Longqing Gorge Ice Lantern Festival

We had originally wanted to travel to Harbin to see their snow and ice festival but when we heard that the average temperature at night (when the ice sculptures are at their prettiest) would be negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit we thought that a tour to the suburbs of Beijing to the Longqing Gorge would be enough to satisfy us. The tour was through the China Cultural Center which not only offers tours but also offers classes for cooking, mahjong and calligraphy. Scott is trying to convince me to take their foot reflexology class and use his feet for practice.

Longqing Gorge is an hour and a half drive outside of Beijing and during the summer it's a favorite destination for Beijingers to enjoy the outdoors and escape the heat. Since we're still in the middle of winter the temperature was about 15 degrees Fahrenheit which was cold enough for us. The gorge was decorated with lanterns, snow and ice sculptures and buildings that you could actually go up to and touch and an impressive light display along the mountain that was sort've like a mini-model of the Great Wall (Check out the Picture section for a link to some of the pictures we took). After viewing all of the works of art lit up with LED lights, we took a ride on a questionably-safe metal toboggan and headed back to the bus to defrost with a choice of instant coffee or tea.

We'd definitely recommend the CCC and I for one would definitely be interested in joining a local tour with anyone who comes out to visit.

Jenny Lou's

So the majority of our Western food is purchased at this store on the east side of the city called Jenny Lou's. I took my bi-monthly trip there today which involved three modes of transportation for a total of $5USD - my feet(free), the subway (2yuan), and a taxi (33yuan). The subway is about a five-minute walk from our apartment and then I take subway line 10 for 35 minutes to the Agricultural Exhibition Center stop where I pop out amongst a number of embassies. A 25 minute walk takes me past Sweden's embassy, South Africa's embassy and large countdown clock to the 2010 World Cup, and Spain's embassy among others. Each embassy has its own Chinese military guard posted in attention at the gate.

After going through every aisle to make sure I got the things we need (and want), I decided the load was too heavy to carry back via subway so I hailed a taxi. The last time I took a taxi, I lucked out and got a guy that knew exactly where my apartment complex is. Evidently it's a popular complex so most Beijing-born taxi drivers know where it is - probably similar to if you told a taxi driver in San Diego that you need to go to Costa Verde. Anyway, I didn't have as much luck with the taxi driver I got today but I had a card with a map to the hotel across the street from me and I told him the closest subway station in my broken Chinese and I made it home safely in 35 minutes.

Today's groceries included spaghetti sauce, ingredients for a seven-layer dip, mayonnaise, Cherry Coke, and pop tarts (I bought two because they were on sale!) for a total of 350yuan ($50USD). We find ourselves buying things here that we normally don't but when we're back in the States (i.e. pop tarts and Cherry Coke) but they help us feel like we're back home and provide the addictive American sugars we often crave... hehe.

Happy New Year!

For the second time this winter, Beijing was hit with an unusual round of snow. The news reported that there was over 3 inches of snow and with the strong winds, we also saw the lowest temperatures in 50 years at 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Scott and I had fun playing in the snow and then enjoyed looking at it from indoors.

We had a quiet New Year's Eve at home and was a little disappointed that Beijing didn't have a big countdown to the New Year on TV but Scott assures me that this will be made up when it comes to the lunar new year and the sky will be lit with fireworks.