Beijing Tourist Thing

Today, or should that be yesterday, Hyemi and I went sightseeing. We wanted to go to Beihai park but it and the other park nearby were both under renovation due to the Olympics.

It gets even worse. Despite the cold we decided to walk around Beijing but unfortunately the weather was typical Beijing Grey. As a result our photos are lackluster and our hopes to take panoramic pictures form the top of hills overlooking the Forbidden City were dashed.

We tried to salvage the day by having lunch in Ho Hai. We ended up going to the “No Name” restaurant, which unlike the bar from which it takes its name, has to advertise. There was a sign outside the door and a sign directing you down the alley to the restaurant. It seems the restaurant business relies on a little more than ‘word of mouth’. Hyemi and I were the only people in the restaurant at lunch time.

It is now 6 AM on the first of January 2006. For reasons I don’t entirely understand I’m forcing myself to blog. I may devote the entire day tomorrow (today) to blogging and looking for work and catching up on my email. Or I may just play Civilization III, who knows. Regardless, I’m forcing myself to post something about today’s extra long day in China.

I went to a New Year’s Party given by the some Danish classmates. Consequently it seemed almost every Dane in the city was at the party. There were also several Poles and at least one Russian. I was the lone Canadian. It was rather amusing that in the heart of communist China there was only one Asian, Anders girlfriend. Anders wasn’t even there having gone back to Sweden. Despite being a far from bi-lingual Canadian it fell to me to say a token word or two to Ander’s girlfriend who is studying French.

Today was also the first time I’ve gone to a Chinese dance club. I went to Babyface with the Poles. The music on the main dance floor was abusively loud. The side room featured “hip hop”. I would describe the music there as heartless, soulless, thump. Once a song came on with a sample from Chill Rob G’s “The Power”. I was probably the only person in the place who knew this.

Ordering a drink was odd. Despite sitting at the bar, I had to tell a random Chinese guy in a dark suit what I wanted. He then buggered off with my 100 quai. He eventually came back after much worrying by myself and gave me my change which always seemed to be 5 quai less than it should. I then further tipped the dude 5 or 10 RMB because I was so happy to get both my change and a drink. This was probably the first and only time I’ve ever tipped in China. It ensured better serviced when I went to order my second drink, that was for sure.

Some time earlier, when my Mac was still busted, Hyemi and I went to the Lama temple and the Bell & Drum towers. So I’ve included some pictures from that outing because today’s pictures were so crap!

Update December 2015

The end of 2015 became an unexpectedly intense period of blogging for no other reason than I had time and occasionally good Internet access. I am actually back in China but not in Beijing, Hyemi and I are both working in Shanghai though I need a much better job and I really should be studying my Chinese is horrible. Anders is in Shanghai, supposedly there are still opportunities here but all I do is surf the Internet, go to the gym, and sit alone in my room.

I’ve uploaded the best of my China photos to a single album on Flickr which I continually add to and prune to ensure it is high quality. Ten years later I went back to Ho Hai and the Drum and Bell Tower. Now the sky is even more polluted. I found a couple better pictures of this part of Beijing that I took and included below.

Eventually I left China, never getting that better job people always insist they are sure I will get. I did pass all the CFA® exams and now it is another intense period of updates to old blog posts because I know the importance of Quality and my personal brand online.

This entry was originaly posted on December 31st, 2005, it was last edited on October 14th, 2024 and is filed under: Travel and tagged: Beijing, China, Ho Hai.