Our Memorable Moments

We had dinner at 小肥羊 with your parents and counted down near the World Trade mall in Causeway Bay. We both felt really old aruond the teenagers who were screaming on top of their lungs for no reason.

You played ball with Gabriel and his friends at night, while I hanged out with Amy, Xin, and Andy at Lan Kwai Fong. You later joined us at CEO Neway for karaoke late at night.

We went to the dessert buffet at the Grand Hyatt in Wan Chai. The chocolate fountain and fruits are the most impressive.

We went to 长州 with your high school friends. Gabriel booked two 東堤 flats for old time's sake, but I was honestly freaked out at night because 東堤 was known as the most popular suicide spot a few years ago. We had barbecue at night and played cards, monopoly and majhong till daybreak.

We went to Renaissance Harbor View Hotel for a drink after dinner with your parents.

We left Beijing for a week of vacation in Hong Kong today. You were on an earlier flight with Eric, while I waited for the late-night Cathay flight, which was the worst flight I've ever had. Because of the delays and the long lines at the immigration, we had to take a $350 HKD cab ride from the airport and didn't get home till 1:30-ish in the morning.

We went to 木偶劇院 and watched a puppet show. It was not a traditional one, but one tailored for children. Nevertheless, you had a great time. In the evening, we went to dinner with Eric at the most elite western restaurant in Beijing, 四合, which is right next to Forbidden City. We went to Houhai to have a drink afterwards.

We visited 798 Artist Village, which is at East 4th Ring Road. It is a old factory remodeled to galleries. There are modern arts exhibitions there, and we can make no sense out of them. It's a very interesting place, and I bought a photo book about Culture Revolution. At night we went to 西單 and watched 無極. We cannot understand what the movie at all.

Kwun visited and we went to 淨心蓮 together again.

We went to the Moscow Restaurant with your Google friends (Yuke, Ling, and Tony). It is very famous because it was the only western restaurant in Beijing in the past. The food wasn't as great as I expected, but it's already much better than the other state-owned restaurants. (The red caviar tasted like sushi to me...) And, the waitresses were hardcore about kicking us out at 9:30, which is when the restaurant was supposed to be closed. Their tactics included turning the lights off and refusing us desserts.

It was our second to last weekend in China. Friday night we decided to go somewhere and we chose Tianjin. We took a train there Saturday morning (wake up at 9:15, caught a train at 10:20), and checked in to Hyatt Regency. We went to 南市食品街 for lunch and had seafood. After that we visited 鼓樓 and 古文化街. At night we had dinner at 狗不理, and had a walk at 濱江道 before going to foot message. The next morning we visited 五大道 on a taxi, where all the western buildings were located. We had lunch there at 貴賓樓, which served 寧波 crusine. In the afternoon, we went to 望海楼教堂 and dropped by the 古文化街 again before taking the train back to Beijing.

We visited my grandma's second sister in Haidian district. She was very happy to see us and told us about her life in Beijing. Afterwards we went to 九花山 and had our best Peking Duck ever.

We visited the Underground Great Wall, the bomb shelter under Beijing, built in 1960s to defend against USSR. It was huge and spanned all over China. We were told by the guide there we can walk to Tianjin, even Shanghai, from there. We cannot imagine people live there for months at that time. Our guide knew a lot about 風水 and taught us a lot about why Beijing city was structured the way it is.