So, the day started of nice with us being able to sleep a few extra hours. We woke up, showered and went to the bar, enjoyed a coffee and checked the blog. Both me and Kim felt a bit tired but at the same time excited, so we decided to get our day going. But already within 15 meters of walking from the hostel we turned back... it was to hot outside so kim had to change clothes and I fetched my sunglasses.
First stop was for breakfast, or lunch... same thing today.
Excited for breakfast
We decided to eat chinese food for lunch, and we chose a great one close to Lama temple. I have eaten here before and I remember it being great... if you pick the right dishes. So, we ordered in 5 different dishes, rice and water with lime. As you can see from our order below.
Our order was easy to make without any confusions being made
This is what they see from our order, makes all the sense, what are we eating? :D
Also excited for breakfast
Our drinks looked nice
From these dishes, the one that looked best in the menu looked best on the table, and tasted like sh*t
Baozi with pork
Fried Jaozi with veggies
Summer veggies
Eggplant with garlic and other awesome flavours
Fried eggs with some kind of shellfish
Deep fried pork ribs
As you can see from the picture above, it looks really nice. It's deepfried pork ribs, which sounds good until you taste it.. It was litterly the ribs, not any pork at all. It was all greasy, covered in egg yolk (yep, that yellow that looks crispy is egg yolk). The texture was slobby and had a feeling of eating greasy sand. Very pleasant as you can imagine haha!
The Baozi was really good, so was the eggplant and the eggs. But the last veggie dish... something was off, I can't form words for it, but it just felt wrong. Tried a few but was not happy. The missis thought a few things lacked salt (a theme continuing during the day). But overall, we were happy with the meal.
After a not so perfect lunch, we went to the Lama temple
Lama temple is a beautiful place, we filmed a bit, and took a few pictures. We later found out that you were not allowed to film or take photos inside the buildings... atleast we found out about that in the last house. Mby I should wait until I get home before I upload them.
one of the houses in Lama temple
A statue found at the Lama temple
Chinese guys that did not speak much
Thingy at the temple
Thingys and a monk at the temple
Awesome statue at the temple
We tried to get a cab to get ourself somewhere to hide from the heat
It was 34 degrees celsius and direct sunshine wherever we moved (felt like it), and either the cabs had people inside them or they just did not want to pick us up. The latter is a common practice in Beijing, cab drivers don't want to pick up foreigners, I guess because we tend to suck at mandarin and expect everyone to understand English :D
Since we found no cab, we went walking... and walking... and walking.
When our energy was low, we finally found a boutique of my favorite bakery in Beijing: Paris baguette
There we found some nice iced coffee and puffed pastry. The later we have a video of kim trying, which is amazing. Internet sucks today so I can't upload it, guess you just have to wait to find out. Atleast you get some pictures from what they offered.
Bread with pork shives on top
Hamburgers, of some sort :D
Some nice bakery stuff
On the go alternatives, very tasty stuff
One of the cakes they have, marvelous ;)
Some other cakes, wonder which one we will have for breakfast at some point
We finally found a subway entry and headed for the next place, Silk market
Silk market is a 6 floor high building that is packed with fake stuff, whole floor with shoes, whole floor with clothes and so forth. I used to love to come here at my last visit, partly because I could bargain for profitable deals, but also because all the people selling stuff would throw away complements at my direction. Of course these complements was all to get me to their shop to buy their goods, but a day I felt low, it was nice none the less.
However, today was very different... They have rebuilt the entire place, made it look fancy and like if they are selling real goods... There were almost no people there, clerks or visitors. The place had a athmosphere that felt stiff. So we quickly went through it and out... that was a big dissapointment.
After a lunch that did not live up to expectations and silk market that did not live up to expectations, we went home
Ye, we were defeated, we surrendered to the heat and our experiences that lacked awesomeness so to speak. We sat down at the hostel bar, I had a beer, and Kim enjoyed a flask of the nicest water they have (They only have one kind). Our plan was to take a nap to get some new energy, but instead we went booking hotel nights in Shanghai!
We did not even plan to go there, we had it as an "if we feel like it and the opportunity presents itself, we will go there". And we booked 5 nights, going on Sunday.
Another cool painting in the hutong we live at
So, Shanghai on Sunday, but tomorrow is another cool trip
We booked a trip to the wall, the great wall of China.
I have visited 2 different locations before, and both twice. It's an awesome experience that can't be described by words but has to be experienced. This time we are going to a different location, which feels cool for me aswell, so we both get to experience it as a first. So at 7 AM we are leaving for what most likely will be an awesome day.
So, we booked trips and then went out for food
We searched online for a teppanyaki restaurant that I have visited before, then we took a cab there only to find out it was not there anymore... So we walked to San Li Tun to find out if we could find another option for dining. And we did, we found a place that offers the Peking duck!
My experiences with the kaoya is awesome, and a place can't fail that... can they?
Well.. I guess it was not a failure, it was ok. But the Beijing delicatess should not be OK, it should be awesome. And it took us 60min to wait for the duck... Let's put it like this, it felt like it fit right into the theme of the day. Not so great day of China.
Atleast we ordered a desert... which took a long time to get... and did not taste good...
Peking duck time!
Time to eat the kaoya!
You should watch these 4 pictures from top to bottom and see Kims reaction, not sure if good or not!
Take 1 - Ok, lets try this out
Take 2
Take 3
Take 4 - Is this a good or bad reaction? :D
Our desert, had to introduce Kim to these very chinese alternatives
We decided to leave, get into the subway, find our way home... but first stop by a seven eleven
We bought some fruit, water, a juice and peanutbutter filled sandwich. great stuff! :D
Even though the peanut butter sandwich was good, it felt like it was lacking peanut butter compared to how I remembered it. Either it's my memory tricking me, or they reduced the amount of filling... Either way, it was great compared to the rest of the day :D
So, tomorrow it's time to hike the wall
We prepped water and snacks, and we will be gone the entire day. It's reaching 12 at night right now, and we are going up in 6.5 hours. Great that we get to sleep today, so that we can managed on 6 hours of sleep.
As of right now, when I am uploading this post, it is morning and we are going to the wall as soon as we have enjoyed our breakfast. Internet was not our friend last night, so none of these pictures managed to be uploaded. Atleast it is sorted now, the speed and stability is way better in the morning.
A day of failiure is a learning experience, tomorrow will be a better day.
Coach Bjork
https://coachbjork.com/
Online Personal Trainer