Explore: Jingshan, Tiantan, Gulou, Houhai, Nanluoguxiang

A replica of a terra cotta soldier – http://urbanwolfe.tumblr.com/post/11720348902

It’s worth it to go exploring, even when you’re alone in a new city. Last Friday I ventured away from NLGX – it’s really just too much after a few days – and headed to Jingshan Park, a series of temples on a large hill overlooking the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square to the south and the Drum and Bell Towers to the north. Beijing is set up in a very grid-like formation, and Jingshan is nearly at the heart of it, so there are great views to be had in all directions.

South to Forbidden City – the mountain is said to block bad qi from the north

North to Gulou

I was having an oddly fantastic time by myself when a British guy approached me and started chatting. He lives in Doha, Qatar, and was in Beijing for four days total, and it was his last day. He asked if I’d take a picture of him in front of the grand view, and as we continued chatting it was decided that I’d take him to the next site he was interested in, the Temple of Heaven.

The two main things about Adam (apart from the British accent) were that he was tall and very snarky. We got along very well.

Because it was the first full day of the lunar New Year there was a big traditional ceremony going on around the Temple of Heaven. There was a man dressed as the emperor and probably 50 or so dancers in different colored themed costumes with swords and feathers. I was relieved to stumble into this epic event, because for everything that I do know about Beijing, China, and Chinese culture, Adam would ask me two things I had no idea about and then tease me relentlessly.

Temple of Heaven New Year Ceremony

As we were leaving we were accosted by street vendors selling snacks and silly souvenirs for the temple. Adam wanted to try tang hulu, fruit on a stick covered by caramelized sugar, so we bought two. Just as we started eating them a man came up and insisted that Adam wanted to buy a silly model of the temple that looked like it was made out of popsicle sticks. As I argued that he didn’t want it, it was way too expensive, and that he thought it was ugly, Adam goes, “30 quid, I’ll take it!” They must have made some sort of eye contact where this understanding had passed between them, because I was totally not on the same page. He bought it and as he stuffed it in his backpack, he dropped the candy he’d been talking about basically since we met. Basically we were a mess.

We ended up in a cab and went to the Drum Tower, another famous Beijing “thing.” We made it just in time to climb the steep steps and overlook the city. From the drum tower you can see Houhai – a reservoir surrounded by a charming bar district, currently with great ice skating – and due south is Jingshan; it was kind of a neat full circle.

South from the Drum Tower to Jingshan

As we were about to leave we realized we had just hit the last drum performance of the day. Men dressed in traditional clothing (and Nikes) came out of the woodwork and did a powerful chest-thudding routine. We left and headed to Houhai, where we got warm chestnuts (and compliments on our Chinese – mine was ordering the chestnuts, Adam’s was saying “Happy New Year” after asking me twice) and beer. We walked around the lake and met up with Luke for dinner at a hot pot restaurant nearby.

Drum performance – check out the Nikes

Hotpot is a great Chinese invention. I’ve heard that the Melting Pot is quite similar, but I think safety regulations are probably still a thing at American fondue restaurants. Hotpot is a boiling vessel of broth, and you add raw meat, noodles, mushrooms, greens, anything you can imagine, really, a bit at a time and then fish it out with chopsticks. Between the food safety and the boiling (and we’re talking serious rolling boil), it’s an exotic way to eat. I was excited because it was my first full Chinese-style meal. The weird thing was that they were out of rice. Yes, in China… so we had an order of Beijing style noodles with our hotpot, which was unconventional but still tasty.

After dinner we headed to Nanluoguxiang and had a drink before putting Adam in a cab to the airport, concluding my first random adventure and an all-around fantastic day in Beijing.