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Published: October 5th 2008
No, it's not "Hidden Tiger"...
...but just scores of dancers on the morning scene at Fuxing Park.Hey all,
Well, autumm is well and truly underway, and we have acclimatized ourselves to life back in Shanghai. Rounds of fireworks at midnight last night barely shook us, as we realized they heralded the ongoing Autumn festival, which culminates this week with the end of a ten-day holiday break. We've even almost finished our annual complimentary boxes of mooncakes from management. Even though Roel disdains all mooncakes, save for the million-year-old egg ones I'm finding them a nice fix for a sugar-attack -- and then some. The minced coconut is positively yummy, but just like fruitcake, one bite's enough sugar until, well, Xmas!
And we've been slowly working our way through the must-do list bequeathed by our summer visitors... Carly and Craig. Getting up at 5:30 to be at Fuxing Park before 6:30 a.m. was difficult, but rewarding...as you can see from the pics.
Since it was such a success, we decided to follow all of their holiday tips...including a trip to Beijing (besides, we're lazy) And so when it came time to take off for the Autumn Festival, we decided to book the same trip to Beijing by overnight soft sleeper train tickets that they'd enjoyed,
Great way to practice your art
Calligraphy can be a breeze, with water, a brush, and a bit of pavement. but you think a year in China would have taught us that one good holiday, trip, experience, (you fill in the blank) does not necessarily another make. In any case, after a long, hot bike ride to the same travel agent that Craig used, we were told that we'd have to wait until 5 days before our trip to book the said tickets. Dutifully (silly us) we called back on the 5th day to go, and were told, that 'No! You can only book one day in advance, and only then, 'if tickets are still left'!!? Surely enough, we got nervous and cheated. With only 3 days to go we tried again, and were told that tickets were all sold out.
Sadly, right off the bat our plans needed a major adjustment, i.e. with only a few days left, we rushed to buy airplane tickets -- at premium prices to boot. But our trip to Beijing was on and this time with the major must-sees behind us -- as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Zoo were all covered in our pre-Olympics trip in May -- we decided to hang out in the hutongs, catch some sites by
Morning in the hutongs
Only in Beijing...and only 1/3 of them left. The area housing the ancient courtyard homes from the Yuan dynasty is where we stayed. bike, ie. Tianamen Square, others by taxi, ie. 798 Factory (a 20,000 square meter collection of art galleries housed in abandoned factories, and a site Shanghai is so jealous of they're trying again at copying it -- for the second time) and check out on foot various restaurants, cafes, and outdoor nightclubs that the hutongs are famous for.
So, in the spirit of holiday laziness...here are our emails to Carly about our trip. If you are interested in reading about the trials and tribulations of our copy-cat holiday...read on. If not...thanks for getting this far, and we'll try to be more industrious with our next reporting efforts, once we're back in the working groove (if you want something done, give it to a busy person, or something like that)
Bye for now...............................
PS...all of Carly and Craig's tips were so great they've left us hankering for more -- possibly one more trip to Beijing! Like Shanghai, that city is impossible to cover in one, or even two goes...but better yet we're expecting Carly and Craig to visit at Xmas, when we can check out all our great discoveries together.
----- Original Message ----
From: amy vanderwal
The original Forbidden City
Today known as Beihai Park, iis famous for its tree-lined paths.
To: carlyvanderwal@yahoo.com; chrisvanderwal@yahoo.com
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008 7:53:20 AM
Subject: Dao le
Hey Guys!
Well we've arrived in Beijing,and we cosily enscounced at the Red Lantern...it's great! Very old China, and hutongy. We had dinner in the courtyard, because we're pretty bushed....up at the crack of dawn, and then the plane sat on the runway for an hour due to Autumn Festival traffic, and then the taxi fought through the same congestion on the ground after we arrived...and the driver couldn't find the place! Deja vu :-)
But we love the Red Lantern...and it's so close to everything!! We plan to get bikes tomorrow and explore the whole area. We also want to see the artist colony that CNN raves is the 5th best Beijing tourist site, Tianamen and Beihai Park...did you see that Car? We have already booked ourselves in for LiQin Duck, and the Dali courtyard restaurant...we'll report back. Tomorrow a.m. we'll look for Craig's baozi lady...but the weather has turned cool,so the boats are on the back burner. There are some brave souls out there, but we watched them from a rooftop cafe...wish we'd had our camera...we were 2 lone people literally Mini City
Beihai park was used as an annex for the emperors of the Forbidden City, and it predates that city by 1,000 years. sitting on a roof. The only way I could do it was because the edge was pretty far away, but there was no railing...and believe it or not there were tables right on the edge. Needless to say the view was great!! Pizza was just so-so...I forgot about the western food situation in Beijing, so maybe from here on it's Beijing duck all the way.
