Mon Feb 06, 2006
From Our Beijing Office...
We miss Beijing almost as much as our friends miss Lambstyle.com. I think Rob and I will take the hint from our dear friend and A+ dinner party hostess Caroline Cooper. Our far flung correspondant from Beijing writes.....
"Oh come ON you guys!! Beijing is staaarrving for some more lammby style... where is it? what shakes from the good old USA??
Of course, there's some rockin lambstyle material afoot du jour: non-stop firecracker antics all hail year-o-dog, some excellent dog sweaters to boot, talk of the old beer mug at Sanliturrrrnn getting the ax, sob, and a scuffle at the local hyper-market over dumplings. These people are dead serious about having fun. Dead, dead serious....
...Ever one to shrug the usual route of employment, real jobs, income, all that, of course I would happily take up the charge as a (part time, everything part time) corro for you guys... my rate is reasonable. Interested??
Am now off to pay a long-overdue visit to the military museam. How could I have overlooked this beauty??
xox cc"
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Fri Jan 06, 2006
Goodbye Beijing
Our last few days in China were hectic, but thanks to our great friends there we were able to get a lot done without too much stress. Rob and I took a short trip to Tokyo, ate sushi for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and managed to learn three words in Japanese.
Now I'm back in the heartland, eating plenty of corn and beef, and enjoying the robust after-Christmas sales. It feels funny to have left Beijing, but I'm excited for a new adventure.
Rob and I are in discussions about the future of the blog. You, our loyal readers, will be the first to see it in its new form.
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Mon Nov 28, 2005
Flu Shots for Birds
We've heard the reports that China is planning on innoculating all of its birds this winter against the bird flu. The campaign arrived in our neighborhood while we were eating lunch yesterday. Pigeons are favorite pets among the residents of old Beijing. Almost every apartment building has at least one unit where somebody has built a coop either into their window or on the roof. So it is nice to know that all of these birds have been or will be soon vaccinated.
All of the live poultry markets were closed in Beijing following an outbreak of bird flu north of the city. We have been told that these have reopened and are now selling birds who have received the shot. I've been seeing more and more chicken dishes being brought out to restaurant patrons. People had stopped ordering chicken because the lack of live markets meant that the meat might not be the freshest. I think those days are past.
Once the pigeon coops on our street had been taken care of, the doctor and his team looked up their next address, jumped on their bikes, and were gone as quickly as they had arrived.
Here are some of the happy fellows who will be keeping the elderly residents of the neighborhood company, hopefully, for years to come. Blake and I will be getting our flu shots this week, in case anyone is wondering.
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Thu Nov 24, 2005
I Heart Xinjiang Restaurants
I can't make enough posts to say how much I like going out for Xinjiang food. It will be the cuisine I will miss the most. To be honest, the dancing and music that are common in larger restaurants of this type is completely incidental. It's the food I like. Here we see someone getting into the act. This was taken at the Red Rose Xinjiang Restaurant near the North Gate of Workers Stadium. Aside from a great interior (below), it also features what I think are the best lamb kebabs of any restaurant I've been to in Beijing.
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Rock Stars at Tsinghua
Bob Venturi and Denise Scott Brown lectured to a well-beyond-capacity crowd at Tsinghua University yesterday. It was perhaps the politest crowd I've seen in China. Audiences here are famous for incessant cell phone use and loud conversations of all sorts. People began arriving an hour before the lecture started and all but a few stayed for the entire two hours. We happened to arrive half an hour early, and by then all the seats were already taken.
Bob spoke first.
And Denise closed the show.
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Happy Thanksgiving (Gan En Jie Kuai Le)
Well, another Thanksgiving is again upon us, and of course, we have much to be thankful for:
-My girl Blake. She is the greatest.
-George Bush has left Beijing. His arrival snarled traffic throughout the city.
-George Bush's trip to Beijing. Special dates and special guests seem to be oddly timed with extremely good weather. It is said that these blue skies are not coincedental. If so, things bode well for the Olympics. As I said, Bush is gone, but the weather has managed to hold. It takes a sitting president to do this. Bill Clinton's celebrity golf tournament this fall was almost rained out.
-We are thankful that we can go out and enjoy a delicious meal of roast duck. No turkey this year. Concurrently we are thankful that all the poultry entering the capital has been innoculated against the bird flu. This was in the paper this morning.
We hope for less want and more peace on Earth next year. Best to friends and family far away.
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Mon Nov 21, 2005
Dongbianmen Tower
The construction of the Ming City Walls began in 1419 and once encircled the entirety of Beijing, when the city was contained within what is now the Second Ring Road. Most sections of the wall have been destroyed, but a fairly well preserved section exists in the south of Beijing. There is a lovely park along the wall that has some nice paths to walk along, along which are large, non-descript apartment buildings. The associated gate tower, Dongbianmen, is 30 meters tall and was built in 1436. We had a chance to visit it when we attended an art opening in the Red Gate Gallery, located inside the gate. From the top of the gate are some wonderful views of the twisting Second Ring Road and also the massive railway tracks that lead to the City's train station.
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Fri Nov 18, 2005
Digging in the Flashcards: Black Dragon Pool
Anyone who reads these pages will know from the sky, among other things, that this is not Beijing. This is the Black Dargon Pool in Li Jiang, which provides a striking contrast to today's polluted Beijing air. What a nice place. You can just sit there for hours.
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"Just a perfect day..."
A couple sundays ago we decided to while away our Sunday by taking a walk up to Xihai, the lake immediately north of Houhai. Unlike its neighbor to the south, Xihai is almost completely devoid of restaurants and bars.
Except for a few lonely outposts, it's a quiet place...
...leaving visitors the opportunity to contemplate the placid surface of the lake. You could almost here Mr. Lou Reed singing in the background. We would later continue back to our house where we'd find the talking bird (see below).
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Thu Nov 17, 2005
Chinese Kinko's
There is actually a Kinko's in Beijing, but H. Sheng Graphics are much more common, and evidently they rarely screw up. A truly 24-hour operation, these establishments have a staff canteen in the back. When I ducked in to use the bathroom, the cook was whipping up a potato stew in the adjoining kitchen.
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