noodles and line dancing

You may have thought that, after Mary's trio of misfortune on arrival in Beijing, her luck could only improve - how wrong we all were!

On Monday, this company failed to turn up as arranged to take Mary on a 12km hike along the Great Wall from Jinshanling to Simatai - generally a fantastic day out once you manage to get there. I was worried that after such a resoundingly unlucky start, maybe Mary might begin to regret her visit, so I set about planning a Chinese style evening of food and entertainment as compensation......

One of my favourite quick eats in Beijing is the Noodle Loft, a fantastic, theatrical and cheap place to chow down on China's pasta equivalent, located within walking distance from my apartment.* The noodles are crafted "with a single chopstick" or a"by the blade of a knife" before your very eyes, and then served with a choice of sauces. Delicious and entertaining! Who could ask for anything more?

Noodlemaestros at work:

After dinner, we hopped in a cab to the south entrance to Houhai, a lake just north of the Forbidden City, where we were excited to find a floodlit group of locals, old and young alike, ballroom dancing to a makeshift stereo. We refused the initial invitations to dance, citing bad ankles, no rhythm and the like, but when the lights went down, and the familar beat of the Venga Boys kicked in, we felt it would be rude not to get involved. So, as the Chinese lined up and began their routine, we slotted in and began to dance, to cheers of "FORWARD - 2,3,4 - BACKWARD - 2,3,4 - FORWARD - 2,3,4 - SPIN TO RIGHT - 2,3,4...." by the ring leader of all this - a kind, elderly, English-speaking inhabitant of Tianjin, in town to visit his daughter (nowhere to be seen....) and have a dance. We were put to shame by his energy and overall fitness, and had to limp off sweatily, 45 minutes later, after what can only be described as an aerobic workout!

On our return home, the great wall company called again, and we arranged a 6am pick up for Mary's hike the next day..... success at last! (touch wood)

* Mary and I are now both painstakingly aware that this place is not within comfortable walking distance of Guomao subway, especially when you are starving and thirsty for beer.