Strolling

Weather: hot and sunny, 27 degrees

I miss my car. Ok, not the actual car - just what it represents. Freedom. Yesterday we went to the area around the Forbidden City - HouHai. It's pretty with a lake and loads of bars and restaurants. But to get there we took the underground and then we walked, and walked, and walked. Until my tootsies and my legs were sore. And to get home we walked some more, took the underground and then a taxi. I'm sure this is something we'll get used to but for now it is something that is new and I'm definitely not used to.

But it was all worth it. We had lunch at the No Name Bar. Which has used to have no name and no address. Steamed fish with lemon grass, delicious mushrooms and some pastry-esque black bean past thingy. Served with frosty Tshingtoa.

These are random photos from stuff that caught my eye during yesterday's walk. Frikkie and I went into one of the Hutongs where he had looked at a duplex. We're still in two minds about where we want to live: slight, hi-tec, super-market close by (current apartment) or more traditional, slightly more out of the way hutong. I think the debate will rage for a while. We have a 2 month lease on the current apartment so at least we don't have to decide right now.

I'm sure these guys were important to someone, somewhere...

Slightly, mind you, only slight ornate entrance to a courtyard. There are bigger, better, grander ones...

It had quietened down by the time I took this picture in the late afternoon. The Chinese travel extensively in their own country and apparently Beijing is a must-see destination. This street was lined with curio and souvenir shops with very little English signage.

Outside a temple.

A corner of the Forbidden City.