Sunday, December 17, 2006
The Beijing Adventure
When Betsy was in Dalian for the October Holiday, she mentioned that she wanted to plan a 
surprise birthday party for our friend, XiaoWei. His lunar birthday this year fell on December 15, so Leslie and I started planning on going to Beijing for the weekend of December 9th and 10th. This mini adventure had been a carrot all fall and now it was actually upon us! Becky decided to accompany us so we set out directly from school on Friday, the 8th. We have met a wonderful woman in JinShiTan, who drives the Canadian teachers here and there, so she picked up right as the kids were leaving at 3:45 and whisked us to the airport. We w
ere were in Beijing by 8:10 and checked into the same hutong hotel that Leslie and I had stayed in this summer near Tiannamen Square. It was very cold, but we were greeted so warmly at the hotel and ushered into a cozy warm room. We took a crisp night walk all around Tiannamen Square and fell into bed. Well, the next morning as we were contemplating our schedule for the day, who should knock on our door, but XiaoWei! He was so excited that we were in Beijing and he was there to escort us where ever we wanted to go! As it turns out, XiaoWei had called a few days before to let the hotel manger know that we were coming on Friday night and to have him warm the room as they usually are not.... Nothing like having a friend who can pull strings!
Saturday included a trip to a large open air market where one finds furniture, trinkets, jewelry, carpets, fabric, art and all sorts of other arts and crafts of China. It is an amazing and lively place. I went on a shopping extravaganza and had a great time bargaining. At lunch time, we went for Peking Duck at a restaurant where XiaoWei had once worked. He was greeted with open arms and we were treated to a tour of the kitchen where the ducks are roasted. From our lunch we went to the large Foreign Language Book Store in the center of the city. Buying three novels in English was the heighth of decadance! Well okay, maybe the foot massage that followed was really the heighth of decadance.... or maybe it was the delicious Indian food and wine that we had that evening in the luxury of Betsy's apartment. Is it really possible to pack that much fun and comraderie into one day?
Sunday, Becky, Ann ( Betsy's friend who was in town from Minnesota) and I get XiaoWei to take us back to the market for more shopping. The whole thing was a ploy to keep him out of Betsy's apartment so that decorations could go up and food preparation could happen. Everything went with out a hitch and we got back at 12:30 as planned. XiaoWei was beyond surprised. He was
surprise birthday party for our friend, XiaoWei. His lunar birthday this year fell on December 15, so Leslie and I started planning on going to Beijing for the weekend of December 9th and 10th. This mini adventure had been a carrot all fall and now it was actually upon us! Becky decided to accompany us so we set out directly from school on Friday, the 8th. We have met a wonderful woman in JinShiTan, who drives the Canadian teachers here and there, so she picked up right as the kids were leaving at 3:45 and whisked us to the airport. We w
ere were in Beijing by 8:10 and checked into the same hutong hotel that Leslie and I had stayed in this summer near Tiannamen Square. It was very cold, but we were greeted so warmly at the hotel and ushered into a cozy warm room. We took a crisp night walk all around Tiannamen Square and fell into bed. Well, the next morning as we were contemplating our schedule for the day, who should knock on our door, but XiaoWei! He was so excited that we were in Beijing and he was there to escort us where ever we wanted to go! As it turns out, XiaoWei had called a few days before to let the hotel manger know that we were coming on Friday night and to have him warm the room as they usually are not.... Nothing like having a friend who can pull strings!Saturday included a trip to a large open air market where one finds furniture, trinkets, jewelry, carpets, fabric, art and all sorts of other arts and crafts of China. It is an amazing and lively place. I went on a shopping extravaganza and had a great time bargaining. At lunch time, we went for Peking Duck at a restaurant where XiaoWei had once worked. He was greeted with open arms and we were treated to a tour of the kitchen where the ducks are roasted. From our lunch we went to the large Foreign Language Book Store in the center of the city. Buying three novels in English was the heighth of decadance! Well okay, maybe the foot massage that followed was really the heighth of decadance.... or maybe it was the delicious Indian food and wine that we had that evening in the luxury of Betsy's apartment. Is it really possible to pack that much fun and comraderie into one day?
Sunday, Becky, Ann ( Betsy's friend who was in town from Minnesota) and I get XiaoWei to take us back to the market for more shopping. The whole thing was a ploy to keep him out of Betsy's apartment so that decorations could go up and food preparation could happen. Everything went with out a hitch and we got back at 12:30 as planned. XiaoWei was beyond surprised. He was
flabbergasted and thrilled. There were at least 30 people present and it was a gorgeous mixture of Chinese and Western folks who absolutely adore this young man. What a celebration of his 25th birthday. We fell onto a plane at 7:10p.m. Sunday and there was Danny to pick us up at the Dalian airport. We were tucked into the Kerren Hotel in KaiFaQu by 9:00. The weekend adventure felt like a week long action packed vacation.
# posted by Sidney @ 6:20 PM 
