Ghost Street (Gui Jie) A strip of restaurants here in Beijing that only become lively after 1am or so. Some of the best food in the world when you're a bit tipsy and its past midnight. Knocks late-night Chinese takeout in the States back to the Stone Ages...
Danger Doyle's Dartboard. DB, JB, JBZ: Team Boo-kah-que forever. Que? He's Portugese.
DD is an Irish pub here in town that has one of the best rooftop bars, great selection of beers, and fun games for all. Just beware the drunk and angry white man in a small black t-shirt and the drunk and angry group of Chinese people at the pool table.
DD is an Irish pub here in town that has one of the best rooftop bars, great selection of beers, and fun games for all. Just beware the drunk and angry white man in a small black t-shirt and the drunk and angry group of Chinese people at the pool table.
The entrance to Block 8's recently launched Ruby Khi. Gorgeous bar. Read my review of it in the next Beijinger.
Ruby Khi's Cabanas
You can't tell from this photo because of perspective, but that drink? Its massive. Takes two hands to hold. Cubes of watermelon at the bottom. Delicious. With a view overlooking Chaoyang Lake and the CCTV tower...Ruby Khi is my ideal bar.
David looks surprisingly worried. This was either before or after the assault by Joao.
A little cafe by the Vineyard that I like to go to, write in my journal, and be spectacularly dissapointed by their hot drinks each time. ;) Yet, I still go back. The wooden rafters, comfortable couches, and big open windows with sunlight streaming in. Who cares if their mochas taste like dirty dish water?
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PLA? Palestinian Liberation Army? Playboy Enterprises (NYSE)? Phone Losers of America? Or...perhaps more fitting to the locale...People's Liberation Army? Nay. How about..."Party Like A...."
Party like a....part-time English teacher, part-time writer who is stationed here in Beijing and is less than 2 months away from the end of this fantastical journey.
While waiting for Ward & Co. to go celebrate his leaving China at the Tree and standing in front of the UniQlo at Sanlitun with Adam the other day, I asked him what the date was.
"May 5th" : his prompt response.
May 5th?!! How is it already May?! I leave Beijing on July 5th. That's only 2 freaking months away!! WTFFF? (While we're playing the numbers game, next next Sunday marks my T-minus 90 day countdown to the first day of law school. 1L. 1L. 1L. Enough obsessing, we'll cross that damn bridge when it comes.)
I don't want to go. I miss people, I miss my family, I've got sh*t to do in the States, but I don't want to leave Beijing. I can't. There are so many people here that I've grown close to in such a short period of time. There are cool places that I haven't been to. There are awesome events that will happen in the fall. More students to complain about. More people to meet. More people to watch. More taxi drivers to shoot the breeze with. More expats with crazy stories. More dinners at Maison Boulud. More brunches at the Vineyard. More children to go 'awwwww' over. More photos to take. More people to interview. More shopping. There are more stories to write.
Anyways...
My parents often ask what I did today or I'll get emails asking how life is going.
Here's a typical day at the office:
PLA part-time writer for the best magazine in Beijing:
9am: Wake up, stare at the ceiling, and curse the gods for the fact that I have a 1.5hr commute in front of me from here to the office
10am: Showered, dressed, finishing replying to emails, putting notes, camera, scratch pads, recorder, and journal in bag.
10:10am: Grab a cab to the local subway station, get on, no seats available, plug in my ipod, and stand there for over an hour
11:20am: Stroll into the WanDa Place Starbucks, depending on how late the night before--either a grande or a venti latte.
11:30am: Walk into the office, start saying hi to everybody, catching up on what happened since the last time I saw them; conversation with my managing editor on what articles need to be prioritized, what new assignments or interviews I have, what correspondence needs to be sent out
11:45am: I adore the rolling chairs in the office and the fact that the layout of the place is so open. People have workstations on long desks, so you can just hear the buzz behind you of people making calls, discussing articles, cracking jokes while you type. If I have any questions, I just push back on the chair, lift my feet, and roll towards my editor.
12pm: Look at my to-do list of drafts to finish, interviews to set up, lists to compile...take a big sip of the coffee and get at it
2pm: Lunch, either at the desk (Merrill Style) if its a busy day or out with co-workers to some place nearby
5:30pm: Day starts winding down, already have plans in the SLT area [I should just live there], and I start wrapping up docs
5:45pm: Grab a taxi outside of the office, drive by the CCTV tower and driver looks at me weirdly while I crane my neck awkwardly and usually stick my camera outside the window for a picture. I think I have about 200 pics of the CCTV tower from different angles and on different days
6:30pm: Settling down to dinner at someplace near the village; drinks and just good conversation for the rest of the evening
11pm to Midnight: Get home, check email, finish some articles, start some drafts, write a few postcards, etc while realizing I don't know what I'm going to teach tomorrow....worry about it while updating twitter and reading the news
12:30am: IPOD Dance Party Time!!!
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Guerilla distribution of the Beijinger in late night taxicabs. If you've seen a Beijinger when grabbing a cab at 3 or 4am, chances are, I was in that cab right before you.
Monday night trivia nights at the Bookworm, one of Beijing's best foreign language bookstores. Here is team DDDragons or aka B-K-Q. Most teams have 6 people; we have 3 and we still manage to come in....4th or 7th or 10th...nevermind.
Beijing is an incredibly international city. The city itself and the businesspeople who run it put an emphasis on attracting international talent to widen the cultural horizons of China's capital city. Here is Joao with a Brazilian bossa nova band in the Village.
Ditan Park Music Festival
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A day at the Beijing Zoo with my two favorite guys
A day at the Beijing Zoo with my two favorite guys
Soon after we made Alfonso's acquaintance and before we started getting molested by the large crowds
AWWWWW :o)
This picture is taken from inside the glass building, so the pandas look a little green. In fact, one of them looks...not alive. He's probably just sleeping, that goofy fuzzy furball. They do sleep for 18 hours a day. Joao's first time seeing pandas.
Mommy! Take me to see the POKEMON animals!!
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In memory of David Ward, who is now somewhere closer to Cambridge U.K. than Beijing, P.R.C.
Does it sound like he died? I did want to kill him several times while he was here. ;)
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