Of my trip in China, that is.
After more than two weeks of pacing myself between a canter and a full sprint, the home stretch was before me: one weekend left.
FRIDAY NIGHT (Houhai: hutong dinner and jazz club)
Suerie, Max, and I headed back over to lively Houhai for dinner on Friday night. We walked down hutong after hutong (alleys), and just when Suerie thought we should settle on a noodle house because, "hey, there's nothing past there," we rounded the bend down another hutong (just to be sure), and found Hutong Pizza.
Despite what you might think about a place with as generic a name as Hutong Pizza, I guarantee you you're off base. Tucked away in a hutong, the entrance is barely noticeable; in fact you have to turn right down a smaller alleyway to get to the door. Walk through strands of twinkling crimson beads onto a translucent walkway to see coy fish swimming below. To the left is an open pond: the extension of the water beneath your feet, complete with rock formations and miniature waterfall. Follow your eyes up a couple steps and there is a seating area overlooking the small pond. The food was decent, the clientele ranged from schmoopy couples to groups of Beijinger hipsters, and the prices were (of course) low by western standards (~$22.00 for 3 entrees, 3 smoothies, and 2 bottled waters).
After dinner we meandered on our way to East, a new jazz club in the area. Suerie had her Super Foldable Mini-Bike, and we'd been taking turns riding around. Max thought it would be funny if she stood on the back rack hovering over the 16" tire while he pedaled; she squealed; I took pictures. We stopped into a small one-room CD shop. Records converted into clocks hung on the walls; two lone employees lounged in what can only be called a small dining area; and a small but well-stocked bar hung out near the door.
When we reached a busy and too-small foot bridge teeming with cars, pedal cabs, bikes, and people, we ran into one of Suerie's colleagues (whose companion was visiting from San Francisco; but he was from New York. And oh, he went to Columbia. So we had a couple things to talk about while Suerie and her friend chatted about access to essential medicines). We compounded the confusion by stopping to chat, but I soon noticed that that wasn't the only reason we stopped traffic. The Super-Foldable Bike was drawing appreciative glances and some close-up admiration. It's a biking culture, and I guess Suerie's bike was a Porsche. It is pretty sweet, actually.
We eventually made it to the jazz club, which is at the top of a steep set of stairs, but at least has a nice view of the water. The house band is a Chinese group (the Buddha somethings?) with piano, drums, and bass. It was late when we got there, so we stayed for a set, finished our drinks, and headed home.
SATURDAY (Yashow Market)
There is not much to be said about Saturday except that I am now an expert bargainer. I shopped for many hours at Yashow Market: five floors of expert hagglers where you can get shoes, luggage, clothes, electronics, tea, jewelry, trinkets, fabric, tailor-made suits, pedicures, and more. Bargaining is required; they size you up and start high.
I didn't think I'd be any good at it (like most Americans, I have an unnatural phobia of speaking frankly about money), but by the end of the day I was so tired and enervated from the process that I didn't have the energy to be anything but a hard bargainer. I'm sure I overpaid for many things (by their standards anyway), but the experience in itself was interesting.
Did I say I didn't have much to say? I guess I always have something to say, but I'll stop now. Promise. Right. Now. Ok, now.
SUNDAY (Beijing Hikers day out)
Sometimes one of the nice things about living in a city is getting out of it. I know New Yorkers can relate.
We met up with a group named Beijing Hikers that leads different hikes every weekend. We were bussed a couple hours into the mountains, and hiked down through Intelligence Valley. Our guide warned us not to turn back, or we risked losing any intelligence (and then some) we might hope to gain along the way.
We hiked through brush, crossed streams, and avoided snakes. There were so many colors, scents, and sounds -- it was a pleasure to be outdoors. Looking up, there were majestic cliffs rising all around us. Every once in awhile, you could take a peek at the Great Wall. Half-way through the hike we stopped for lunch and a swim in a natural granite swimming pool (don't drink the water). The swim was perfect, if a bit unhygienic, after an hour of sweating.
We finished our hike, and hung out with the all the other hikers in a farmer's yard for fruit, cold vegetable dishes, beer and fresh fish. Seriously. They had a small pond, caught some fish (harder than it sounds), and 20 minutes later it was on our table. That's fresh.
Completely exhausted and not a little sticky, we managed to do a little shopping before heading back to the apartment. Showering was heaven. Dinner was at Muse, a Parisian style brasserie serving Vietnamese food. We even ran into some of our fellow hikers: a New Yorker doing an artist-in-residence program in Beijing, and his brother. Small world. Small Beijing.
