With the need to get out of Baoding and stretch our legs a bit, Lee and I made our way to Beijing after classes on Friday. We took the bullet train..a bit more expensive which only took an hour to get to Beijing. We made our way to the hostel by Sanlitun (a bar street). This being the first time staying at a hostel I was a bit apprehensive, but I was pleasantly surprised. The hostel had free internet and an awesome restaurant with delicious milkshakes and french toast! The bathrooms were really clean (western toilets) and the rooms were decent. So if anyone is in Beijing stay at the Sanlitun Youth Hostel!
So we took a walk around the area, but I decided to go back and take a much needed nap. When I woke up Alex was in the lobby so I finally got to meet her, Kim and Tara. They are all teaching English at the University in Baoding. We all went to Kro's Nest for dinner and to meet up with Alex's other friend Charlotte. The bar was having an 80s music night with pizza. However, it really sucked cause they never brought Tara and I's pizza....I was hungry! So we ditched the place and went to the bar street. We had a couple beers and went back to the hostel. Some guys from Wales tried to talk to us at the hostel but they were pretty lame so I got some ice cream from the store across the street (Magnums the best ice cream bar in China) and went to bed.
Next day I woke up and we had breakfast at the hostel and decided to go check out the Olympic park. Took the subway up to the Olympic park. It was really cool to see the birds nest in person. I remember them building it when I was studying in Beijing. The only problem was that the para Olympics are going on so the security wouldn't let us get too close to the buildings. We got some pictures but we will probably go back later and get some better pictures! After we ate some lunch at a near by restaurant and headed back to the hostel. I took a much needed shower....
That night we ate at the hostel and headed out to Wudaokou to meet up with some of Alex's friends. Wudaokou is another nightlife area but a little more cool cause that is where most university students hang out. So we hit up La Bamaba and meet Alex's friend Richard who use to teach in Baoding. Later his friend Max came and hung out. Max actually knows a bunch of people I studied abroad with so that was really random. Richard wanted to check out this club opening in Chaoyang called White Rabbit. It was pretty dead and Tara and I wanted to leave but no one else did so we stayed for like forever but finally ditched the guys and went back to the hostel.
The next day I didn't feel like doing to much so I called up Cory who studied in Beijing with me and we hung out at Element Fresh (an awesome restaurant when Chinese food starts to get boring). Afterwards I took a nap then Lee and I went out to dinner. He got the famed Beijing duck while I had a new favorite (an eggplant potato green pepper dish). Our train left Beijing at 10:30pm so we did not get back to the campus until midnight....luckily we had the day off on Monday for the mid autumn festival so I slept for a loooong time!
So we took a walk around the area, but I decided to go back and take a much needed nap. When I woke up Alex was in the lobby so I finally got to meet her, Kim and Tara. They are all teaching English at the University in Baoding. We all went to Kro's Nest for dinner and to meet up with Alex's other friend Charlotte. The bar was having an 80s music night with pizza. However, it really sucked cause they never brought Tara and I's pizza....I was hungry! So we ditched the place and went to the bar street. We had a couple beers and went back to the hostel. Some guys from Wales tried to talk to us at the hostel but they were pretty lame so I got some ice cream from the store across the street (Magnums the best ice cream bar in China) and went to bed.
Next day I woke up and we had breakfast at the hostel and decided to go check out the Olympic park. Took the subway up to the Olympic park. It was really cool to see the birds nest in person. I remember them building it when I was studying in Beijing. The only problem was that the para Olympics are going on so the security wouldn't let us get too close to the buildings. We got some pictures but we will probably go back later and get some better pictures! After we ate some lunch at a near by restaurant and headed back to the hostel. I took a much needed shower....
That night we ate at the hostel and headed out to Wudaokou to meet up with some of Alex's friends. Wudaokou is another nightlife area but a little more cool cause that is where most university students hang out. So we hit up La Bamaba and meet Alex's friend Richard who use to teach in Baoding. Later his friend Max came and hung out. Max actually knows a bunch of people I studied abroad with so that was really random. Richard wanted to check out this club opening in Chaoyang called White Rabbit. It was pretty dead and Tara and I wanted to leave but no one else did so we stayed for like forever but finally ditched the guys and went back to the hostel.
The next day I didn't feel like doing to much so I called up Cory who studied in Beijing with me and we hung out at Element Fresh (an awesome restaurant when Chinese food starts to get boring). Afterwards I took a nap then Lee and I went out to dinner. He got the famed Beijing duck while I had a new favorite (an eggplant potato green pepper dish). Our train left Beijing at 10:30pm so we did not get back to the campus until midnight....luckily we had the day off on Monday for the mid autumn festival so I slept for a loooong time!
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