Day 3 in Beijing (3/4)
So, in September 2024, I made a trip to China to participate in a conference. Before going to Changchun, where the conference took place, I spent four days in Beijing. This is my report of these four days, divided into four parts. This post is day 3 of my way too short trip to Beijing. You can find day 1 here and day 2 here.
Drinking Tea
So, I started off the third day with a walk through Beijing. The first thing I visited was the so-called Temple of the Fire-God at Shichahai. A wonderfully decorated temple that can be used to ask for blessing, so that your house does not catch fire. The atmosphere was really relaxing. I then continued walking around the Qianhai lake. It was still early morning, so it was pretty empty and although I had a little rain, it was very nice. I then spotted a traditional tea house and was hooked. I had to try this.
Inside, I found a very nice table at the window and decided for a green tea. They had in fact many green teas, but as a tea-noob I simply pointed to one and waited. I thought I get a nice cup of tea, but so many things happened at once. First my table was no ordinary table, it also had a kettle and a pot. The kettle was turned on and filled with fresh water, so I had warm water whenever I wanted (pretty common in China btw). The tea came with some pistachios, and I could sit, relax, look out the window and enjoy my tea. It was wonderful. Thanks to the hot water, I could fill up my teacup several times (as it was intended) and ended up spending nearly two hours there!
The Lord of Beijing: The Two Towers
But I also wanted to do some more touristy stuff. So, I then visited the Drum Tower of Beijing. A massive tower in the city built in the 15th century. On top, I could see massive drums that were actually used to tell the time in the past. Besides the impressive drums, I could also see the city from above with a spectacular view. The stairs ti climb up were a bit adventurous, but manageable.
Right beside the Drum Tower is also the Bell Tower, that featured a really big bell that was also for telling the time and worked together with the Drum Tower. While I was there, there was also a school class visiting, who seemed to be more interested in me than in the bell they were visiting. They were all so kind and polite! I ended my little tour in a restaurant called “Mr. Shi’s Dumplings” that was actually recommended by a Mastodon connection. It was superb!
A Food Tour
For a while I was thinking about taking a food tour in Beijing. I finally did it and in the evening of that day, we all met at a subway station. We had a wonderful guide named Joyce who introduced us to Chinese food culture and especially Beijing food culture. We started on a roof where we got a traditional Beijing Hotpot. This is basically like scented fondue, where you put raw meat into boiling water and then eat it with a special sauce. This was really great and very good start. We then continued to the Hutongs, traditional houses in the Beijing centre. There we were invited into the courtyard of a 92-year-old woman, who made us noodles with vegetables and soy sauce. Very tasty. She also offered fermented tofu, which smelled and looked really ugly, but the taste was actually not bad.
We then continued to a snack bar, where we got something like a meatball in a pastry coating. I saw this everywhere in Beijing, but unfortunately don’t remember the name. It was exceptionally tasty and a perfect snack. If I had knew earlier, I would have eaten that way more often. We closed our food tour in yet another restaurant where we tasted a kind of Chinese burrito. We could fill this ourselves and had Kung Pao Chicken and various vegetarian options. At the end, we even got some presents from our guide. This was one of my better decisions, as I would have never found these places on my own and had never tried the food that was presented. I can only recommend the tours from Lost Plate.
