most chill scene I have found here yet. I will definitely be returning (especially since I didn't take many pictures).

This morning we had a field trip for class. We met up with our professor at Jingshan Park, which we had previously whizzed through on the infamous Mystery Beijing exersize. Since the day was amazingly clear, we decided we had to take the opportunity and climb to the top of the hill to appreciate the view.

Trees! And a lake! And haphazardly placed buildings in the background! You probably can't tell bc the pic is so small, but there are even the faint outlines of mountains in the distance.

Anyway, then we went to the Forbidden City through the back door, which confused the people who worked there, but I explained, "We're going from hou to xian." Obviously. Um, let's see if I can find a good picture...
I wasn't in the mood to take the standard posing-by-the-gates/throne room/palace photos so I let everyone else take those and I will steal them once they are up on FB. After we concluded our tour we headed over to Grandma's Kitchen for some good old western diner type food. At the last second I decided on a cheeseburger instead of pancakes, but now I know where to go when the pancake craving really hits. Good food, not quite American but close enough, and too pricey but hey, it hit the spot.

Gotta run to the supermarket now for some orange drAnk, water bottles, random snacks, and pears. The pears here are so good! I am addicted.