Surprise party at Beer Mania for Diane

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The farewell drink she never expected!

Diane (our French girl from Toulouse) was here in Beijing for a short internship but attended many of our Rotaract meetings. With her permanent smile and lively humor she made a lot of friends, so we decided to have a surprise farewell party for her. Preparation was typically chaotic at times through a special and “secret” Wechat group but it all ended up just great, despite a last-minute unannounced thunderstorm.

She was feeling not that upbeat because she thought nearly nobody would turn up for a drink.

We finally settled for Beer Mania, as it was a special evening: the 11th anniversary of Beer Mania, the birthday of the owner Thierry and the drink for Belgians in Beijing. And the Belgian bar also launched a promotion of 11 Belgian drafts, some being new.
As it happened it was also the birthday of our Rotaractor Sophie.

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Diane was, well, totally taken aback with the whole setup as so many turned up.
Needless to say, beer flowed pretty well, music was great with the disk jockey and Thierry kindly provided a cake.
Great evening thanks to all who joined, and Thierry.

Presenting her home town Toulouse

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On 12 September another well attended Rotaract meeting in TUKTUK (Sanlitun).
This time an extra: Diane, our French Rotaractor who leaves us soon gave a slide presentation of her home town Toulouse, France.

Always new faces, this time we had several newbies from South Korea.

160912-rotaract5

See the other post of the surprise farewell party for Diane.

Music and more at Beer Mania

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Beer Mania, the Belgian bar restaurant on Sanlitun Nan Lu is a great place for Belgian beer (incredible range), reasonable food and snacks. And very often a music band playing.

On 16 July listening and drinking, and seeing back one of our Rotaractors playing in the band.
On 21 July we also had a Rotaract social evening there (with music!) and some friends joined the crowd. Another band.

Another occasion with a friend who tried the mussels: reaaaal good (10 July)
On a recent day, enjoying the newly arrived Westmalle Double on tap (2 September).
So, when thirsty and looking for some good music, you know where! Thierry it is!

Bruce takes us back in time

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On Sunday 4 September Bruce Connolly (Radio Beijing) invited us for a talk to present the pictures he took when he visited China in 1992, mostly pictures from Guangdong.

Location was QBar in Sanlitun Nan Lu.

 

Fascinating indeed to listen to the story of his train trip from Glasgow to Hong Kong in 1989.
Obviously so much has changed. Bruce is also a great photographer. Some of his pictures are on my new website http://www.prc.pics
That all reminds me I should find the time to recover my mountain of negatives, dating from decades ago. For me China started in 1980.

I still remember the many train trips I took towards Pingdingshan (Henan) during the eighties. That time, steam locomotives, no aircon. So we had the windows open. Once arrived we had to take the soot away from our bodies, we looked like coal miners.

My favorite pizza in Beijing?

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

There are for sure some other good places but right now my preference goes to La Pizza, in the back of 3.3 in Sanlitun. Prices reasonable.
Another great Italian I discovered is Bottega, in front of 3.3 in the hidden alley of Sanlitun Street. Another class, also pizzas but rather special dishes. La Pizza is the “normal” pizza.

 

Sorry for The Tree, you come second as for now for pizza.
Both restaurant are usually packed, so better arrive early.

And taking a funny picture in the supermarket under Taikooli…