Peking Xiaoyuan Hotel Beijing

... the Jianguo Garden Hotel, is an elaborate and tasty affair. Besides western staples like juices, cereals, pastries, and made-to-order omelets, the hotel restaurant offers dumplings, crepes, Chinese-style pastries, and even soup. Chefs will also steam fresh vegetables on the spot for you. Never a minimalist when it comes to eating foreign fare, I ate a little bit of everything, and it was all delicious. The dumplings were especially good, steamed ...

... And yet, we couldn't find each other right away. As a matter of fact, Xizhimen Station, one of modern architectural landmarks of Beijing with its tall triple buildings in the shape of sliced ellipses, is much more complicated to navigate and find one's way around for an average passenger than you would possibly want. At least if it's not your base station or one that you frequently pass through. Designed by AREP, a French architectural firm, it inevitably strikes you once you ...

... with the boss of complimentary ticket place. Now, he could basically take all of the unclaimed tickets for any event. Of course, these went out to just about just every new friend he made along the way (how Max and I got to see baseball for free). Now he was seeing events all day with a party of a dozen or so people. AND with a few connections, in the past at least, I don't know about this year, he got an insider tip on ...

... stor suppe heile tida. Paa dei verste dagane var sikten under 1 km. Det gjer at du mistar alle haldepunkt og gjer deg litt for avhengig av taxiane. Saa er taxiane til gjengjeld utruleg billege og gode. 20 minutt i taxi kom paa max 40 yuan (30 norske), som oftast billegare. Alle brukte taximeter og det var befriande etter prutekulturen i Russland. Me brukte dagane litt forskjellig. Den forbudte by var imponerande ...

I went on a bicycle Hutong Tour, organised by the place I'm living at, this Sunday. It was a lovely sunny day and a small group of us road of bikes around the various hutongs near the centre of Beijing. For those that don't know, hutongs are small lanes that consist of traditional Chinese courtyard homes - some of these have now been converted in shops, cafes and bars, while others still have Chinese families living in them and ...

... se celkem zajímavě prolíná - není problém vidět nalestěnou Audinu zaparkovanou před polorozbořeným domečkem. I přes očividnou chudobu větsiny obyvatel jsem se ale nikdy v Číně necítil nijak ohrozen...podle mých zkuseností je to dost bezpečná země. Jako bonus je ten, ze západní turista je tu jaksi "v úctě" a o pomoc s mapou není mezi místními nouze. Obyvatelé Číny jsou usměvaví, ukecaní, hluční a ...

Today we took on Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City...it was an impressive day! As we were walking from the hostel, we wonder through the park next to the Forbidden City, and encountered our first "art student." She would be the first of many, and I can't thank various guidebooks enough about writing about this scam (I studied art history and would of been easily suckered into this!). The girl was ...

... but we still brave the weather and walk around for a couple of hour. At the train station when we were waiting for the train, everybody was staring at me while I was struggling with a Sudoku puzzle (from the book i bought at walmart). To add some pressure Kirsten keep saying ; " You have a big audience you better finish it ". I did but only once in the train. Yep another train, a modest 13 hours this time. Xian here we come!

... beautifully decorative archways, upturned eaves and carved details. It houses a treasury of Buddhist art, including sculptured images of gods, demons and Buddhas, as well as Tibetan-style murals. After Yongzheng's death in 1735, his coffin was placed in the temple. Emperor Qianlong, his successor, upgraded Yonghegong to an imperial palace with its turquoise tiles replaced by yellow tiles (yellow was the imperial color in the Qing Dynasty). During ...

... They then find another one nearby. They insisted to pay for the taxi that brought us there. Really nice people. Gave me a warning about walking back to the hotel when it's too late and said goodbye. Only after I'm checked in at the hotel do I discover from www.waytorussia.com that there are resort types hotels further on up the river. A nude beach as well. But I've got alot of work to get done on the bike and it's hot, and there ...