the non-touristic route

I’ve been in Beijing a week, and so far most of the sightseeing I’ve done has involved navel-gazing,  international cuisine and peering over empty glasses that once contained some form of intoxicant in various bars. I’ve also managed to go out dancing at an expat bar, where it became glaringly obvious that one of the symptoms in men afflicted with yellow fever is some form of blindness. But, hey, everyone has needs, right? And I’m sure that the girls are lovely inside.

But, back to my lack of touristmo. It’s a slightly odd situation because I arrived last Sunday and started work almost immediately. So I’m not really a tourist, and I haven’t actually had time to be a tourist, much less do very much sightseeing.  From what I’ve heard, though, there isn’t that much to do in Beijing - the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace, the lake district  (which I’ve wandered around!) and various parks – so I’m sure I’ll be ticking them off my list of to-dos in short shrift.

What I have managed to see, apart from the lakes, is Panjiayuan Antiques Market (潘家园旧货市场), which is where tourist go to get ripped off on fake antiques. We’d expected it to be pretty rough and dirty, but it was neat and well laid-out, and very civilized. We didn’t hang around long – I was slightly hungover, hungry and un-caffeinated. Not a great combination for haggling and being discerning. Plus, there weren’t any Mao helmets damn it.

So, from dodgy antiques to dodgy street food, we ended up at Snack Street (小吃街) where there was snake on a stick, silkworms and squid, pissing beef balls (潵尿牛丸), pancakes and overly glutinous veggie dumplings (菜饺子) amongst others. I’ve never been too much a fan of the smelly tofu （臭豆腐）or pig intestines（猪肠), so  no suprises that I avoided those stalls assiduously.

After all that insectical/intestical excitement, we rounded off the week where it started, at a bar round the corner from mine with several games of pool and a pint or two.

It’s been an amazing week, and if this week is anything to go by, it’s looking like it’s going to be a fantastic couple of months. It’s all very exciting.

p/s: photos to come when I’ve figured out how to work the internet at my apartment.