Christmas in Beijing

Spent a wonderful Christmas in Beijing with family and friends visiting for the week. Temperatures, well into freezing, reached as low as -10C as icy winds blew across the capital but skies were mainly blue and the sun shone down.

It was relaxing being in a city without the western, crazy, pre-Christmas rush in shops and nice being out and about during a regular working week in China.

One of the highlights - ice chair skating on Hou Hai lake. The pedalos and electric boats from summer were all gone and hundreds of ice chairs appeared. Two small, wooden, schoolroom-like chairs - fitted one behind the other, the back one raised slightly higher than the front one - on top of a simple metal frame with runners provided the means of transportation while skaters were provided with, what looked like, a pair of long metal screwdrivers provided the means of propulsion. Terrific fun gliding around the lake, perfecting our dramatic turns, as we avoided crashing into other skaters. With a backdrop of the Drum and Bell towers - who could ask for more?
Ghost Street (Gou Jie) with it's sea of red lanterns lit up at night
Beijing on a winter night - all lit up - provides some wonderful sights. Gou Jie (Ghost Street) is one of the city's main restaurant strips and is beautifully decorated with thousands of red lanterns. The new China World Trade Centre Tower - one of the city's tallest buildings - due to open later this year pumps eerie blue lights up into the night sky like something out of Close Encounters. And the stately Dongbianmen watch tower - one of the last standing remnants of the old Beijing city wall - gives a tiny feeling for what the city must have been like before the wall was taken down and replaced by the multi-lane 2nd Ring Road.

Dongbianmen Watch Tower, now housing the Red gate Art Gallery

Claire, Amy & Jessie drop in

Whistle stop, weekend, visit from Claire and her two buddies, Amy and Jessie as they begin a 3 week tour of China. Attended one of Embassy House's summer BBQs - ate, drank, danced (and played 'Who's in the bag??) as well as finding time to visit some Beijing sites and sink some Beijing duck. One day of heavy rain, which now seems to be following them round the country.

Outside Mao Zedong's former home in the Houhai houtongs

Claire unwinds in Beijing

After months of hard revision and a gruelling set of finals at Warwick university, Claire is jetted to Beijing for some well deserved pampering from her parents.

Drinks, good food, tea ceremonies, preening and, of course, shopping were all part of a week long chill-out before returning for the farewell, end of year, ball.


Drinks at No Name Bar, Houhai Lake


Get those hands and feet in top shape

Fruit and veg shopping at the local market