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Published: November 17th 2012
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Snake yummy
Tough but tasty 3 weekends in a row we have brought rain and snow to where we have been visiting.
So if you are in a drought situation call us and for a small fee we will guarantee to produce out of season rain and snow.
First time it happened when we were in Beijing 2 weekends ago. Beijing is quite a dry city, but not when we are there; it poured down enthusiastically on Saturday 3
rd November and then snowed overnight with the city experiencing a very early winter, enough for the government to turn on central heating 2 weeks early.
Second weekend 9
th November we went to Qingdao and it rained heavily on Saturday 10
th November, unseasonal autumn rain.
Third weekend to Beijing on Thursday 15
th November and we looked at the forecast which said 0%!r(MISSING)ain, no chance of rain, no rain at all; and there we were enjoying the delights of Wangfujing shopping street and the night food market and down it came in bucket loads.
And then it snowed overnight in some parts of the city.
See…. we are pretty good at this weather thing!!!!
We stayed at Leo’s hostel again in the Dongcheng district which is right near Tianenmen Square, very handy to most things and a 15 minute walk to the Qianmen subway on line 2.
The Dongcheng district is one of the areas with the traditional hutong (alleyways) in which people live and work still, old Beijing that has been preserved.
Wangfujing street is the premier shopping venue in Beijing with the famous night food market just off this south part of the street. Catch the subway to this street, line 1, and follow the crowds when you exit. It’s just around the corner from the subway exit.
The night markets were great, although the Jinan eating street of QuanCheng is equally as good.
The Beijing ones had live scorpions on sticks, grasshoppers in various sizes, frogs and little tiny birds to eat. We tried snake, tough but nice, seafood and snails and then sought shelter from the rain in the souvenir shops where you bargain hard for everything. You should only pay 1/3 of what they initially ask, don’t feel bad, this is a game and a challenge, you are
Leo's hostel
Dongcheng district, DazhalanXiDa Jie, 15 minutes from Qianmen subway stop line 2 not ripping them off, this is part of how you shop.
When the rain continued and our newly bought umbrella was not coping we sheltered in what looked like a children’s shop but lead into a maze of other shops and then this amazing shopping centre with multi levels, escalators and such a decadent opulent feel.
A couple of Japanese beers at one of the restaurants prior to the closing of the centre filled in the time nicely until we arrived back at the hostel around 11pm, Martin with wet feet in his shoes that have lovely little airholes at street level!
The bar at Leo’s was in full swing with a group of men who were not staying there but just using it as a bar, Y12 beers are cheap compared to club prices and the atmosphere is nice. A Pom who lived in China, a Canadian who was staying in China to learn the language, a Kenyan and another Canadian made great company with drinks until 1am.
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