Day 364: The Three Amigas

Beijing, China

My Beijing CS host, Ruoz, guest-wrote the entry for today:

Since both Elys and I have already been to the key tourist sites in Beijing, we decided to chill on this beautiful day and revisit the 798 Art District. Both of us have actually been here before and coincidentally, we both went in the evening and most shops were shut by then.

Juan, the girl Elys was staying with before coming to my place, joined us around noon. Juan is from another province and her hometown is pretty far away. She spends weekends alone in this city with 20 million people. Despite having been in Beijing for some time, and despite living so near to 798, it’s her first time at the place because she didn’t have company to gallivant with. I was glad the 3 of us have each other’s company today!

Beijing being a mega shopping city, most of the shops there are retail shops that sell overpriced clothes and knick-knacks, but not quite what I expected from an “art district”. Many of art galleries are showcasing pop art, which I don’t really know how to appreciate to be honest. The works that I like the most are by Dai Pingjun. His paintings were very real and intricate. It felt like the people in the paintings could talk to you.

It was a very hot day and I told Elys that I wanna buy a Magnum. She thought I was referring to a condom brand. But sadly, no. In Asia, we know Magnum as an ice-cream brand. So we went hunting for ice-cream. Elys treated me a Magnum and a green bean ice-cream to herself. The green bean ice-cream was good too! The weather was so hot I was tempted to buy another ice-cream but decided that I should save the calories for other things.

After 798, we bided goodbye to Juan and went to Xidan. I wanted to go to Zara and H&M before the sale end. Xidan was crazy crowded! Both Zara and H&M were packed with so many people as if the things were free. The women were like fighting a war in the shops. We tried to spur with fellow sale warriors but were defeated within 2 hours. :\ After a quick drink, we headed back in my comfy, spacious and much needed peaceful Cherry.