The farewell banquet was held at the Crowne Plaza Beijing Wuzhou Hotel. The food was pretty good, but I didn't get to have much of it because we were just too busy taking pictures and chatting with friends.
Paul and Rob rocked the bling they'd acquired at Silk Alley (秀水街), a famous indoor flea market in Beijing, and hoisting "1.8s". A "1.8" is a bottle, containing somewhere about an imperial pint worth of Yanjing Beer (燕京啤酒), a local brew, that costs just ¥1.80, or about US$0.25. Although it's quite skunky at room temperature, if you've got a cold one and you get past the neck, it does its job, and at that price, certainly can't be beat. "Target" is the only place we've found that carries them at that price, and its stock is regularly raided, not only by the Americans, but by local students looking for a cheap buzz.
Rob was also sporting the tailored suit he got at Ruifuxiang (瑞蚨祥) in Wangfujing (王府井).
Sara loves balds.
Courina and Raven look excited to be going home.
Eric's had a good time, for sure.
Dr. Xia, who organized the logistics at UIBE, seems relieved that the second week went by without major problems.
Taiwan represent!
Lushes represent!
Sara and her coterie of Loyola men.
Diane, usually so quiet, came out of her shell for the banquet.
Section 2 represent!
Sara loves her Loyola men.
Chang and Chang. We'll see you in court.
Afterward, almost everyone piled into Cash Box KTV (錢櫃). In the interests of world peace, no pictures or videos from the drunkenness of that event will be posted.
Of course, what travelogue of a Chinese city would be complete without a discussion of food? I was among the very few that were comfortable doing all Chinese food all the time while in Beijing, because as I was growing up my parents introduced me to all sorts of Chinese food. When other students from the program began arriving, they looked to me, among others, to order.
I made sure they did not get Americanized Chinese food that first day they were there.
That day, we discovered Sino Hot Taste, a hot pot place across Huixin Dongjie (惠新東街) from UIBE. It smelled great, and there were always a lot of people there, so the six of us had to sit outside while we waited.
We got the twin-flavor pot, with clear broth on one side and medium spicy broth on the other. Can you tell which is which?
Thin-sliced ribeye was the staple of this and other occasions at Sino Hot Taste.
Sara loves balls.
At the end of the meal, Mark challenged Ted to a round of rock-paper-scissors. The loser had to drink a shot of the spicy broth. Here, the gents discuss the proposed shot.
Mark lost, and decided to sip his punishment.
Along the way to the Olympic Park the next day, we espied this grand-looking restaurant.
It's just as nice inside as out.
Later that day, we got lost looking for Bodhi, a massage place near Workers' Stadium. We ended up having dinner at this Hunanese place, that had dog on the menu. We did not eat the dog. Mark was so disturbed by the thought that he could not eat much.
One of the highlights of the welcome banquet was the duck. Head included.
On the first day of class, we tried a beef noodle place across the street from the east gate of UIBE. I don't think we ever went out that gate again, at least to eat.
One of my favorite places was Xue Jun (雪峻); our first foray included a delicious but (relatively) expensive spicy shrimp dish.
Among the fancier places we went to included a Cantonese place called Jin Ding Xuan (金鼎軒) ...
... and a Taiwanese place calling itself Bellagio (although in Chinese it is named 鹿港小鎮, after Lukang, a town in Taiwan where my mother grew up).
Of course, we could not stay away from Sino Hot Taste. We raved about it so much, we had to organize a large party there.
We were split into two tables, and at the other table, one of the guys bought a flask of Chinese wine, which he shared with us. Ted proceeded to corrupt the new inductees with both spice and wine, even as they tried to knock him off his win streak.
The next day, for simpler fare, we returned to Xue Jun, where Rob demonstrated his proficiency with chopsticks.
Sara loves balls.
It's not just the restaurants that are interesting. Prepared "food" was interesting as well. "Target" carried, of all things, pineapple beer!
