Beijing Houhai Lake and Silk Market

With some short weeks spent at home back in the U.S. it was time for me to head back to China. The plan was to meet back up with my friend and I arrived in Beijing to start out the trip. It was an odd feeling though as soon as I stepped off the plane. It had been almost a year since I was in Beijing yet it felt only a few short months. I guess that was due to the fact that I had been living in south China for the past few months. Either way, Beijing seemed no different to me. The dusty roads hadn’t changed and neither had the constant smog hanging over the city. What was new though was arriving into the Beijing Airport since I’d taken the train last time getting to this city. And this would mark the first time I’d ever seen a tram inside an airport on a raised platform. It wasn’t on the outside of the buildings like you’d find in other major airports… nope, this one was directly overhead as you were walking to your gate. But it was there for good reason… this airport was huge!

Out in front of Beijing West Train Station

I ended up arriving around 12 midnight so unfortunately I was forced to haggle with the taxi drivers from airport as they love to take advantage of the fact they are in short supply this late at night. Being a foreigner with poor Mandarin skills, you can imagine the frustration with trying to hire a cab since my destination was clear across the city.

Sitting in the courtyard of my guesthouse…

I did eventually find one that agreed on a fair price however he still wanted to spend another 10 minutes cruising around the airport trying to find more passengers going in the same direction after I was already in the cab. After giving up, we later arrived to the street that my guesthouse was ‘supposedly’ on. Well, there is nothing like getting dropped off in the middle of a dark alley with all your bags around 1AM in the middle of a Chinese metropolis. Compound the effect with the lack of language ability to read signs (and most characters) and you’re in for a fun time. Luckily, my China cell still worked and to my surprise, the reception at my guesthouse was 24 hours and extremely helpful in directing me where to go.

A nice lady we’d met randomly outside the metro station… She wanted to take video of us three while I was content with just a snapshot

What was also unfortunate was the fact that the room I’d reserved wasn’t going to be available until the following afternoon so I couldn’t check into my room for another 10 hours or so. Luckily, the ladies working the place were nice enough to allow me to burn time at the bar and after everyone left, they offered the couch that was there for a great (but random) night’s sleep. Still being on US time, this was fine for me. I wasn’t tired and they had free Wifi. Sleeping at the bar it was! Needless to say, the poor girl who opened up the bar at 7AM the next morning was a bit surprised to find me! Apparently no one told her she’d be finding a random guy on the couch!!

Many of the neighborhoods (hutongs) were decorated for the upcoming holidays

After getting checked in, I was soon off to the Beijing West train station to meet my friend. It was great to meet up again after more than a month apart and though we didn’t have too many Beijing plans, we made the best of it.

Beijing West Train Station

We decided to meet up with a couple of her friends on the other end of the Forbidden City in a district that is quite popular in Beijing. It is known as the Houhai Lake area and is located near the city’s center. It’s quite easy to get to the Houhai Lake area by metro but you’ll still have a bit of a walk to get there once out of the metro station. There seemed to be more than a hundred bars and restaurants throughout the area though and it was extremely scenic too as most spots had rooftop bars that overlooked the water. Prices here were a bit steep though, especially for China prices. We walked around a bit, had some drinks and grub and were headed out. I think the best part of the evening though was when a fleet of pedi cabs came by as we were sitting along side the street and while I was busy trying to take a photo of them, many of the passengers were busy taking photos of us foreigners. It made for a random experience….

Street View of Houhai Lake area

Later in the trip, I headed over to the Silk Market which is located East of the Forbidden City at the Yong’anli Metro stop. It was an interesting place to visit and no doubt,  a lot of foreigners frequented the area however I was on a mission. I’d been to plenty of these markets in south China before so instead of spending too much time there, the goal was to get some warmer clothes than I’d brought on this trip. I was headed to Siberia soon and I had a feeling the weather would be getting fierce! And there were definitely some deals to be had in these markets. There are plenty of knock off brands throughout but if you can spot good quality and bargain well enough, you can walk away with some great deals.

Pedi Cabs at Houhai Lake area

After getting back from here, I still has a couple of days left in Beijing but the only other highlight of this week’s stay was our trip to the Summer Palace though I’ll save that one for the next post….

Sunset at Houhai Lake