Spring/ early summer in Jing

Spring blossoms in Beijing. Peach, cherry blossoms, almond flowers in bloom makes for a pleasant trip to the park. this one is taken @ Yuyuantan. I snuck out during lunch time on a weekday so as to avoid the hordes of people and not to mention those spoilt, screaming kids that plague public places on weekends.

If you wanna show that YOUR multi-coloured plastic flowers are the best, you gotta walk the talk and wear them, esp the pink ones. Even if you're a man. yes.

Sandy Lam concert in Beijing. Thoroughly enjoyed her concert even though i'd never really consider myself a super-fan of hers. Still, i remember several of her hits back in the 90s and had fun singing along.

It's been a weird summer. Usually it's a sauna by May but this time, its been relatively cool with lots of rainfall. in the meantime, Beau was in his element with the internet shopping and stocking up on camping gear and gadgets - foldable chairs (with pockets that keep your beer cold!), bbq pit, taupaulin sheets, cooler box, etc. He then decided a camping trip was in order to test-drive all that gear!

We drove to Miyun and camped by the Bai river for the weekend. I'm proud to announce we've reached new heights with our camp-dinner standards - korean flavoured bbq pork (marinated at home) and veggie salad washed down with beer! It's no michelin of course, but getting there ;-)

The next morning, we climbed up to a waterfall, did some rock-climbing and then cycling.

Exhausting but fun!

Great Wall revisited

Spring fever

Each time spring comes along, I always have the irresistable urge to go hiking. I joined a hiking club on one of their trips to the great wall near the Miyun reservoir. Along the way, we walked past some watchtowers



Sunshine, clear blue skies with no clouds.



This is my first hiking trip for the season and hopefully there are many more to come.

View of the roundtower from the other cliff

Miyun Reservoir thru the watchtower

Yunmeng gorge

Hello Spring, goodbye woolly thermal underwear

Spring has finally sprung in Beijing and i've ditched the woolly thermals - nothing like sunshine to improve one's mood. my feet are absolutely itching to go hiking. i NEED to go outdoors Now.

Meanwhile, I've been playing tourguide for the past few days to an assortment of visitors and this week, dad arrives (with $10 worth of newton carrot cake!!) and i brought him out for a little jaunt downtown Beijing. Amongst the many common traits we have, serious caffeine addiction is one of them. A coffee stop is de rigeur as part of afternoon sightseeing.

looking out of the cafe @ Nan luo gu xiang hutong

the domey National Theatre - i like

Tiananmen - sparse crowds since its a weekday

post-olympics

Went to the Olympic park today for another look at the stadium/cube, and to admire the vastness of it all. The crowds have since come and gone. Now, the touts peddling instant photos, Olympic mascot keychains and other kitschy souvenirs outnumber the tourists who come to gawk at these new symbols of Beijing. Amazingly, I managed to snap this where there was nobody else in the square except the uniformed personnel. They look terribly disinterested, even from the back.

Snow in Beijing -the first for the year

Beijing has been relatively snow-less this winter.. until today. Apparently its global warming. Thats the explanation for any freakish weather anyway. From the warmth and comfort of the apartment,i can see lots of excited kids (and their parents) playing outside amidst the flurries.

Brr... i don't want to be outside, especially when i've just came back from 30deg C weather. Just as well i'm stuck at home job-hunting eh?

This reminds me, i've yet to post my Harbin /Heilongjiang photos from new year's day... I suppose i'll get it out soon.

Silver Mountain Pagoda Forest - Beijing

I've said it before and i'll say it again, that autumn is my favourite season of all, because it is the season where of the brilliant explosion of reds, yellows, green and all the shades in between. One gets a slightly melancholic feel that the cold, bleak winter is on its way. Yet, there is still plenty of bright sunshine and instead of the hot and muggy feeling you get in summer, the air is fresh, crisp and cold.

On the rare occasion that i got to mix pleasure with work, i stayed the weekend in Beijing to have a wander around the capital city. In a city known for duststorms from the north (as well as the Olympic construction frenzy), the skies were surprisingly clear blue. I even saw some stars at night!

