Upon our Friday night arrival in Beijing, Becki and I caught a shuttle to the Sino-Swiss hotel. Wow. Nice hotel. Never stayed 4 star before. Hee hee! We were so tired we just kicked back and ordered pizza for dinner. We did make use of the indoor/outdoor pool though, after the thunderstorm abated.
Saturday morning we had a rocking good breakfast at the hotel then caught a shuttle into the city. We shopped at the pearl market and Silk Street. We had lunch at Grandma’s Kitchen, a restaurant started in Chengdu by an American expat from the South. Imagine a restaurant run by a southern woman that caters to expat Americans. Lunch was incredible. I had a huge philly cheesesteak sandwich and iced tea served with a tiny pitcher of honey, and we split a banana shake. There was actual banana in the shake. Mmmmmmmm!!!! Grandma’s Kitchen is also right in the middle of the foreign embassy area, so we walked past several, including Austria’s.
After our adventures, we went back to where the shuttle would pick us up. I should mention here that it was hot and unbearably humid Saturday. We were at the shuttle stop for about five minutes when we saw a couple that had been on our morning shuttle. The four of us waited together and talked until almost 4:15. Still no shuttle! So they decided we’d take a cab. The man tried to get one, but no luck. Becki knows how to hail a Chinese cab, so she found us someone who knew where we were going and would take us there. All four of us piled in, and 60 kuai later we were back at the Sino-Swiss. The couple paid and gave us a free taxi ride. Woohoo!
The next half hour was a dizzying series of phone calls. We were planning to meet Joy, Paulo and Wendy for dinner, but making the arrangements was very interesting. Joy is Becki’s friend from Chengdu (her name used to be Twinkle). She lives in Beijing now, as does her boyfriend Paulo. Wendy is another Chinese friend from Tianjin, but she lives in Beijing now as well.
Wendy
So we finally met for dinner a bit after 7. Since Joy and Paulo are from Szechuan Province and Becki used to live there, we went to a Szechuan restaurant. Wendy and I thought we were going to die. The food was SO spicy! Oh my goodness! It was agony. Paulo felt bad for me and ordered a bowl of rice. Wendy and I shared it. It was all good, but so very spicy. After dinner we walked to a restaurant/lounge (that’s what the sign says). It turns out we were back in the embassy district, so almost everyone there was waiguoren. What was REALLY funny was this group of Korean guys who were at the table next to us at dinner also showed up there. We hung out there until 10:30, and as soon as we left, the sky broke open and let loose an incredible downpour. We were on foot.
We finally found a taxi for Becki, Wendy and me to get back to the Sino. We had decided Wendy would stay with us. We said goodbye to Paulo and Joy and climbed into the taxi. Wendy forgot the Chinese name of the hotel though, and the driver took us to the Holiday Inn! Oops! We turned around and tried again. It was still pouring. Parts of some roads were already flooded, and before long we saw hail bouncing off the road! It was a dark and stormy night, indeed!
Well, I didn’t manage to get any sleep Saturday night, so Sunday was certainly fun. Actually, I fell asleep for an hour… 10 am to 11 am. 11 am!? Checkout in an hour! ACK! So we all went into a packing frenzy. Three girls, one hour, and one bathroom. Yikes. We made it, and before long we found ourselves at a local restaurant area that offered several dining possibilities. We chose the Greek one. I’m a Greek food geek. I’ve now had Greek in Paris, Moscow and Beijing. Never been to Athens… After lunch we sat in the Starbucks next door and talked for a few hours. Then we grabbed sandwiches to go from Subway and headed back. Wendy got a shuttle into the city to go home, and Becki and I got an airport shuttle.
Greek and Starbucks in Beijing
Goodbye Beijing.
