Memoirs of Beijing

It’s Spring again and Cherry Blossom Festival will soon kick off in Japan. These trees will be in full bloom starting mid-March to mid-May in different locations. Usually once the flowers first bloom, you have between 5 to 12 days to enjoy them before it’s gone.

One of our plans this year is to witness this event and to start it off, we need to apply for a visa to visit Japan. The Japanese Embassy’s visa section in Beijing is located at the 2^nd floor of Silver Tower at East Third Ring North Road. However, starting 1 March 2010, visa application can only be coursed through accredited travel agencies.

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Woohoo!!  I didn’t notice that it was snowing not until I was about to head off to church.  It seems like winter is early this year.  It’s kinda strange as when I asked my friends about two years ago of what they remembered as the earliest snowfall in their lifetime and they both said it was November 6. 

Well.. yesterday snowfall apparently is one of the earliest in record.  Last time it snowed this early was eighty seven years ago.  Also, it wasn’t light snow but medium snowfall with big flakes and four inches of snow.  It was so pretty that my friend and I can’t resist taking photos.

The bad side of early snowfall is freezing temperatures and no heating.  In China, all buildings north of the Yangtze river turn on their heating by the 15th of November which officially starts the winter season.  However, as it suddenly snowed yesterday, everyone is wearing two to three sets of clothing inside their home.  It’s such a pain going around and searching for a place where it’s warm.  I might have to resort in buying an electrical heater just to keep myself warm.

I hope they open the heaters soon.  The snow outside is slowly melting and the cleaning ladies are already sweeping them out of the sidewalk.  If you didn’t see some rooftops with snow, you wouldn’t know that it snowed recently.

I hope we’ll have more snowfalls this season or else if they follow the trend we have for the past couple of years, we would only have two to three more left.

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Chocolate  n.   a food prepared from ground roasted cacao beans (source: Merriam Webster dictionary)

As a chocolate lover, chocolate has been part of my diet almost every day.  My friends envy me as I don’t seem to gain weight when I eat this confection.  I’m quite fond of milk chocolate, chocolate with mint, chocolate with orange and white chocolate.  I usually veer away from dark chocolate as it taste bitter and strong. 

Awfully Chocolate is a cake and ice cream shop from Singapore which opened two years ago in China.  They sell three types of chocolate cake namely: all chocolate, chocolate banana and chocolate rum & cherry.  They also sell Hei (黑), their own premium dark chocolate ice cream. Read the rest of this entry »

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Designed by world famous architect Philippe Starck, this bar boast of opulent furnishings and European class that stands out in Beijing.  With a floor area of 6,000 sqm and located on the F floor of LG Tower, people who wanted to be seen and impressed flock to this bar.

In my almost four years stay in Beijing, I’ve been to this place only three times.  The first time was two years ago with my travel buddy, hoping to try out the promo they featured in cityweekend.  When we arrived, we were advised that there was no promo and the staff can barely speak English.  To top it off, taking photos is a no-no.  We just ordered some sandwiches and soda and left the place disappointed.

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My sisters and mom just left from their vacation two weeks ago and life is back to normal.  Hahahaha!  If you want my sister’s account of her travels in the city, check her commentary on her blog site.  As for myself, I did all that I can do in Beijing on my first year here with Marco.

So.. before we take into consideration as to how many days.. we must consider what kind of trip would you like to have.   Do you want an amazing race adventure or a light and easy trip?   When you’ve decided if you want to kill or relax yourself, decide how many days would you like to stay in the city.  3, 4 or 5 days?

In any case, here’s a 3 day itinerary for you.  When I say 3 days, that’s 3 whole days so make the necessary adjustments.

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Hooters in the US is known for their beautiful, well-endowed servers.  When Hooters opened in Beijing in 2007, foreigners particularly men flocked the restaurant hoping to be served by these beautiful, well-endowed servers.   However, they were disappointed as Asians are not known to be blessed with big breasts.  Reviews at that time were focused on their servers and not their food.

