798 District with Estonians

Anete, me & Margus

Yesterday I met up with some Estonians in Beijing and we went for a really long bike ride.

Anete has lived in China for a few years, about one and a half of them in Beijing. Margus has lived in China for 3 years, he's based in Beijing and is currently just traveling around during the national holidays. 

I biked 10 km to the Andingmen 安定门 metro station, where we all met up and then we headed towards the 798 district. We also passed by the street with all the embassies, so I got the chance to see the Estonian embassy! Apparently we're sharing the building with Iceland. It's a really huge house and it's been built quite recently, so it looked nice, I hope to visit it soon on some occasion.

I think we cycled about 7 km to 798 and we discovered it was rather crowded - well, it's a national holiday, after all! But it was okay to move around and Anete showed us, where the Ai Weiwei exhibition was. It's hidden in a really small alley, further away from the main street - which is good, as there was actually space to breathe there and not so many random people passing by, but actually visitors, who knew the artist. 

After a quick lunch and a look around the Beijing Design Week fair, we started heading back. Once we got close to the Lama temple, Anete showed us also a really neat coffee shop called "Barista Coffee" which is hidden in the Wudaoying Hutong 五道营胡同。The people running the place are big coffee enthusiasts and are really crafty at making a good cup + they stock nice specialty beans. Oh, and an Americano is cheaper than in Starbucks. Ugh, why must it be so far away from me!

I cycled back to my dorm, went to see Ben, Thomas and Anna-Lisa, who were all sitting on the roof of the boys dorm smoking a pipe and stargazing (such a cozy place they found!). Then me and Anna-Lise headed to Beiluo Bread Bar, where we met up with the Estonians again. We danced at Dada for a bit and moved on further to an "underground" club Lantern. Yes, I wrote it in quotation marks, as it is located in Sanlitun. No place located in Sanlitun could ever be classified as underground, sorry to burst your bubbles. But taking a more literal approach to the term, yes, the club itself was located in a basement. I personally found it to be a bizarre club with no air (especially since everyone was smoking inside) and with bad decorations (since when is glittery tinsel considered an appropriate decoration fro a night club?) - also, the fatigue from the bike trip kicked in! I looked up on Endomondo, how much I rode yesterday - 40 km!!! Wowza! 

All in all I'm really happy about yesterday being so eventful - it was tiring, but sure worth it!

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Eile kohtusin paari eestlasega siinsamas Pekingis ning me läksime pikale rattaretkele.

Anete on Hiinas elanud paar aastat ning kui mu mälu mind ei peta, siis Pekingis vaheldumisi umbes poolteist aastat - seega teab ta päris palju kohti siin ning ta oli päris heaks giidiks, kuna ta tunneb päris palju piirkondi linnas ning lisaks on tal lahedaid lugusid kõige kohta jutustada! Margus on Hiinas elanud ca 3 aastat, kuid ta paikneb Chengdus ning on hetkel lihtsalt reisimas.

Velotasin Andingmen'i metroopeatusesse, kus sain teistega kokku ning asusime 798 kunstipiirkonna poole teele. Teel sinna juhatas Anete meid läbi saatkondade piirkonna, kus muuseas nägin ära ka Eesti saatkonna! Tuleb välja, et meil on täitsa ilus põhjamaise välimusega suur valge hoone, mida jagame koos Islandi saatkonnaga. Loodan, et peagi avaneb võimalus seda ka seest näha, sest eile meil sinna niisama ligipääsu polnud. 

Sõitsime edasi 798 poole ning tuli välja, et see oli rahvast pungil - riigipüha ju! Anete juhatas meid Ai Weiwei näitust vaatama, mis õnneks asetses väiksemal kõrvaltänaval, seega sinna sattus vähem rahvast ja peamiselt siiski need, kes juba teavad seda kunstnikku. 

Peale hilist lõunat ja Pekingi Disaininädala laadal ringi uudistamist sättisime end tagasiteele. Laama templi lähedal tegime väikse kõrvalepõike Wudaoying'i hutongi, kus Anete viis meid ühte imetoredasse kohvipoekesse "Barista Coffee". Omanikud on kohalikud tõsimeelsed kohvientusiastid ja valmistavad tipptasemel kohvi ning nende kasutuses on üsna head oad. Lisaboonus - tass americano't on odavam, kui Starbucks'is. Uh, miks see vaid nii kaugel paiknema peab!

Velotasin lõpuks tagasi koju ning läksin kuttide ühika katusele, kus Ben, Thomas ja Anna-Lisa endale  laheda lounge'i meisterdasid ja küünaldevalgel vesipiipu tegid. Röövisin Anna-Lisa ning me läksime tagasi hutongidesse Beiluo Bread Bar'i, kus jälle eestlaste pundiga kokku saime. Tantsisime Dada bar'is ja seejärel läksime "underground" kluppi Lantern'i. Jutumärkides underground, kuna see asub Sanlituni piirkonnas ja mitte ükski koht, mis asub Sanlitunis lihtsalt ei saa olla underground - tegemist on linna kõige tuntuma läbu piirkonnaga. Seal on tegelikult normaalseid kohti ka ja ses mõttes, et Lanternis kuuleb pisut teistsugust muusikat (lisaks asub see ka päriselt maa all, seega sõna otseses mõttes on see igatahes underground heh), aga tegemist ikka väga mainstream kohaga. Kuna seal oli täpselt 0 õhku (segatuna suitsuhaisuga, kuna kõik suitsetasid sees) ja mu päevase rattasõidu väsimus andis end tunda, läksin sealt peagi koju. 40 km pole naljaasi! 

Muidu jäin eilsega täiega rahule, see oli nii lahedalt meeleolukas ja tegus!