Lisa and Sophie came to visit! - and what a good time was had by all! Here we are celebrating the safe arrival of them, their luggage AND some funds (take note - Tonks!), and BGD is also seen getting into the spirit of it all and living up to his nickname..... We rounded off the evening with a mere 5 hours of KTV (post to follow).
Tini taxi - these have a proper name, but I've forgotten it. They seem to be designed for c. 1-2 Chinese-sized people, yet Lisa, Soph and I took a 20 minute journey in uncomfortable-yet-hilarious conditions, at a pace just above walking.
On the topic of transport, we also happened upon this little bike, which struck me as a little Inspector-Gadget-like and worthy of a mention. I especially like the patriotic touch:
Food - as winter has fallen upon Beijing, we seized the opportunity to indulge in the messy food fest that is hot pot, and took a trip to the Maizidian'r Jiaoziguan'r, which serves up amazing multi-coloured jiaozi, some of which have crunchy rice particles in them. Delicious! 
I was dismayed to learn that my guests had been forewarned about the 'terrible food in China', 'not like the Chinese food you're used to' etc - it's a common misconception, fuelled largely, I imagine, by tourists who speak no Chinese, who end up at a point-and-hope restaurant eating chicken lung and the like. Chinese food in China (and particularly in Beijing - though I could be jiaozi-biased) is delicious! Anything plied with MSG can't be that bad, right? ;-) Seriously though, it's great and hugely varied - after all, China is unimaginably massive! You should come and try it... just not while I'm here though, I'm afraid - I'm booked up until March!
I do wonder why people bother doing things if they don't intend to blog about them...
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the b'sphere!