Just wanted you all to know we're here...Joanna must be moved into her new place, right Chris? How is it? Let me know...I've got the whole week off, so I'm very free to email. I promise to keep it short...so I guess I'd better go and crash.
Talk to you all soon,
Mom
Hey Mom!
Glad you and Dad are safe and sound... I tried calling you both last night (your Sunday morning) but couldn't get through. I sent Dad a text message... Did he get it?A few things...1) Don't forget that Craig and I got swindled on our way to LiQin... Coming from the hostel, the taxi cab will most likely make a right onto the street that LiQin is near. However, that street is blocked off half way down View from the White Pagoda
The Centre of the park has a hill with a breathless view. by huge concrete blockers, therefore the taxi won't be able to go anywhere. Get out of the cab, ignore any large fat men who are trying to get you into a pedicab, and walk down the street, pass the blockers. Li Qin is down a side street on your right. If you walk down a side street and don't see it almost immediately, then turn around and try a different side street on your right. I'm pretty sure it's 2 sidestreets down pass the blockers. It's not too hard to find. Coming back from LiQin, or even going to LiQin, you can take the subway (the stop that puts you at the Southern most point of Tianamen Square... I'm pretty sure that it was called QianMen... Which is on the same line that takes you to the subway stop that is very close to the hostel.. Jishuitan). Craig and I walked to the subway after our meal, it was only a few blocks away.2) As for pizza, you need to go to 'Hutong Pizza'! The pizza was actually pretty decent. It's in the over-the-top Hutong bar/restuarant area. I can't remember the address but I thought I wrote that down in Masterpiece or eyesore?
The verdict is still out on what the Chinese refer to as 'the egg'...the controversial National Grand Theatre. your book? If not, Craig and I found that restaurant from the 'Insider's Guide to Beijing.' Another cool place in that area is 'No Name Bar.' No Name was the very first bar in that neighborhood and it's someone's hutong house converted into a bar, with no name, hence the name. It's really cute inside too (in a brokedown hutongy kind of way).. It has a nice window which looks over the water. Grab a nightcap there if you can.I haven't been to the artist colony. But I have heard about an artist area called 832 or 123 or 432 or something like that. Is that what you mean? That's where the dude we befriended bought this really neat t-shirt from. I bought it for Chris later from their website because we ran out of time. He said that area was great. So check it out and let me know what you think!Speaking of Dali Courtyard, a fantastic meal by the way, there's a street really near there that has a ton of shops/bars/restaurants. Craig and I wandered down that street after our meal and found this out of the way hutong bar that was again, super cute in a Part of the controversy...
...is 'the egg's' location. Right beside the National Peoples' Congress Building. broke down hutong-y kind of way, where we had a nightcap after that meal. You and Dad should wander down that street... I'm pretty sure the name of the street is "Nanluogu Alley." It runs North-South, and intersects with Gulou Street. Did you guys see the spacewalk? There was a picture in the Washington Post this morning of a bunch of people watching it outside in Beijing... Love you guys! Keep us posted!Car
Hey Car!
Thanks for the great, very timely message. I'm sitting on the computer in Red Lantern...remember those?...and waiting for your dad to change out of his shorts (he is the only guy wearing those in the entire city....and this is the second day!!) but he's getting changed for Li Qin. So thanks for the heads up on everything...especially the Li Qin info...we'll definitely avoid the fat guys with rickshaws. Even though today Beijing defeated us again...after strolling down for Starbucks on the river, we then toured through Bei Hai park (turns out to be yet another emperor's grounds and palaces...even older than the Forbidden City!) and then we thought we'd pop down to Tianamen...which turned out to be over the curve of Beijing, so we Liberation
These people in revolt are carved in 10,000 tons of marble...and signify the struggles during the Opium War with the British. took an old guy's offer up on a rickshaw trip, and he didn't scam us too badly (he kept pointing to his grey hair..so what could we do?)...and the art gallery was incredible...798 Factory and according to your Insiders Guide it's over 20,000 sq. meters...which turns out to be HUGE!! (That guide is turning out to be invaluable, BTW) We barely scratched the surface of 798...wait until you see the pics... and apart from the fact that nothing was political, it was all pretty cutting edge. Very impressive stuff, actually. China is amazing, no? We weren't out for buying anything, so maybe we can get those t-shirts from the Shanghai guy...if you still have the info, I'll get it from you. Lunch was in a Korean restaurant in 798, and was so spicy we could only eat the rice...but it was good! :-) At this rate, I may even lose some weight! But before i get too carried away, we brought your book, but I don't remember Hutong Pizza...but we'll check that out too. Now we're off to LiQin, but I think our feet demand that we taxi it :-) We walked them off today...tomorrow it's bikes all the way, Tian'anmen Square
...our thoughts were for all people in revolt, on the world's largest square, designed to hold 1,000,000 souls. and we're having lunch at Dali...will try to check out the other spots. Our last full day just riding around the hutongs, should be fun, no? Tomorrow night we're going to the Beijing Opera -- with subtitles!! Finally I get to know what all the screaming and yelling is about (even though I think i'm actually starting to enjoy the music somewhat...maybe i've been here too long?) Thanks for trying to call us...but we may have been in the air on Sunday a.m....our plane sat on the runway forever...and i had it turned off. And, no, we didn't get to see the spacewalk...they had a cheesy soap opera on here at Red Lantern :-(
Love you,Moi PS...email me back...it's fun getting emails here :-)
--- On Sun, 9/28/08, Carly Vanderwal wrote:From: Carly Vanderwal
Subject: Re: Dao le
To: "amy vanderwal" , chrisvanderwal@yahoo.com
Received: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 11:25 AM
Hey Mom!