My companion and i decided on a day trip out to the Silver mountain range in the outskirts of Beijing. Silver Mountain Pagoda Forest (银山塔林） is situated 30kilometres north of Changping district. The highest peak of Silver mountain range is 727m. Some of the oldest temples in this area were built around the Tang dynasty and the pagodas were renovated during the Liao and Jin dynasties, making them at least 900 years old. Monks used to live here, meditating in the naturally-formed caves in the mountains, and practicing Buddhism.

After climbing all the way to the viewing platform at the top, we were rewarded with great views of the rugged mountain range, and even a part of the Great Wall in the distance. There were also some classic Chinglish (and perhaps Chapanese) signs that i took pictures of gleefully.

The timing was perfect as we descended from the platform. It was peaceful and quiet except for a few visitors milling around. The rays of the setting sun were cast on the statuesque pagodas and Silver mountain, bathing them in a warm orange glow. It was a place that commanded a certain spiritual presence and it felt as though time stood still as we walked around it. I now know why the monks chose this remote and serene location to meditate and seek enlightenment.

My camera chose this opportune moment to die on me, after my trigger-happy Chinglish signs episode. In an attempt to squeeze the very last drop of life out of the batteries, i had to resuscitate them by shaking them and warming them up in my hands - except my hands were cold too! Fortunately, i managed to take some last shots before the batteries finally gave way.

This is definitely a place i want to return to again.

Mao and me

Modern art in modern China

Today i took a stroll in the art district of Chaoyang, where there is a slew of small galleries exhibiting modern Chinese art.

Surely this is irony at its height. This area used to be factory space during the communist era, churning out goods and machinery to feed the revolution, the party and its ideas. And now, it has been transformed into bougeoise art galleries for budding Chinese artists to display their creativity, their ideas and their intepretations of history to locals as well as foreigners. The painting on the top left corner is a Mao jacket in a mock salutation - i imagine it to be holding an invisible Little Red Book of Chairman Mao's thoughts. The painting at the bottom left showed a group of party officials grinning somewhat greedily at the banquet table. I wonder what would Chairman Mao have to say to this

"Seize the revolution, increase production!"

Some of Chairman Mao's sayings have been deliberately preserved here, perhaps as a reminder of China's communist past.

The words on the facade of this building translates into "Long Live the thoughts of Mao Tze-tung!"

[Translated loosely] Chairman Mao says, "The primary aim of workers should be to work, but they must also study military, government and cultural affairs, engage in socialist education activities, and to criticize capitalists".

Friendly reminder

In the first of what i think will be several installments of introducing "Chinglish", here is what i found in my neighbourhood.




"Punish severely all sorts of crimes". I would be so afraid ... except the cartoon policeman here is too darn cute！

Beijing

After 2 weeks at home, it was time to head out of the door again. This time, my folks are so blase they didn't even wave goodbye. They had an air of nonchalance when i announced i was leaving again. In fact, both of them weren't even in Singapore on the day i left! Oh well..

Beijing is my first stop in China, and its the second time i am visiting the capital. This time, i really want to explore more of the local hangouts, away from the major tourist attractions.

The weather is getting chilly in Beijing, but that doesn't stop locals from enjoying a hearty meal al-fresco. This noisy, bustling and chaotic eatery specializes in Hubei dishes and is so popular that you have to queue up to get a seat- nobody seems to mind -i guess the food is worth waiting for.

Everybody here makes a beeline for the house specialty - spicy fried fish served in a pan, with some thin, crispy deep fried biscuit to soak up the gravy. Just about every dish i had was served steaming hot and drenched with chilli.

And what better way to wash it all down with some TsingTao beer! - Hey, i'm just doing what the locals do!　

While on the subject of food (and following what the locals do), i might as well confess i tried some grilled chicken hearts 2 days back and beef tendons/ligaments (?) (yes, you heard me right） The first thing i noticed was that chicken hearts was the size. I don't know if they shrink to half their size or something when cooked but they were no bigger than the tip of my thumb. Such a tiny thing! - probably very prone to heart attack -if they weren't eaten before they hit old age . These were grilled on sticks (like kebabs or satay), Xinjiang style, marinated with lots of peppery spice and herbs. Verdict: a little too chewy and rubbery for my liking and i did feel a little bit like i was on Fear Factor while eating them - except i knew i wouldn't win $25,000 for eating them. Ugh!