Beijing – Downtown Sights and Nightlife

We headed into Beijing city and imposed on Paul’s cousin, Daniel, to stay at his place while we visited the downtown sights for a couple days. Beijing is a bit more challenging to navigate because although the taxicabs are plentiful, the drivers do not speak English, and also do not know where Daniel’s address is. Russ devised a genius scheme to overcome this hurdle—we snagged a brochure from the diner on the corner nearby and each time we needed to get back home, we gave it to the taxi driver, who would look confused about why we wanted to get to this particular Jackpot restaurant, but then would head off in the general direction and inevitably call the restaurant to get the exact location. We’re pretty sure that over those three days the Jackpot received a record number of calls.

While in Beijing, we got a chance to tour around the sites of the recent 2008 Olympics, the Forbidden City and surrounding tulip gardens, the Houhai neighborhood with its intricate winding hutongs and lakes, and the drum and bell towers. Also, we got to try several really top notch restaurants, thanks to Daniel’s proficiency in the local food & beverage scene. Among our favorites were the Beijing duck restaurant, Dali restaurant (with a return to Yunnanese cuisine), and Hot Pot street for its cool lantern-lined, bustling street atmosphere. We also got to go out with Daniel and his friends to see what Beijing nightlife had to offer---it was a blast even though we couldn’t quite keep up!

Outside the Water Cube aka Michael Phelps' house.

Peking Duck dinner with Daniel.

The Forbidden City on Chinese Labor Day. Probably the most crowded day of the year, and that's saying something!

2012 Olympic trainee went swimming with his dog in the local park.

Spicy dinner on Hot Pot Street aka Ghost Street