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Sunday, May 22, 2011 - 22:44 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

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One Week In Beijing

So what's happened these past few weeks? Caught up with some old friends from secondary school for street soccer on probably the hottest part of the hottest day in six years (just my luck), and watched United beat Chelsea at the New Paper Sports Bar the week before that. Exciting leh!


Saturday

Beat it to Beijing for a short vacation. The flight was memorable mainly for two different presentations of chicken and potatoes, and hotfooting it across about the whole length of the HK airport for the transfer (the hidden cost of budget tickets). Raised my eyebrows when I heard visitors from Taiwan being asked to join the domestic queue at Beijing immigrations... but on second thought, that was to be expected.

My first impression of the city on the drive to our lodgings at the Tower Apartments (generously sponsored by smk) was that it was basically Singapore, though with left hand drive, the street signs in Mandarin, and bicycle lanes. A walk through the Oriental Plaza located approximately beneath the apartments confirmed that, as we encountered outlets like BreadTalk and Bee Cheng Hiang, as well as any number of stores that could have been found in Orchard Road.

Dithered over a bowl of porridge for supper (it wasn't very filling), watched the historic title-winning draw against Blackburn on SopCast back at the apartment (the final minutes were quite missable), and discovered that the Internet connection was only reliable for China-based websites, which would vex me for the remainder of the stay.


Sunday

Started the day with fried rice, the term which had gained an inexplicable notoriety among our small band, and continued it with some pudding milk tea from Happy Lemon (which would be revisited many times over in the following days)

smk disappeared off on official business at about 1 p.m., after which we tried some of the roast duck that Beijing is famous for. Lots of fat under the skin.

Evening was spent at Houhai, where we were greeted by the sight of chapteh-kicking natives. Booked a trip to the Great Wall on Tuesday, then spent much of our time there doggedly trailed by a tout - or rather, a team of touts, who would quite openly relay us as we pounded the streets. Imagine an insurance salesmen making a cold approach, and multiply that by an hour. I'm sure that they're simply doing their job, and I'm also sure that they cannot take a hint.

After linging for some minutes at a stall where an artisan crafted clay likenesses of customers with his thumbs for a fee, and staring at a collection of LED-equipped T-shirts for the most adventurous clubbers, we settled in a random bar, where I nursed an outrageously expensive bottle of mineral water for the entire duration. Relived Harold & Kumar on twm's laptop after we got back (and coincidentally encountered another tout as we were returning, who must have been bemused at watching us burst out in laughter after she made her pitch).


Monday

Movie Day. Slept in, then watched Fast Five, drank an Oreo milk tea and lunched at Food Republic, watched Thor in 3D and Chinese in the same seats, visited the Xinhua bookstore (English titles on the third floor), returned early, debated the merits of "Noted", "Cool Story Bro!" and "kthxbai" among other phrases as acceptable conversation enders, played a single hand of Monopoly Deal, and polished off a lot of Watson's distilled water.


Tuesday

Woke at 7 a.m. for once, then loaded into our chartered van with an Italian named Davide, who just happened to be a triple jumper like alvin. Stopped at a jade factory, which had some tempting Generation Balls. Next was the slightly disappointing Ming Tombs, where we learnt to stride across doorways with our left foot if some builder saw fit to stick a beam of wood across it, on account of being male.

Continued on to the Mutianyu Great Wall, where we officially got our 好汉 card after a cable car ride up. Played a bit of chapteh up there (does that elevate the title further?), then slid down on a toboggan after some slogging and leaving of names (ahem)

Lunched at an establishment called Mr. Yang's after that, a meal made conspicuous by the lack of meat. Moved on to a silk factory after another dreary van ride, where we found little to purchase, and then the Dr. Tea teahouse, where we were taught how to hold the cup (last two fingers in, for guys), and loaded up on tea. Well, the others did.

Discovered Sizzler's and its salad bar for dinner. Chatted a bit, slept.


Wednesday

KTV Day. Got on the Beijing subway for the first time, and noted a creative attempt at synching the advertisements along the sides of the tunnels to the train's speed to produce a stationary image (it didn't work perfectly). They actually bother to use microphone covers in China...

Obviously, this song got an airing:



The night saw an experiment in getting drunk by one of our party. My contribution to the effort was half a can of Yanjing Beer, which raised my suspicions on the observation that it was cheaper than a comparable amount of distilled water. I regret to inform that I will not be hankering after the beverage anytime soon.


Thursday

A planned visit to Chuandixia was vetoed by the alliance of colin and twm, who were determined to defend their room against any and all invaders. On the plus side, our general proficiency in Streets of Rage was much improved.

Sampled another intepretation of Peking Duck at the Da Dong restaurant, which could be succinctly described as being atas. The dessert glasses were fetchingly tall, the skirts on the waitstaff distractingly short, and the effect of fruit served on dry ice unmistakably cool. The duck, which was carved up in front of us, was alright.

Made my first explicit destination request of the trip, and got separated from the rest of the group navigating my way to the Shard Box Store. No big worries, enjoyed the long solo walk back, and was guided by the throat of providence back to Happy Lemon, favourite haunt of twm, who turned up in short order. Got to remember my phone the next time.


Friday

Watched the Mavericks beat the Thunder 93-87 before lunch at the street market, where I stuck to fried rice. Walked the extremely crowded Forbidden City, and decided to give Tiananmen Square a miss. Some shopping and a hotpot dinner at 77th Street, before the much-awaited (by alvin at least) trip to Suzie Wong fell through. How sad.

smk returned at night, and was energetic enough to go out for KFC with alvin.


Saturday, Again

Left Beijing in the morning, for a repeat two-hop across much of Asia. Only caught half of Shaolin, then completed TRON: Legacy on the HK-Singapore leg.

The time of the most recently predicted Rapture, six p.m., came and went somewhere east of Thailand, which may have explained the lack of rapidly ascending raptured faithful (which may have to do with Thailand being predominantly Buddhist, after all). NMA tells it better than I can, and in just two minutes!



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