Of course, the alcoholic content was so low it was really pineapple juice with some fermented hops.
The Chinese have gotten better at marketing, I suppose. Nongfu Mountain Spring Water (農夫山泉) is touted as the official water of the taikonauts!
Now, I for one didn't mind Chinese food all the time. However, the others got a little nostalgic for Western food. So we went to Wudaokou (五道口) and had burgers at Lush, which sits above a book store. Lush has a quaint ambience reminiscent of Raleigh's on Telegraph in Berkeley.
We managed to find a seat next to the window overlooking the street.
The deluxe burger was 200g (almost half a pound) of beef patty so tender and greasy it melted on our tongues, with some bacon on top, held between focaccia bread. Aaron dearly missed American food.
My fourth time at Sino Hot Taste was also my second time there with a large group. Over half of our 12-person table (the table was designed for 8-10 guests) opted for the spicy option. Here they are before the meal ...
... and after.
All 12 guests somehow squeezed into one picture.
On the last day in Beijing, I stopped by Xue Jun again for one last ¥8 (~$1.10) lunch. This dish, preserved vegetables with pork shreds in soup noodles, is one of my perennial favorites.
Our last dinner was, appropriately, at Sino Hot Taste. Aaron doesn't usually eat spicy food, but he had hot pot at least three times in Beijing. Thus the expression on his face.
Life in Beijing wasn't all sight-seeing. Some went out more, some went out less. As for myself, I went clubbing twice at VICS, next to the Outback Steakhouse at the North Gate of the Workers' stadium.
The first time, there weren't as many of us. It was also a Monday night.
On Tuesday, after gorging ourselves at Lush (see food), we ran into some other Americans at Propaganda, a bar with a dance floor. We joined their group for some dancing. We saw them again the next day at VICS. By the way, Wednesday nights are Ladies' Nights, and the hot locals come out.
You know, it's one of those things that's on everybody's list of things to do before we die. Well, one subdued morning early in June of 2007, members of our program found ourselves trudging up to a renovated Mutianyu Pass (慕田峪) on the Great Wall (長城). Mutianyu Pass is the highest elevation of the Great Wall within the boundaries of Beijing Municipality, and is far less touristy than the better known Badaling Pass (八達領), which even has a highway named after it. In fact, the chartered bus to Mutianyu was on the Badaling Highway for most of the journey.
Mutianyu's status as less of a tourist focus is evidenced by the interesting English at the ticket office.
Organizing a large group is pretty hard, so while we were waiting around ...
... some, like Rob, decided to start shopping.
At the start of the climb, it was easier to make fun about "mounting" the Great Wall.
It didn't take long before we were feeling pretty hot and sweaty.
Finally, we reached the wall ...
... but there was still a ways to go to get to the westernmost end of the renovated section of Mutianyu Pass.
Along the way, before we started climbing the really steep towers, Erica decided to demonstrate another use for the arrow holes.
A few of us decided after a while that since we couldn't see any higher points on the Great Wall, this high tower would be the last one we would climb.
Although looking westward had been intimidating because of the heights, looking eastward was calming, and impressive in that we finally saw all that we had scaled.
Looking back westward once more, we saw one of the cable ways that could have ferried us up to the Great Wall. But that would've been cheating.
As we took a snack break on the way back toward the eastern portion of Mutianyu Pass, Paul left his mark on China.
Getting down from the Great Wall was made considerably easier by a toboggan.
I captured two videoclips of what we law students spent our entire time in line referring to as a tort liability just waiting to happen. Fortunately for the more adventuresome among us, tort law is not well developed in China.
At the bottom of the run were these two fellows. They charged me ¥20 for this picture. I hope to get my money's worth by posting it here.
Ted and Emil bought these hats before the climb; now that the climb was over, Sara and I decided to take the opportunity to pose with the hats before Ted and Emil could really object.
Here's a brief clip of what the countryside between the city proper and the Great Wall looks like, as we came back to the city from the Great Wall.
