Monday, November 23, 2015

A Weekend with our Local Beijingers


September 2014:

Much to our amazement, our time here is quickly disappearing, and our weekends left in Beijing are slim to none.  This realization hit us like a ton of bricks.  It was time to soak up as much of the Chinese culture as we could.

This past weekend, we did just that.

On Friday, I joined Grant and his colleagues for a celebratory night out on the town.  It started at a Vietnamese restaurant in a very hidden hutong.  The meal was spectacular…food kept arriving, as quickly as it would disappear (as did the alcohol!).  True to the Chinese custom, platters kept whizzing by as we all dined family-style, giving us the opportunity to try a number of Vietnamese dishes.   



Afterwards, we all made our way over to Sanlitun (Beijing’s Soho area) for KTV.  We’ve heard so much about KTV, and how popular it is here…finally, it was our chance to be a part of it! 

They take their karaoke very seriously over here.  First, you’re directed into your own private, themed room.  Our theme that evening?  James Bond.  Awesome.  And the singing quickly began.

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but this was my very FIRST time to partake in karaoke.  How I’ve managed to avoid it for 29+ years, I don’t know, but after hearing the harmonious voices of our Chinese friends, I was SUPER nervous (and no, I’m not being sarcastic…they were all REALLY good!). 

I survived, even though the first song they chose for me was YMCA.  I mean, who sings YMCA outside of a wedding reception?  Oh, and let’s not forget that NO ONE had heard it before.  It.  Was.  Awkward. 

Towards the end of the night though, I was joining in on songs I had never heard before – it was great!  I think this bada$$ microphone had something to do with my eagerness to join in on the fun…




On Saturday, our friend, Dany, invited us over for his famous, homemade hot pot!

I love the Chinese house parties, as they’re extremely relaxed, and all about lazily catching up over plenty of food and drinks.

We finished off the night by begging them to teach us Mahjong, and had an absolute blast (plus, winning a few hands!).  If you love dominos, you’ll love Mahjong.  We can’t wait to introduce you all to it once we’re back in the west!

Best apron EVER!  haha



Seoul, good for the soul :)


August 2014:

After Tibet, we were in need of a relaxing holiday, and Seoul fit the bill perfectly.  We arrived into Seoul on a particularly interesting weekend... 

Friday was a national holiday in Seoul.  The Pope was in town.  Parliament was voting on stricter laws for the ferries (remember when the ferry full of school children sank?  So very sad).

As a result, the police were out in full force.  Everywhere you turned, another group of about 25 police officers were clumped together, quietly surveying the area, but prepared to leap into action at any given moment.  It was truly a bizarre scene.  We now understand why South Korea is highly regarded in their riot control skills.

 When trying to get back to our hotel after the first day, this is what we ran into on our street...crazy!  There was a protest regarding the ferry incident that veered off of its designated course...

Anyways, back to beautiful Seoul.  We decided to spend our first afternoon wandering around the city.  We happened across the changing of the guard, Korean style, at Gyeongbokgung Palace, looked on as the city prepared for the Pope in Gyeongbokgung Square, and scoped out the Korean BBQ scene.




This little girl was the CUTEST...she was practicing her English by asking me a few questions...when she was done, she literally jumped up and down for 2 minutes with the biggest smile on her face, so proud of herself :)











Fried chicken!!

What I remember most from this first day though is a certain dish that was served to us while enjoying a couple of Seoul’s finest, Cass draft.  Instead of serving the normal dish of nuts with your beer, this place thought outside the box.  We weren’t sure what it was, but what we did know is that it looked disgusting, and smelled like urine.  Once we couldn’t take it anymore, we called the waiter over to remove it…Grant then proceeded to ask what it was, and the response was priceless:  “uhhh, I can’t remember the English word for it, but it’s the stage before the butterfly”.  Yea, no thanks!



We strapped on our trainers Saturday morning, and made our way to Bukhansan National Park to enjoy what we thought would be a relaxing hike.  We should have known we were in way too deep once we realized we were the only people not in proper hiking gear from head to toe.  We marched forward though, and started our ascent to the top of Baekundae Peak.  This was the toughest hike we’ve experienced together to date.  We've been known to pack a few celebratory beverages in our packs to enjoy at the peak tops, but with this hike, we were so worried about the descent (due to the difficulty of the ascent!), that we didn't even touch them.  Instead, a sweet little Korean grandmother took pity on us (I guess we looked as exhausted as we felt!), and gave us her cucumber to snack on.  No joke.  Bless her heart, we certainly needed some non-alcoholic fuel for the trip down!  Let's just say, I could barely move for the next three days.  We did of course enjoy a celebratory drink once we were down at the bottom though...success :)


  



My face says it all...and yes, that's a cable you had to hold onto for dear life, or risk sliding down the sheer, slippery rock at the top!  So yes, my whole body was sore, including my arms!



That evening, we pushed through the exhaustion, and attended a South Korean baseball game in Gangnam.  Best decision ever.  There was constant cheering, dancing, singing and of course, waving of the blow-up bats .  And, best of all, game day hot dogs!  These fans were incredible...there was seriously never a dull moment - enjoy the video below #DoosanBears







Before waving goodbye to Seoul, we explored the Bukchon Hanok Village, home to hundreds of traditional houses...




Happy 31st, Grant!


August 2014:

Happy 31st, Grant!  
30th in London, 31st in Beijing…let’s keep this going! 

A few of our Chinese friends were kind enough to organize a lovely night out on Grant’s actual birthday. 

We sipped a few cocktails at the Grand Hyatt (one of our favorite bars in the city), then made our way over to one of the most famous hot pot restaurants in the city. 

We had a spectacular meal filled with some interesting dishes (we’ve had to become pretty adventurous over here…) – that, paired with the flowing baijiu and good company made it the perfect birthday celebration in Beijing.

Even though the Chinese aren’t too keen on sweets, I decided to bring a cake along…I mean, you have to have a birthday cake, right?!  I really just wanted an excuse to explore the bakery down the street…it teases me with its mouth-watering aroma every time I walk past it :)

Well, little did I know then that it’s Chinese tradition to not eat the cake at a birthday celebration, but smash it in each other’s faces!  Haha  Luckily, I managed a few bites of the delicious cake before it was snatched from my plate!