We had a week off for the National day and Mid –Autumn Festival Celebrations. The week was fun; we tried out new restaurants, watched movies, experienced watching a Tennis match LIVE and got to do a bit of traveling.
Day 1: We decided we’d just hang out at home since going anywhere would be difficult with the traffic restrictions and all the security for the Parade. We watched the Parade in the morning and then the fireworks in the evening. Just watching it on TV was an experience but not as good as actually being there and watching it. We hope we can catch the Parade and fireworks live next year.
Day 2: We decided to make a day trip to Tianjin, so after breakfast we took the new subway line, Line 4 to Beijing South Railway Station. You will not find a fourth floor in any of the Chinese buildings as it is considered unlucky because it sounds like the Chinese word that means “death”. Despite this superstition the new line is named Line 4. There are trains every half an hour to Tianjin. The first class tickets cost about 69RMB and the second class tickets are 58RMB. The only difference between the two is the number of seats in each row. The second class has three seats and first class has two seats with leg rest. The train ride covers about 150kms in around 30minutes. The train travels at a speed of about 337km/h.
We first headed to the Haihe River to take the boat cruise that takes you around Tianjin in an hour. We got on to the cruise from the Railway Station Pier. The cruise takes you around the Italian Style Town and the Antique Street. We then took a cab to the Tianjin Radio & TV tower that gives a breathtaking view of the city. The highest that is open to the public for viewing is 230m high where there is also a revolving coffee shop. After coffee we rushed back to take a cab and managed to reach the station on time to catch our train back to Beijing. Got home around 9pm and stayed awake till midnight to celebrate Abhilash’s birthday. After gobbling up half of the cake we crashed as we had been traveling all day and had to wake up early to catch the Tennis match the next day.
Day 3: The China Open was held at the National Tennis Center near the Olympic Park .We had booked tickets for the China Open online, but we had no idea who was playing. We picked up a match at the centre court hoping it would be Nadal/Williams. No such luck though. We got to watch Pennetta(ITA) ranked 10th in the world defeat Xinyun(ranked 186) a 19 year old Chinese girl. Though Xinyun, who had the entire crowd cheering for her, put up a good fight in the first set she lost the second set way to soon. We then hung out trying to get a view of the players and win some freebie stuff.
Later we headed to Mega box at Sanlitun to watch a Chinese movie- “The founding of a Republic” It was a tribute to the 60 years of the formation of People’s Republic of China.
Day 4: After breakfast we were lazing around as usual watching a movie. We watched “Dil Bole Hadippa” on DVD. Autumn is here and it gets dark around 6 pm, which is also a good thing because the nightlife begins earlier.We joined Chinmay-Rashmitha and headed to “Wain Wain”, a Japanese karaoke bar on the 35th floor of SOHO Xiandaicheng. You get an amazing view of the CBD. We had snacks and drinks and then headed to “Budapest”, a Hungarian restaurant opposite the Worker’s Stadium. We ordered Chicken soup and Caesar Salad with tuna for starters. Risotto, Garlic breaded chicken and Chicken breast with white sauce for main course. The food was just okay. The garlic breaded chicken had too much of cheese, the salad had too much of mayonnaise. The dinner came to about 50Rmb/person.
Day 5: After late lunch we headed to Tuanjiehu Park . Watched people fishing, the locals playing instruments, played a few games of UNO and headed to “Argo” a new Greek Restaurant that opened up at Wudaoying Hutong (opposite the Lama Temple). The restaurant is well decorated and the staff is quite friendly. We opted to have dinner on the terrace to enjoy the last few days of open terrace dinners before winter sets in. We ordered Cream of Mushroom soup, Bougiourdi (a dish with feta cheese and tomatoes) and Meat balls for starters. Moussakka, Chicken in red wine with Penne, Rice with beef and another Greek dish which had lamb and rice(I can’t remember the name!). We had Baklava and a sweet made of rice pudding for dessert. Though the food is a bit pricey (around 150rmb/person) the food was really good and we couldn’t get over the dessert.
Day 6: Last day of the holiday week, it was like saving the best for last. We watched Salman Khan’s "Wanted" on DVD and tried out “Bellagio” a Taiwanese restaurant for dinner.Bellagio is a popular 24 hour restaurant that has won many restaurant awards that are held annually. We ordered Salt and Pepper prawns, Spinach, Chicken in Sichuan Pepper for starters, Noodles with stir fried beef, and Fish for main course, Crème brulee and Sago pudding with coconut milk&ice-cream for dessert. The food was delicious and came up to around 90RMB/person.
And like that our extended weekend came to an end...Now looking forward for Christmas holidays :)
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