Autumn in Beijing

After a less than successful apartment hunting trip, I returned to Beijing determined to complete this outstanding task. Aside from the frentic apartment visiting, this was a week of uncovering more facades of Beijing thanks to good old google.

In spite of the colder weather, this was definitely a more pleasant experience even though I later found out that this was also a week of smoggier than usual air reaching hazardous levels. *resigned sighs*

Key highlights for me include exploring the Beijing National museum and roaming the streets like Nanluoguxiang hutong (南锣鼓巷胡同) while there were definitely better foodie moments and culinary adventures.

My very hectic week as follows:

Impressive Tiannanmen Square

Beijing National Museum: really love the contemporary art works. My all time favourite painting of the pretty girl which looks more like a photograph! Had to peer really closely to verify that it was the real deal.

We found Hou Hai (后海) on the second attempt and it was nice to just stroll around the huge lake, checking out the pubs and live music while having our first taste of Peking duck. While the restaurant was suspiciously touristy looking (we were the ONLY chinese couple), the food was an unexpected find.

Navigating Nanluoguxiang (南锣鼓巷): where trendy designers co-exist with hole-in-the walls shops. We stumbled upon Plastered where there were the cutest old school communist-themed shirts. Apparently there's also a really good home cooking eatery hidden in one of the shophouses.

Making my way to the drum (鼓楼) and bell 钟楼 towers which were apparently used to mark the time for day and night respectively. After climbing like hundred steep steps TWICE, was glad there was at least a view to warrant all that climbing.

After all that climbing, made sure I stayed for the drum performance at the drum tower:

Strolled along Qianmen Street (前门大街) where it was more commercial than quaint. However, I did appreciate the juxtaposition of old and new where one could find a Starbucks within an otherwise traditional exterior.

There were better meals this time round where we had authentic vietnamese, love my pho done mee kia style as well as the rice rolls. Sadly, the pasta was so-so and Singapore's numerous Italian options can definitely give these two a run for its money. Also managed to tuck into HK cafe food where we ended the day nicely with shaved peanut ice and some puff pastry dessert.

Honestly, my collages can't do justice to the excellent museum so check out more memories captured here. 

The good news is I am beginning to appreciate this cultural city and looking forward to uncovering more of these hidden gems...

Stay tuned for apartment hunting news!