A 6-month Vacation

Current Raves: Cubed Sugar, the talented Barristas at my local Sbux, full body massages at Kocoon, and the perennial favorite: IKEA!

Happy Birthday from my dad's old college friends. Might have been the excitement of being in Beijing again, but this was the most delicious birthday cake ever.

The Village at SLT aka Money-suck.

MuTianYu

Say Eggplant!!

Evan, Giulio, Erik (Carol and I behind the Camera) at No Name in Houhai.

Considering that I graduated from college in June 2007 and started working in July 2007...I really haven't had an extended vacation or major downtime for quite a while now (month long trip to Beijing in August 2008 for the Olympics is an exception.) I'm only working about 20 hours a week right now, so this free time on my hands is a foreign but entirely welcome feeling. I already feel myself finally winding down inside from working on Wall St. during one of the toughest periods ever.

Starting next week, things will begin to pick up again because I'm starting my other job at a US-based law firm here in Beijing. I'll be working with the Intellectual Property group...guess I'll have to stop dreaming about buying everything in the superfreakingawesome pirated DVD shop by SLT that Niffy and I stopped by the other day.

Niffy's choices: The Reader, Revolutionary Road

Mine: Bolt the Animated Super-Dog, Madagascar II (I like to move it, move it.)

After seeing her picks at the cash register, I felt like a 12 year old child. Not even 12, those kids are into like Miley Cyrus these days. I have the same film interests as a 7 year old boy. In all honesty, I did pick up Mad Men Season II and Twilight as well. But, like I said...if I'm going to start working for IP law, I gotta stop flaunting my blatant disregard for copyright laws.

These past few days have been a dream-like sequence. Saturday, my co-workers and I headed up to Mutianyu, one of the most beautiful sections of the Great Wall. Although I've been to different sections of the wall at least 4 times now, this time was special because it was in the wintertime (I was so excited to see snow on the wall) and because there is a metal tobogan slide thing that you can take down all the way from the very top of the wall to the base. I'll post a youtube video that I shot while riding on the sled once I finally break down and open an account.

It was a gorgeous day, bright blue skies, crisp cool temp. I almost died just walking up to the Wall; I can't imagine the poor souls that had to build it or those fools who tried to scale it to invade the Middle Kingdom. On the way back, we stopped at this gorgeous restauarant in the middle of nowhere. For around $50 USD, we fed 13 people and drank enough to keep the Titanic afloat. Its good to be on the right side of a currency exchange.

All of us seriously chowing down after a day of hiking. Picture courtesy of Patrick!

The morning after, it was International Women's Day!! [Apparently, only celebrated in Communist countries where its good to be a woman.] I don't remember ever doing anything for the holiday, so its suitable that we went all out for this one. Full body spa treatments at Kocoon, one of the nicest spas I have ever been to. Lavender, Honey, and Tangerine body scrub & massage. Postwards, delicious brunch at ElementFresh, this funky high-ceiling, glass walls, 100% natural cafe with delicious food and drinks. Niffy had mac & cheese, I the Cobb Salad, and we both had blueberry, kiwi, pineapple, fruits galore shakes. They throw a whole kiwi in the shake at the end. From there, what better way to celebrate being a woman than by shopping? [misogynists beware] A quick stop at The Bookworm-great collection of random Western titles and a cool corner with Chinese-American authors. I picked up The Piano Teacher and Out of Mao's Shadow. Niffy picked up a couple, but the most important---TWILIGHT. I'm taking it as my personal duty to make sure everyone I know and love reads this book. Buying books wasn't enough, so we headed across the street where I ended up spending way too much money buying a bunch of stuff I didn't really need. :) Isn't that the best type of shopping though? I am enjoying my new North Face jacket and plastic coffee stirrers with little hands on either side. Hard to explain but they are impressive. I think Dan Ghaney said it best: "They're impressive because I'm impressed that the guy who made them was able to get money out of you guys." We wrapped up the night with pina-coladas, pink drinks, orange creamsicle margaritas galore and Beijing-Mexican food at the Saddle. Happy Women's Day indeed.

I finally had the chance to meet up with the Harvard Club of Beijing people. The new president is the Dean of the School of Government and History at Peking University. I want him to be my new best friend. Everyone else is sort of a hodge podge of what you'd expect from H alumni: Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, Non-profits, the UN, Morgan Stanley, etc. Still new to the organization, but I'm beginning to start the rumor-mill for a Beijing-wide Harvard networking session. I bet there'd be some pretty damn cool people there.

After much planning, Niffy and I finally took the trip to mecca, more commonly known to others as IKEA. Its kind of a hobby of mine to go visit the local IKEA if they have one. So far, Houston, Austin, New York/Brooklyn, Shanghai, and now...BJ. [Stop giggling Jeanette] While the overall goal was candles and ginger snap cookies, I ended up with almost a taxi-load of useless/useful products. I conveniently forgot to buy a big glass bowl for cereal, so I guess that means we'll have to go back...no, they don't sell bowls anywhere else in Beijing.

Our driver zipping away. Niffy & I got to IKEA in this little guy, Pedicab Herbie aka potential driving inferno. It was nicely wallpapered on the inside, but everytime he turned, we would have to lean the other way in order to counteract the fact that the pedicab was tilting at 30 degrees. For a 6kuai trip...88 cents in the USA...I think I'd do it again willingly.

I've posted quite a few photos to my FB albums. Here are the open links for non-facebook users:

Link to FB Album: Middle Kingdom I


Link to FB Album: Middle Kingdom II