This message isn't going to be as long... I have a crazy week ahead of me. I even left a burner on today all day!So, the pressing question: did you find LiQin? Or did a fat pedi cab driver take you down dark hutong Factory 798
is a collection of art galleries housing the latest art on the Beijing scene. alleys and try to charge 300 kuai?
Love
Car
Hey Car,
Yes....we found the restaurant, and no fat pedicab drivers (actually we may have seen him!) but our taxi drove right through the barricades!! And dropped us at the second street, so we walked and walked up it the dark, and we ended up at a 'hotel' (at least, that's what we think it was) at the end of this street of half-torn down houses, and they told us Li Qin -- on the next street, so we found it after a scarey walk back down this road...so we had our own Li Qin adventure of sorts...not nearly as exciting as yours, though...I can imagine what being driven through that neighbourhood must have been like!! Maybe everyone who goes there can't find it...maybe there is no Li Qin!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But for a ghost restaurant the food was amazing...and the decor was absolutely crazy!! Unfortunately I had to use the ladies at one point...quel horreur! Now that's a scary story for another day...:-)Afterwards we couldn't find the No-name bar, but we had a night cap at a place called "Casablanca" playing live English songs with a great young musician...then 22,000 square meters
Houses a lot of art...like everything in Beijing, it's off the scale size-wise...but does have lots of cool stuff. he changed for an old guy with a cowboy hat named Bob, who couldn't sing -- so English or no we bailed for the place next door, "Blue Eyes" where a Chinese band was playing Flamenco...and they were excellent. We sat outside on couches and they gave us a fleecy to keep warm...listening to Gypsy Kings, sipping our Black Russians, watching Chinese play Spanish songs...how international is that?! Or crazy Beijing...one or the other :-)So I'd better let you go...is the burner off? Don't worry...i've done that before, or maybe you should!!!...maybe craziness runs in the family "-)We're off on the bikes today...maybe we'll see No-name Bar in our travels...and Hutong Pizza..it's nice to have objectives! Try not to work too hard!
Love,
Mom
Mom!!!!
You can't see no-name... It has no name! You need to look it up in your guide book that Craig and I gave you guys...I'm glad that you and Dad found LiQin in one piece. Isn't it super scary back there? This really big crazy dude was taking us all back there in zigzags. We thought that after we were mugged and left for dead, we would never be able to crawl our Like...
...fountains raining black water... way out. It was terrifying. (But probably not as much as the bathroom. I didn't go myself so I have no idea... Tell that one around the campfire one day)Alright, piddely email but I have to go to bed. Like I said, I'm busy and tired!
😞Love,Car
Dear Car,
Man!!! Here we were looking for "No Name" in lights!!! Oh well, we'll save it for the next trip. 'Cause we're back!! And it was another great, whirlwind visit. Can't believe it's come and gone, but as your dad said, before you know it we'll be getting on the plane to come home! The flight today went fast and smooth...we could watch the landing (i didn't) but your dad said it felt like being the pilot. Car...just a thought...what if i was lazy and used our emails for the blog? The reason i'm asking is because one of my students' assignments is using emails...and as i said, i'm lazy. So be careful how you answer, because it might be in the blog!
Dear Mother,
You may publish this.
Best,
Daughter
As you can see, daughter Carly was willing :-)...so here are our emails from and trees...
...entwined with red hangey things. Beijing, and hope you enjoyed them...it's back to work for us tomorrow, with a long dry spell in vacations until Xmas.
At least we'll have the Canadian and U.S. elections to entertain us, oh, along with season 5 of "The Wire".
Hope you enjoy your fall...
Amy & Roel
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Cindy & Jay
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Hi from IL
Hi Amy a nd Roel, I'm so enjoying your blog. And using Carly's emails is a brilliant idea--saves on the typing. Are you at the same school this year?