In any case, I only got the chance to visit this place last month after church.  It wasn’t full as it’s a Sunday and to make up for their lack in bust size, they perform a 30 second dance routine almost every half an hour.  Service was great and the place is filled with flat screen TV tuned in to different sports channel.

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There goes my goal of keeping a perfect attendance this month!  Traffic was horrible this morning on the third ring road going northbound.  Police put a blockade from Guanghua Road to Chaoyang Road on the service lanes as well as the Guanghua Road exit on the northbound highway.  Buses and cars are crawling as everyone would like to see the aftermath of the huge inferno last night.

Before                                                  During                                                     After

At around 830pm last night, the Television Cultural Center at the new CCTV complex was engulf in flames.  The Television Cultural center has a cinema, theatre, recording studios and the flagship hotel of Mandarin Oriental. Witnesses say it was due to fireworks.  One firefighter died due to smoke inhilation.  In the matter of hours the whole building was like the highlight of the firework show to celebrate the last day of the Spring Festival.  When we walked past near the area around 12mn, we can’t see anything due to smoke.  This morning on my way to work, you can see how big it really was and the extent of damage of the fire.

(Photo Credits: Rico Calma, ai de ke flickr photos)

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My page rank is still zero and I still don’t get that much traffic. It’s so frustrating! Anyhow, I will still strive and post more stuff about Beijing while I’m still working in this part of China.

Upcoming Events:

• Australian pop diva, Kylie Minogue, will be in town for a one night concert at the Worker’s Gymnasium on December 1. Ticket prices from RMB 280 to 2580. When we bought our reserved tickets this afternoon at piao.com.cn’s office, they’ve informed us that they don’t have any tickets left for the cheapest one.
• The Elton John and Tim Rice Broadway musical, Aida, will hit the Beijing Exhibition Theater stage on November 19 to 23.
• Carrefour Shuangjing Branch will hold a wine tasting and Beaujolais Nouveau on Wednesday, November 19 from 6pm to 1am to celebrate a French custom.  Grab your chance to taste some free wines!       Read the rest of this entry »

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Which type of people usually look for an apartment? There’s the newbie who just arrived in Beijing for their newest adventure, the oldie who’s lease just expired, the businessman who’s sick and tired of staying in an apartment. In any case, finding an apartment in China needs your haggling and language skills. Also, a Chinese friend would be the best to do the translation for you.

Here are some tips that may help you in your apartment hunting:

• If the ad says “near the subway”, never believe it till you’ve seen it.
• Most apartments are now equipped with western toilets.
• If you don’t like cleaning your apartment, go for service apartments such as Oakwood, Palm Springs, HQ Ritz, etc. However, be prepared to pay for a higher than usual price.
• Decide which district do you want to live and your budget.
• Best place to live in would be walking distance to the subway or bus stops. The price on these places are usually higher.     Read the rest of this entry »

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If you’re a Christian expat, you might be worshipping at BICF 21st Century.  If you’re like me, you would be one of the people who attend the 1130am worship service and thus will come out hungry afterwards.  Luckily, Lucky Street (好运街) is just beside 21st Century Hotel.

Lucky Street is a block of restaurants and bars for the hungry and night owls.  In this stretch, Sukhothai beckons to all Thai food lovers.  They have the traditional Tom Yam Kung Soup (RMB28/bowl), Som Tam Thai (Green Papaya Salad, RMB 29), Pad Thai (Rice Noodles with Shrimp and Peanuts, RMB 36) and Rung Nok (Sweet Bird’s Nest with Thai Coconut Milk, RMB 68).  The food their is tasty with a twist of Chinese to cater to the local people.  The interior of the restaurant is typically Thai and they also sell Thai jewelry and gift items.  Oh yeah.. slide the door to your right and not push when you enter the restaurant.

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