Another Mini Adventure

7^th December 2013 

December has been a busy month but we have managed to fit in a few adventures. Not surprisingly several of these adventures have involved food but not just any food – burgers! While I’m not overly fond of burgers, I am an amazing girlfriend and I fully support Rory in his quest to find Beijing’s Best Burger. Yes, that’s right, if it means I have to go to every western restaurant in the city and eat the delicious food they have on offer then I am willing to do it, all to make him happy. We’ve only been here for a few months but I am completely confident that we have completed our quest and found the best burger in all of Beijing. It’s a cheeseburger but not your average cheeseburger, this burger is a marvel. We are talking bun, special sauce, cheese, beef patty, cheese, second beef patty, more cheese, aioli, bun and not only that but they come with sides and all for the bargain price of £5!

The Brewery

It feels like you're in New York but you're in a hutong in Beijing!

Our adventures are not only limited to edible excursions. In fact, with Christmas fast approaching we decided that a trip to church would help us get in to the spirit of Christmas. Obviously China isn’t a Christian country so churches are few and far between but we did manage to find a Catholic church in downtown Beijing so after dusting off our Lonely Planet guide book we set off in search of some carols. 

The church itself was very impressive and there was a nice mix of westerners and Chinese people, there were even nuns! I crossed my fingers and hoped we would kick off the service with a nice rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful or perhaps Oh Holy Night but my dreams were soon shattered when I realised that it was just a regular Mass and they don’t sing Carols during Mass! Devastated doesn’t cover the range of emotions I felt but it was still interesting to see the church and how they do things in China! 

 

 

On the way home we walked through a few busy hutongs which reminded me that even though we can find Christian churches full of westerners, we are definitely still in China but that’s not a bad thing. Where else can you buy scorpion on a stick?

Back to the Bell Tower

03 December 2013

It’s December! We have entered our fifth month in China and I am happy to report that life here is better than expected. That’s probably not saying much. With hindsight, I realise that before I left I was a self appointed martyr, who acted as if she was being sent off to her exile/eventual death but now I’m actually here I am happy to report that I love living in China. I love waking up in my own apartment, I love the food, I love that everything is so cheap and most of all I love that I can hop on the subway and head off on an adventure whenever I want. Obviously there are things I could do without; the spitting, the smell, having to do my own washing and the chore that is cooking anything other than brownies but in general, I love it here!

Frozen lake

Coats for trees

One of the very first things we did when we arrived in Beijing was visit the Drum and Bell Tower. When we woke up the sky was blue and the air was crisp but not cold so we decided to venture back. After a forty minute subway ride which, as always, cost 20p, we arrived at Houhai Lake. To my surprise the lake was partly frozen! We had a bit of a cold snap a few days ago but I never thought it would be cold enough to freeze a huge lake! I can’t wait to come back after some proper cold weather - apparently ice skating on the lake is popular. Despite the sheet of ice people were still swimming! There wasn’t a wetsuit in sight either, just Speedos!

Assimilating with the locals

Random chickens on the doorstep

A bobo shop, for adults!

We had a quick lunch at a hole in the wall burger restaurant which despite being cooked in the world’s smallest electric grill was surprisingly good and we finished the day by walking around some of the local hutongs. Some of the pictures may look familiar which is probably because we retraced our steps from an earlier trip. I realise that everyday life doesn’t make for the most interesting Blog posts but it was nice to go back and see how Beijing has changed in the few months we’ve been here!

The Temple of Heaven

19th November 2013 

After a few uneventful days of rest and relaxation I decided it was time to leave the apartment and get some fresh air! Thankfully it was a really nice day and the air quality was pretty low so we decided to head to the Temple of Heaven. It was a mere £1 to enter the park and we spend a few hours just dandering around. I thought I was taking loads of really good pictures but it was only when I got home that I realised my balance is still completely off and every shot was extremely wonky! 

This tree looks like a person!

Spot the odd one out!

Some Chinese people having a sing-song

I wasn’t expecting much from the park but I was really pleasantly surprised. It was massive and while all the flowers are dead, I quite liked seeing the bare trees – it reminded me of home! After a while we headed off in search of food and naturally we took an hour long detour and once we finally found the burger restaurant we decided to go somewhere else! While it wasn’t a super eventful day I really enjoyed getting out of the house and finding a few new western grocery stores! So despite the lack of exciting events I still think our mini-adventure deserves a mini-Blog post :)

Do you think we have enough hot chocolate?