Surviving is hard but oh so much fun (sometimes)
Just after the October 1 holidays – combined with the Mid Autumn holiday, everyone was either busy getting back to work or getting back to Beijing.
Anyway we were just over 20, not too bad!
Our next lunch is on Friday 6 November. I will be away from Beijing from 2 to 15 November to be part of the filing of a 3D documentary of the New Three Gorges”, another adventure. Colin will take care of the RSVP.
Due to the parade and restrictions for traffic and restaurants, our monthly lunch was this time on a Saturday, 5 September.
Again, despite the weird timing we were just over 20!
Next lunch is Friday 9 October as 2 October was right in the holidays.
Important update: with our experience of the rehearsal of the parade, the restaurant staff was not able to reach the restaurant the next morning. So, the date of 4 September would not work. We decided to do hold the lunch on Saturday 5 September, that day being an official holiday. As from 7 September everybody will be busy…
Yes, so much we had one of the largest turnouts on Friday 7 August! We were 35!
As usual, when the date seems weird or not convenient we have more people than usual.
Again, lively conversations for some two hours.
The next date is again “unusual”: Friday 4 September. Indeed, 3 to 5 September will be a national holiday with a certified blue sky and guaranteed low traffic. The Beijing government will paralyze the city and industry to “celebrate” some war stories and hold a big parade.
We are still checking that that Friday will work before sending out the emails. Stay tuned!
So, what else to do but to rush to our monthly lunch?
On 2 July the weather was so nice – and really hot – and I could not resist jumping on my red bike and going to explore the Wudaoying Hutong near the Lama Temple.
One excuse was I wanted to finally locate the well-known bike shop, NATOOKE, run by the also well-known German girl Ines Brunn (yes, also “an Old China Hand”!). She was the one to launch the now ubiquitous fixed gear bikes in Beijing, she is also an acrobat on wheels as she showed us in the 2014 Rotary Ball.
The bikes are cool but I still prefer a more “work-horse” type allowing me to transport a lot of stuff, in the front and in the back. And with fenders to protect against water and mud when it rains.
There is a lot to explore in the hutongs there. Many shops, coffee shops, restaurants.
Besides the Lama Temple (with the shops selling the tools to pray in the temple!) there is also the Confucian Temple and Imperial College Museum (I still have to visit…).
I really need to explore more all those hutongs. There also some rather mysterious buildings there, not sure what they are but they look like VIP meeting places. I will need Chinese friends to figure that out… Few signs however to figure it out. They can ask the guards at least.
We had our monthly Old China Hands lunch on 3 July, in Morel’s restaurant as usual. I was wondering how many would turn up, with the hot weather and the holidays.
Surprise, we were well over 20! As always, new and old faces. And lively, old-fashioned conversation without mobiles.
Next one: 7 August, right in the middle of Beijing Sauna Season!