Settling into Life in Beijing

Prior to moving to Beijing, I figured I'd be working a lot less and therefore have a ton more free time to do things like read, learn Chinese, etc. I figured I'd go out on the weekends, but not so much during the week. However, since arriving, I've been out just about every night of the week. Between quiz nights on Tuesday nights and casual dinners and drinks with friends, it feels like I haven't had a moment of free time. I've been slowly checking out the restaurant scene in Beijing. Tried tons of Chinese restaurants for various provinces, including Gansu, Xinjiang and Sichuan. At the Gansu (a province in Chinese's northwest region), I tried "lamb's back" which was lamb's back cooked in a way similar to Peking Duck, with crispy skin and some meat you wrap with sauce and vegetables in a thin flour pancake, and bones that they cut into pieces to look like ribs. I even tried camel for the first time. At first, I didn't realize it was camel - it seriously could have been beef. Definitely the most unusual things I've tried so far.



Xinjiang province (really want to visit!) is another province in the northwest that is mostly occupied by the Muslim Uyghur minority as opposed to Han Chinese. The cuisine there is heavy on lamb, a type of bread called naan (but nothing like Indian naan) and noodles in a tomato-based broth with vegetables that reminds me of minestrone soup. The noodels are made by hand and has a thicker, chewier texture that is really delicious. I'm looking forward to visiting this region as either part of the job or for fun. It will be like visiting a foreign country.

Sichuan cuisine is popular and heavy on chilies. I still really can't tell the difference between the cuisines of the Han Chinese provinces, but Sichuan is easy to recognize since it is very spicy. There is a dish called Chicken with Chilies that is served to you on a huge plate covered with chilies. There's so little chicken in it that you really have to search hard to find a piece, but it looks really impressive. I find it rather pointless. I think Sichuan cuisine is okay.

Other foods I've tried here include pizza (not so great - something just not right about the dough and the cheese), American (terrible), Indian (not bad) and Thai (really good). Think I'm going to stick to Asian cuisines. One of my favorite restaurants so far is a vegetarian restaurant called Pure Lotus. The restaurant is so serene and beautifully decorated, and the food so simple yet delicious that the entire dining experience is bliss. I can't even think of a similar restaurant n NYC. The service here is also really good, which says a lot in Beijing since attentive service is almost non-existent. I'm usually just glad when the servers don't yell at me.

One of the people I've met here works for That's BJ, a free monthly magazine similar to Times Out or New York magazine. He says that I can do restaurant reviews for them in the future, which will be awesome. Looking forward to that.

The nightlife in Beijing I've experienced so far is definitely very expat oriented. Been to a couple of chill expat hangouts such as The Tree and Rickshaw. People are friendly and everyone seems to be a friend of a friend. I ended up going to the Summer Palace with a guy who was visiting Beijing for 10 days. He knew a friend who knew someone in Beijing who happened to have brought him to Rickshaw one night. Funny how things work out here. There are also modern, trendy bars with expensive drinks like Alfa. It's got couches and pillows and curtains that create small pockets of privacy inside a huge restaurant/bar. One of my favorite little bars so far is a tiny place located in an alley behind Gulou (the Drum Tower). It's got a rooftop area that is really nice.

I've also had the opportunity to go to a club here called Suzie Wong. The guys here claim that it's awesome, one of the few places which is classy, where the girls know how to dance and don't giggle. The truth is the place was rather boring with crappy music, and girls that did not impress. I felt like I was going to drown in smoke since smoking is allowed everywhere unfortunately. I think that when class = girls don't giggle, your standards have just sunk way too low.

And after being in Beijing for a few weeks, I've come to the conclusion that half of Beijing (including most of the places you want to go to be it restaurant or bar) is located in an alley behind something. Instructions like go around Gulou to the dark alley and walk down the alley until you see this bar, is not uncommon. It makes finding anything very difficult. I usually call the restaurant or bar in the cab and hand the phone over to the cab driver.

Besides eating and drinking, I have been taking time to see the local Beijing sites as well. The Summer Palace, which is a bit far from the center of the city in the northwest part of Beijing, is beautiful. It's very renovated, and as a result, the buildings are in great conditions and the colors on the various buildings are vibrant and pretty. The lake and grounds are pretty to walk around. However, there are so many visitors that it feels like a zoo. We climbed to the top of the main building and then went down to this street with little shops. The emperor and his many women used to go there to pretend to be regular people shopping. It feels straight out of Disney World, only it's a cute rendition of an old Chinese street.

The Temple of Heaven, which I visited after finishing up work one day, was filled with tour groups of Chinese and Korean tourists, but still felt a lot less hectic and crowded than the Summer Palace. The temple, with it's beautiful cobalt blue roof set against the clear blue sky (well, as clear as the sky in a a polluted city like Beijing can be) is absolutely stunning and magnificent. I seriously think it is one of the prettiest structures in Beijing. It is inside a big park with perfectly straight rows of old cypress and juniper trees. The grounds are extensive and there are many quiet corners to escape to, which explains why many local Beijing people just come for walks in the park.

Am in Shanxi province right now. Will write a post about my experiences here visiting the Children's AIDS hospital in Linfen (the most polluted city in China) and the ancient city of Pingyao when I get the chance.