Roosting in Beijing

Thanks to Lihong, the quality of the apartments this time round was alot better. The company's efficiency was amazing while the housing agent was able to quickly shortlist a few apartments in different parts of town in view of our preferences. Upon arrival, we even got a folder outlining the pros and cons of each apartment. All in all, a very satisfactory experience.

While we had finally shortlisted two possibilities for re-visiting, we later found out that one of the two had been taken up in the course of the day. *shocked* Seriously, all this competition house hunting madness was getting alittle stressful.

Nevertheless, we finally settled on our new home after some hurried deliberation. In return for the space and driving range surrounding amenities, we decided to compromise on distance from Ed's office and settled for a 10 min train ride. Apartment wise, while we don't really have a view, I'm glad to be near a park (朝阳公园) and the island style kitchen keeps me hopeful in becoming a domestic goddess.

For me, what I really liked about our new neighbourhood is Sanlitun (what I might loosely term a Holland Village) where I had a number of good meals and countless hours of browsing. The other highlight was our latest find: 1949 - The Hidden City, a cluster of restaurants within a courtyard complex where we had really good peking duck (way better than Da Dong) and a droolworthy bowl of stewed beef handmade noodles. *wistful sniffs*

While we liked the kitchen (bottom left corner) at another apartment, the overall modern finishings, spacious living area and open concept kitchen (right pictures) sealed the deal for us. 

Loving Sanlitun: headed to "Let's Burger Plus" one afternoon and ended up ordering a huger than expected burger due to my poor command of Chinese.

Excellent value-for-money set lunches at Hatsune where we happily chomped on tempura and makis. 

In search of 1949: while we had a wee bit of difficulty looking for this hidden city, we finally got our piping bowls of stewed beef noodles. *slurps*

Love the idea of dining in the midst of art: returning for Peking duck at Duck de Chine where  there was a 50% promo which made everything so much more affordable. 

Overall, we are happy with our final selection and really looking forward to having a place to call home for the next 3 years. Come January, our bed and breakfast would be ready for visitors!