Lost in translation

The two most accident prone rooms in a house are the bathroom and the kitchen. On our first day in Beijing we prove the former when Jeannine slips in the shower and hurts her knee. Fortunately cycling is not too painful so we set off on two wheels.

view from JingShan park to drum tower

overlooking the Forbidden City

JingShan park is on Beijing's the north-south axis, just south of our hutong. The park was originally part of the Forbidden City (the imperial palace) and its hill was created from the earth excavated for the palace's moat. From the hill we have a stunning view north towards the Drum Tower and south over the Forbidden City.

Tian'anMen Square

We cycle around the Forbidden City to Tian'anMen Square. On propaganda square we are not welcome with our bicycles and with Mao still being too revered for my taste, I finally ditch my intention to visit the mausoleumated communist leaders (in Moscow, Lenin had been rudely unavailable) and we cycle on to QianMen Dajie. The area has been renovated into brand shopping quarter including a little retro streetcar. 

At the more informal stalls we do our first haggle: It's so hot and sunny that we desperately need some hats. Always a good bargaining position to be in ;)

In our new dragon hats we head further south to TianTan, the temple of heaven. Instead of lunch, we have icecreams. Jeannine is not so sure about my choice of flavour, but the mielie icecream is lekker!

maizecream!

Temple of Heaven

Two dragons

Like all things Chinese, the park and temple are MUCH bigger than one expects. We spent most of the afternoon admiring the sights and when we cycle back, the sun is already setting.

sun setting over Forbidden City palace moat

For supper we walk 200m from the hostel to 'Friends'. Despite the English name it's a firmly Chinese place. When we order a couple of dishes from the picture menu, we end up with enough food for a large family and a 600ml TsingTao just for me... The egg & tomato soup, the spinach with nuts and the chicken dish are tasty, but the dumplings are divine. 

family dinner at 'Friends'

And then the kitchen accident strikes: When we use our Mandarin phrasebook to ask for a doggy bag for the dumplings we can't possibly fit in right then, the waitress brings us an entire new portion for take-away. A guy at the next table takes pity on us and explains the misunderstanding – to embarrassment all around.