genuine peking duck

I feel like a lot has been happening in that last two days. So let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). 

Two nights ago - didn't end up going to a real Chinese place for tea. The whole group (forty of us) went to an American/Chinese buffet. All you can eat and drink! Beer in restaurants seems to just come in long necks, and we were drinking Beijing Beer, which was really good. Kind of German-esque, but boy it packs a punch at 8.8% alcohol! Food was good - I ate cricket! Crunchy... 

Yesterday - went to organise to rent a fridge with Pippa, who I've been hanging out with a lot. We managed to do it in Mandarin which was exciting. Got back and got on a bus to have a briefing at the Australian Embassy, about Beijing, what to look out for and so on. Very helpful. Then we went to a restaurant for a dinner with all the Universities who have sent students to do what I'll be doing. The restaurant is part of a chain of restaurants, but they are known for serving genuine peking duck! In fact, you can get a ticket to show which number duck you ate, they count each one. It was delicious! The chefs

have to get 90 pieces out of one duck, and they all have to have skin on them. I imagine it's quite the challenge. You put it all on a 'bing,' which is a really thin tortilla kind of thing with some cucumber and a sauce thing and then fold it up. I recommend serving with cold Yingtang, another local beer. A bit weaker than Beijing Beer but still a good drop.

When we got back, a few people decided they wanted to go do karaoke. We went to a bar on campus, but it's not karaoke like in Oz. You get your own room and sing only to the people in your room. We ended up joining in with a bunch of students studying at BFSU from Sweden, USA and UK. After a few Tsingtao (the most famous of Chinese beer, but a bit watery for my taste), I sang My Girl and Dancing Queen. The latter was with a rather drunk guy from NYU, who some say was trying to pick me up. I was just trying to sing ABBA!

Today - A blue sky day! It's amazing, after it rained yesterday, the smog has gone and it was a gorgeous day. Leo, who works for Newcastle Uni in Beijing reckons part of it is that it's the weekend and people aren't driving to work. Got up and went on a mission to get a mobile phone. BOCOG have given us all SIM cards so we could be contactable, but my Australian phone is locked. Managed to ask, haggle and buy a phone all in Mandarin by myself! My number is 13910072697. I think you might need to put the Chinese code in front of that too. Text messages work really well.

Got on a bus for a Newcastle Uni alumni lunch. Went to a restaurant and had absolutely amazing food and Jingjang, another good local beer. The food just kept coming. People who went to UoN who are now in Beijing were there, and it was really good to get a bit more local knowledge.

After lunch we strolled down to the Bell and Drum towers, which were build around 1220, basically as a clock.

 The drums were used to wake up the workers, and the bell to mark the time. Climbed up some very steep stairs to both towers to enjoy the view and the blue skys. This is the view of the Bell Tower

and surrounds from the Drum Tower. While in the Drum Tower, I met 

this Chinese guy who was there alone. He wanted to get a photo with me because he didn't want one by himself. We

 started talking as we climbed up the Bell Tower and he ended up coming with our group. He didn't have an English name, so I just started calling him Freddie. It stuck. Freddie's from a rural province and is visiting Beijing.

After the towers, some of the group wanted to go to Tianamen Square. We all got in cabs, but got dropped off at the wrong place. Had to work 

out where we were and how to get to Tianamen. Freddie was there, but his was not so great. We found some people who spoke French who I tried to talk to, but I French is worse than Freddie's english! But with the help of Freddie, we eventually worked out how to get on a bus that would take us there. My first Beijing bus! Very exciting. Tianamen is huge! The pic is of me and Pip standing in front of the famous red building with Chairman Mao's 

portrait. The police and CCTV presence is phenomenal. Perhaps they knew a bunch of students were coming and we getting ready... This pic is looking back 180 degrees from the first one, at a massive pillar in the middle of the square. Then had to work out how to get home! Took the subway, which was great. Unfortunately there is not subway right near where we're staying, because it's such a great network. So quick. And quite easy to work out too. Too trains and a short cab ride to get home. Really looking forward to working out public transport a bit more, so I can feel like I can go where I want to. Oh yeh, took a pic on the subway and this guy got up me. That was a bit scary!

And here's a photo of me and Freddie at the top of the Drum Tower. They had a demonstration of the drum playing, which was really, really cool.