Sept. 16- We arrived in Beijing to the expected- people, people, and more people, with a lot of smog mixed in. After some confusion, we boarded the bus to the neighborhood where our chosen hostel was located. We hopped off at what we thought was the correct stop, and were immediately lost. We asked some folks for directions, to which they had no response (not in English at least). After quickly discovering some hutong (an ancient community formed from narrow alleys & streets and courtyard residences), we followed a nice lady that offered to walk us to our hostel. About a mile later, we arrived to find it was full. The nice folks called another place for us which we booked immediately, fearing a trend could be forming. We cabbed it to the new place, Gongti Hostel, which is literally a 4 story section of Gongti Workers Stadium. It was interesting for about 10 seconds, until we realized the bathroom was about 30 rooms away down the hall. Our chest colds still lingering, the 4 flights of stairs didn't impress us either. But the price was right, and there was no telling how far away and/or difficult our other options were.
We called our friend Jerry, who is a Chinese American who lives in Beijing and works at That's Beijing, a local magazine specializing in life in the city for ex-pats or tourists. Jerry came over and took us to a great dinner of German food at one of his favorite places. We then went over to the Stone Boat, a great bar situated on the southern edge of the lake at Ritan Park, where Jerry had organized his birthday party. We met lots of new friends, listened to the DJs (incl Jerry) mix some great tunes, and had a ball.
Sept 17- Slept in, and strolled the streets near our place trying to find Franks, a restaurant recommended by Jerry. We couldn't find Frank, but found the Den, another recommendation , where we had a nice tuna sandwich & burger. Walked around the Sanlitun district, highlighted by our first sighting of the famously cheesy musical ensemble of 2 or 3 people playing guitar & keyboards, while singing english & chinese songs badly (usually). They were so bad we just had to stop & listen! On our way home, we stopped in one of the many cheap massage parlors (30 quai= $3.75), where we suffered thru 30 minutes of mediocrity. JJ claims it was her worst massage ever and collected a few bruises on her back.
Sept. 18- Lunch w/Jerry at another of his favorite spots (forgot the name). Jerry ordered a feast of beef, tofu, spicy chicken, mango ice, soup, all topped off with fruit tea for our chests & throats. We then hit the "herbal" pharmacy where Jerry found his favorite cough medicine, a jug of what tasted like pure honey & mint when it hit the throat. Then we saw Jerry's office (that's Beijing) and said goodbye for the day so he could get some work done.
We then headed off in a taxi to Ho Hai (the lakes) for some great strolling around beautiful lakes, narrow hutongs, and even a quick 3-wheeled bicycle rickshaw ride throughout the area (along with almost EVERY other tourist within 10 square miles). It was fun, albeit very touristic. We stopped and played cards at an outdoor bar while people watching. "It would have been better if if wasn't for those darn kids" (we know we're getting old when we say that line) who popped a few loud firecrackers near unsuspecting passers-by along the promenade. Oh yeah, the bathroom stunk worse than any other we'd been in up to this point- which is saying a lot.
We strolled thru the nearby hutong alleys once more, checking out the small shops, residences (when we could get a good look inside their gates), local restaurants, and the old men playing Wei Qi (or Wei-Ch'i, or "Go" in English), which is a board game with disc-like pieces that resembles checkers, but is considered by most Oriental game experts to be the worlds greatest strategic skill game, far surpassing Chess in it's complexity and scope- although its rules are far more simple. Unlike chess, no computer program has yet been written which has been able to compete with the best Wei-Ch'i players. I guess UNO isn't so hard after all, relatively speaking...
After taking a taxi back to our neighboorhood, we checked out Red House, another hotel in the area. We were just too worn down & still a bit sick, so we had to get out of Gongti where just going to the bathroom took too much effort. Red House was red hot, and we pre-booked the rest of our stay in Beijing. We then walked to Morel's for Belgian beer, mussels, & chicken caesar salad....MMMM.....MUSSELS! After stuffing our faces with mullosks, we headed to Bondhi, Jerry's favorite massage place. It was $17 for an 80 minute foot massage (a bank buster compared to the cheaper ones) but worth every penny. These folks know what they're doing. They provide free unlimited tea, fruit, curries w/rice, fresh squeezed juices (apple, watermelon, pear, etc), and scrubs-like clothing to make you more comfortable. We were in heaven! Another night of bad sleep due to the lingering colds, but things were getting better and would improve drastically when we moved into our new digs at Red House in the morning!
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