The trip could have started slightly better, I was convinced that my flight was departing from Haneda, convinced until I was on the way to the station to take the short trip there and noticed 'hey, fakk, Narita, 1 hour train trip'. Luckily there was a NEX leaving 15 min later, and I made it on time.
Started to get slightly annoyed with the clientele already at the gate, kids running back and forth, people talking loudly. Strange how quickly something becomes the norm in your head. 3 hours later or so, arrived at Beijing International Airport. It is difficult to capture the feeling of the building on photo, but it is cathedral.
Taxi was semi-smooth, to the hotel. Luckily I brought a map and pointed "go there!", no smoking, no spitting. Checked in at the hotel around 10pm; Chinese hotel rooms basically the size of my flat.
It is the morning of the age of ... good weather. Previous experience of this city involves a white-yellowish fog, Skåne winter fog but hot, but this time I was blessed with a few days of blue sky and white fluffy clouds. Woke up ridiculously early, and Beijing probably showed her best face, sunrise after a night of heavy rain.
The evening of the beautiful morning involved drinks with Swedish biz-trippers. Some of them had shopped more than others. Was nice anyway, sitting outside, drinking cider and chatting with colleagues.
Next day was lunch with Fiona and Adam. They brought me to a Korean place, food was nice but even Fiona got upset about the service. And as usual, over-ordering food... Fish was spicy but good, tempura was acceptable with Japanese standards, but very nice to try different things.
And then we had Friday evening, Spanish place in Sunritun. Surprisingly good service, and proper napkins that they even put on your lap. Food was okay, but guess we are not used to the size of the servings in Beijing, still running on Tokyo reference.
Then after a stop over at Hooters, and a German place we went to Susie Wong. Do not understand why people say it is dodgy, was way more classy than Motown. Ran into some very friendly Thai people, and then there was tequila shots... Yes and there were tall, skinny Russian girls too. IPhone photo quality is not always the best, but this pretty much captured the moment.
If it was blurry at Susie's, the "taxi" ride back to Sunritun was very efficient, even managed to take a photo of our driver.
And then it was Saturday morning, Martin's living room, hotel room sized, my Tokyo flat sized. The flowers look a bit sad, but were thrown out later that day.
Another sunny day, with blue sky and a Sunritun view this time.
The fasade of UniClo.
Saturday eve, started off with a very tasty Indian place. Unfortunately they forgot 2 of the starters, took forever to bring the drinks.
Tried the inside camera of the iPhone, not so good.
Then we went to a bar called Apothek or something like that. Good interior, kick ass drinks. I played with their lights...
Good ne?
Put something on a lamp and it looks way cooler, even eye drops...
The courtyard where the cool bar was. Did not try any of the other places there, but good athmos.
Red Club I think this one was called.
Lots of people enjoying the summer night outside.
She had a way better camera than the one I brought, and the one I have at home for that matter; EOS 5D.
On the way back home, we had a look at the snacks.
There were lots of different options.
Corn cob was what I settle for... look to the far right... I told the man to keep them far apart....
If it was not obvious from the photo above, it is a silkworm larva... and it was moving about on the plate until I picked it for this bbq session.
A brave man, tries the local cuisine.
If a picture says more than 1000 words, I'm convinced that fried silkworm is not the best alternative there is. The corn cob was very tasty though.
Following day, walking from Sunritun to the forbidden city... via a what I would call abandon Folkpark feel of a park. This was the best, and most non-folkpark photos I took. Big pond with small fishes.
Lotus flowers, some of them already in bloom. But still looking forward to August in Ueno koen.
The Party is turning 90 this year. Celebrations going on all around central Beijing.
It was too hot, too many tourist, too many people trying to flog tat. But still it was rather amazing. The forbidden city has over 8000 rooms, and most of them look the same.
The wall of 9 dragons, the prettiest part of the whole thing. I want one of those.
Lunch of the last day. Me, Daisy and the new girl went to a noodle place that Muzi brought me earlier on. Hot, spicy noodle soup. My new favorite Chinese dish. And that day I picked Chrysanthemum tea too (since that was the only beverage I could read on the Chinese menu), but I guess ignorance is a bliss... it was hot but tasty. We all sweat like crazy and used up half a box of tissues.
Miss Daisy, you can not see it in this photo but she is seriously pregnant.
Mushroom with garlic and seaweed salad.
And last but not least, the soup. It is not bean soup standard but a very good option to it. And then it was time to say good-bye and go back home. Adam was nice enough to carry my suitcase down to the street, stop a taxi for me and explain were I was going.
