Lily, Caden, & Gia Lovers: Beijing - July 8

Lily and I ran together this morning. We ran around Tsingua University (TSU) and found some beautiful buildings and pathways. Apparently there was a graduation this day and there were many students out getting graduation photos at 6 AM.

I used Google Maps, through the VPN, to route us home. We were directed to take side streets from the university that took us through a residential area of clusters of single-story homes with small courtyards sharing a common ally. Laundry was hung outside of the door of many of the homes and there were many bicycles and scooters. As we came to the end of the street, we faced a fenced area with two guards. They opened the gate and let us pass with a smile. We weren’t sure whether the guards were to keep us out of the area we were leaving or the area we were entering, or merely just a check point. We ran on, following the maps, and were able to see more residential communities. Such a wide disparity in living conditions in such a small area. One area looked a bit like a shanty town, surrounded by a stone fence, with large apartment buildings surrounding. It was here that we encountered another gate. Luckily a woman came up with a bike and got a card, which she swiped to open the door. We walked through like we knew what we were doing and ran home. Still unclear why they are there?

We went right to the amazing breakfast and met Corey, Caden and Gia there. Gia moved squarely into the dumpling and sushi breakfast J

Corey was giving his talk to today at Tsinghua. Reports from Yi after were that he has a gift for connecting with the students, which I already knew, and that he is handsome (which I also already knew) :)

Where Corey gave his talk

The kids and I lounged up and worked on the blog and reading. And of course, a little screen time too.

We met up with Yi, Jae and Corey at 12 to head to lunch. This was a highlight of the trip thus far! We went to Haidilao, a famous Hot Pot restaurant, known for excellent food and equally excellent services that are offered while you wait, including a full service nail salon. No joke.

While you wait for your table they seat you at tables outside and bring you cups of what tasted like grape Koolaide and lemonade and bowls of cherry tomatoes and little chips that looked like Bugles. It was a really good complement, funny enough. They had strips of perfectly square paper, so Lily gave us a class on making fortune tellers and Caden gave us lessons on making origami boxes.

[video to follow]...

The food was incredible! They bring out four different broths that heat up to cook the foot at the table. There is bowl of sauce they bring for each of us, and a spice bar for customizing. We had plates of beef, fish, tripe, lamb, dumplings, mushroom, tofu and pumpkin. They began and ended the meal with hot towels. They also brought out a tor for each kid and a hair band for the girls to keep their hair of their face.

They would use chopsticks to put in plates of protein in each of the 4 pots, and tell us to wait a few minutes. We would then just use our chopsticks to fish out the cooked meat, dredge it through the bowl of sauce, and pop it in our mouth. Way more than we could eat, but it was sooooo good!

If you are dining alone, they seat you with a big stuffed doll of Madame H doll. Not sure how I'd feel about that.

After witnessing the amazing noodle show, we were bummed we didn't order noodles too.

The Noodle Guy in action!

These little purses are completely edible and filled with roe. The message stamped on them says "happiness" - or so I have been told. We were calling this the real fortune cookie.

This restaurant really knew how to delight their guests! We were treated to this beautiful fruit at the end of our meal.

Lily was reunited with her favorite fruit - Longan (those little balls).

After lunch, we headed to the XXX markets. There was so much to see! It seemed like over half the shops were for interesting foods. Potatoes on a stick, gelatinous rolled fruit, milk teas, candied fruit kebabs… We had to pace ourselves, and comforted ourselves that we will be back in Beijing at the end of our trip for anything we miss along the way.

The first thing we tried were these candied fruits on a stick.

I love this photo. The little boy is eating a fried potato on a stick and his dad is providing the stool :)

"Gelatinous Rice Covered Fruit" - needs a better marketing slogan

[videos to be uploaded once we get to Hong Kong]

Meat slabs offered by passionate employees.

Next up the driver took us to the Notre Dame Beijing Global Gateway in a posher area of Beijing. The building was so modern! We were greeted by a formed ND student, Reagan, and had a chance to visit with two other ND colleagues who kindly invited Corey and I back to teach some summer, as they are beginning to teach classes in the building starting next summer. It was wonderful to see some ND colleagues!

The beautiful lobby of the building that the ND Global Gateway is in.

A nice welcome :)

Another highlight was using the nice restrooms after a day of being our and about in the city. The "squatty potties" that more often than not are BYOTP (yes, bring your own TP) are wearing on me. I had to laugh though to see this sign on the back of the door at the Notre Dame building. Even if you love the squatty potty, do not squat on the toilet seat :)

The kids were lamenting the ice cream bubble tea they did not get at the markets, so we set off to try and find some. We ended up at Maan Cafe and indulged in waffles and ice cream. Yi took Caden next door to get his bubble tea. There were smiles all the way around.

Overseeing the waffle making

So handsome and getting so grown up. Please slow down time!!!

We drove past some of the Olympic buildings on our way back to the hotel. The kids missed it because there were asleep.

Beijing Highlights:

Caden’s highlights – One of my favorite things during my time in Beijing was eating hot pot. I liked how you get raw meat and cook it in the different sauces. My favorite was the lamb cooked in the shrimp broth. I also liked the egg dumplings. I also liked our hotel in Beijing. The architecture cool. The roof patterns and overhangs, and the windows – especially the ones in the room that separated the bathtub from the rest of the room. One thing I didn’t like was that a lot of people smoked. Mom asked me for a tip for travelers to Beijing and I would say to try all of the new foods, even if they look gross.

Gia’s highlights – Some things about Beijing that I will always remember are going to hot pot and spending time with Yi. My favorite part of the hot pot was the dumplings. Oh my goodness. They were good! And I will always remember how everyone was really kind and how good people dressed. I like how Beijing is so big. It is really cool. I also loved the hotel. Especially the breakfast. And I loved the dumplings you could eat everywhere. My tips for travelers going to Beijing are to visit the Great Wall “Great Wait” of China and to eat the dumplings.

Lily’s Highlights – I really liked seeing the Great Wall of China. I liked how historical it was. I think it is really cool to be in some place where people were standing thousands of years ago. I didn’t like the wait though. My other highlight was going on a run with my mom. We had a chance to see a really cool part of town that was kind of old and run down, but yet had a lot of character. I also love how everyone here is so stylish. My only complaint was, “the great wait” to get on the Wall. My tips for people traveling to Beijing is to bring a lot of stylish clothes, bring a lot of sunscreen, and use an umbrella to stay out of the sun.

Some other Beijing pics: