Snowing in Beijing, China

At 9am this morning Kara ran down the stairs from our bedroom loft screeching an almost indecipherable 'what's that?' sound followed by a repeating syllable which sounded something like "ohmygod-snow-ohmygod-snow". Beijing's dry spell had finally ended, after 107 days and one of Beijing's longest winter droughts, we finally had the promised snow! 

John look at this! 

So much snow! 

Our balcony wasn't just covered in white powder but the snow had heaped inches high. From the stairs and warm inner haven of our little attic apartment, Kara still in her pink stripy thermal pyjamas threw on her earmuffs and boots, opened the window and jumped outside. John meanwhile grabbed the camera and captured Kara prancing around in her own snowy white world.

View of the neighbouring carpark

Let it snow~

John playing around on the deck

It didn't matter that it was a mere -2degrees celsius, because this was a special occasion and who knew when it would end. We were in a white winter wonderland!

We grabbed the snow, scraping it together and throwing it around on our small deck. We moulded it into piles with our bare hands until they got too cold to bend. Donning our jackets, hats, scarfs and gloves without a second thought towards breakfast we took the rickety smokey elevator downstairs and out of the building to explore our new world. 

On the street, the clean white snow came down heavily making white lines that zig-zagged across the sky. The street was relatively quiet for the time of the day and gave us plenty of room to giddily glide around, our feet slipping on the slick bricks underfoot. 

We crossed East Xinglong Road to the small park opposite our building. The park was covered in beautiful white snow, the shrubs poking out from under a soft white blanket. 

John at the park!

A lone man using a wide barrel shovel uncovered the small stone walking path that traverses the park. It looked like his efforts were fruitless as the snow continued to fall. Standing where the dry muddy ground was yesterday with the snow heavily raining down on us we frolicked through the barren trees, flicking the branches and releasing the accumulating snow. Kara lay on the ground and made a frosty snow angel, spreading the white ice everywhere. Everything was covered, rubbish bins, the small iron fences, cars, bicycles and it looked so beautiful.

East Xinglong Road at 9.30am 

Starting the snow angel

Walking across the park

John's boots falling into the snow

Inside our apartment complex courtyard

Bikes covered in snow

In China there is an old saying, "Good snowfall heralds a prosperous year ahead" and today, the 7th February wasn't any old day but the first day Chinese return to work after the week long Chinese lunar and Spring festival. It was the beginning of the Year of the Horse and quite an auspicious occasion as the 'latest first winter snow' in over sixty years fell down over the city! Surely this meant a wonderful year ahead.

Qinian Ave

Chinese lanterns

Oh the snow! 

From the park, we happily walked around our neighbourhood, Chongwenmen. The red lanterns that had been hung for Spring festival were draped with snow. It was utterly delightful to see everything covered in layers of snow, and we played around like children in a candy shop laughing and touching everything with our wet frozen fingers.

Kara slipping and sliding

Walking 'down stairs'

As the snow melted on our jackets we started to get cold and made a quick stop at our favourite tea shop for a hot sweet bubble tea taking it back out into the snow. 

Taking a moment to drink hot tea

Walking the long way home we watched some small children throw little snow balls at each other. The snow was getting deeper, filling the gutters and smothering the footpaths. 

We nervously wondered "what if it doesn't stop, and worse, what if the power gets cut off?" But with such naivety and excitement of experiencing our first ever real snowfall we knew that we were on board in this snow journey and would go where ever it took us!

All too soon, we too had to get ready for our first day back at work so we made our way back home for a warm shower and canned corn porridge. 

Tot siens,

John and Kara

Frolicking in the park

Walking along Beiwulao Hutong

Trying to make a snow man

and giving up... 

Oh let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! 

Shanghai, China (Spring Festival)

Happy New Year! 

Like no other week of the year, Spring Festival arrived in China with a bang. Followed by more bangs, another bang and then another bang. We couldn't sleep! Beijing, home of 23million people slowly began to shut down until the eve of the Chinese New Year when only an estimated 8million people remained in the capital. All those 8million then let off an array of fireworks, continually! 

Life size, New Year Doll

For us, New Year has been a time to sit back and watch it all happen. Truthfully, we had no real idea what was going on, but we had our dumplings and happily absorbed ourselves in munching through them. 

Strategically placed wish couplets
on our apartment door

Firework aftermath outside

Chinese culture, for thousands of years has developed hundreds of thousands of intricate rules and traditions as to how you should live. Even the more modern younger generation remain tolerant and observe these in fear of bad luck. This includes many that revolve around the New Year.  You should not cut your hair- this will bring bad luck to your uncle. You are strictly forbidden to clean or sweep- by doing this you sweep away your good luck. You should not buy shoes, use knifes, wear white or black or eat anything too spicy (all bad luck). Dumplings are the go to food and you should open your windows to let in the good luck. The more sweets you eat the sweeter your New Year will be, but if you start the year in debt, you will finish it in debt. 

Us and a thousand tourists on the bund, Shanghai

So apprehensively we joined the largest human migration on Earth and jetted down to the more temperate Shanghai for three nights and four days. Although Shanghai is only a stones throw south from Beijing, it's dramatically different and probably it's fair to say more westernised.

Shanghai with a population of 24million is the largest city in China. When we arrived it was very pleasant and a balmy 16 degrees, at nine in the evening! In fact there are trees and flowers and grass! However on our following exploration day the pollution was terrible, beyond hazardous, which is evident in our photos.

The smoggy main street (yes thats pollution!)

Eating beef and lamb hot pot at Xiabu Xiabu

We donned our face masks for the day- quickly whipping them off for a photo opportunity but we were the only people we saw wearing them. It's difficult to describe how bad the pollution was but you couldn't see the tops of buildings, you couldn't see more than 20 metres in front of you and it smells and tastes awful. Needless to say we both ended up quite sick with runny noses, sore throats and raspy voices. The warmth didn't stay either! By our second day the wind picked up and the pollution cleared but the temperature dropped and stayed at -1. FREEZING! By then we were both dead tired and fighting colds, so we had to make many a hot drink stop.

Char (Chwar) stop! Fatty smoked lamb on a stick! 

Shanghai itself, is a real mix of old and new. So what did we do there? We ate! When we stumbled upon the local delicacies, which were surprisingly hard to find, we gave everything a try. Dumplings so large you use a straw to suck out the broth before devouring their meaty goodness. We tried and fell in love with the local hotpot.

A hot pot is a pot of boiling stock which you individually cook an array of meats and vegetables. You often have up to six different stock options (spicy, non spicy etc) and a plentitude of garlicy peanuty sauces to dip your cooked things into. So yum and so entertaining!

Another contrast of old and new in Shanghai

Here is local Char, although you can also find it in Beijing it's delicious! Fatty lamb skewered and cooked over coals. You can go for spicy or not spicy and either way it's divine!


We did a lot of walking. Shanghai is very flat and ideal to walk. We explored Shanghai old city built between 960-1279AD during the Song dynasty. The restored and well maintained old city was.... well... old. A labyrinth of temples turned tourist attraction kept us very busy and very confused.  

We wandered along the city bund and waterfront admiring the multitude of large colonial European buildings and large clocktowers built in the 1930's by the British and French and explored the French colonial area (ok so technically its now a street of bars.. but we had fun!).

The contrast of old and new, Shanghai old town

Then we visited the financial city center built from 1991 after the Chinese economic reforms. This part of Shanghai is across the Huangpu river which is accessible via boat or subway. The last picture below is the financial city skyline at night.

We enjoyed our few days in Shanghai but are glad to be back in Beijing, sleeping off our adventure and building up for the lantern festival next week!

Tot siens,

John and Kara

Lunch time!

Shanghai speciality dumpling!
So big you have to use a straw!

Decorations in old town, Shanghai.

Whoa! There are seats on the subway!?

The beginning of spring, plum blossoms,
Shanghai Sculpture park.

Shanghai's Pearl tower

Fancy purchasing a fish?

The Shanghai financial center skyline

Sightseeing in the more tropical Shanghai

Soho II, Wulao Hutong, Beijing, China

Soho II, and the 'down-stairs'

The bottom alley-way outside and under our apartment complex is what we have colloquially named the 'down-stairs'. 

Mutually terrified by its exotic foreignness, we regrettably didn't step foot down there for the first 14 days after we moved in, unintentionally avoiding any reason to venture there. Now its over-flowing random clutter, its dirty pots and pans brimming with random edibles and its cases of live animals intrigue us. Only brave enough to wander down together, our presence in the alley never goes unnoticed. Who are these white folk? These lawei. Heads will turn, and sharp eyes quietly follow our movements, as if we were the intriguing sight. Our  alley 'down stairs' is our own little contemporary museum, an insight into real Chinese life. 

The 'down-stairs'

A pot of boiling eggs

Our water delivery 

Looking down the alley

Entrance to 'Down-stairs

'Following the seven small steps down into the alley in the morning, past the water trailer, your nose is first assaulted by the yeasty meaty steam of fresh dumplings, cooking on top of each other in a stainless steel pan on a little coal fire. The fresh sticky white bread dumplings are prepared on a small meat-caked wooden two-by-four every morning, mixing the pink pork mince by hand.

Later in the evening, the area transforms into a skewered kebab stand with only enough room for one chef, who, with coal blackening his hands, cooks thin strips of meat over red hot smoking coals. We can't read the menu but the 'meat' ranges in what looks like cartilage, knuckle joints, fish, livers, and other things we would never have considered cooking. 

'Down-stairs' has a little bit of everything, an industrial dry-cleaners that specialise in green medical uniforms, two fruit and vegetable shops strategically placed aside each other in the middle of the alley, a tidy looking hair-dressers that also sell goldfish, five small restaurants that serve Northern Chinese dishes, a dark and dingy copy store and two multi-purpose get-a-little-bit-of-anything-and-everything shops. 

Walking down the alley, can be initially overwhelming. Focusing on not drawing further attention to yourself, while looking in the windows and walking around plastic tables that litter the path can mean you miss the orange wobbly tiles which bring forth a spray of black colored sludge water, showering over the leg of your pants. Tiny gutters carved hap-hazzardily into the ground, low hanging clotheslines or broken broomsticks are all potential hazards. 

At the furthest end of the alley under a broken and bent umbrella one of the small unsanitised restaurants sell live fish, which they keep in big buckets of cold bubbling water outside. We have watched in awe as our neighbours ordered dinner: before you realise what's happening the selected fish is plucked from its plastic home, whacked across a steel bin, bamm the heads off, swish swish, scales removed. "Hao, Hao" Very good, within seconds the transactions done then everyone's off on their way, leaving us to giggle nervously.

Live fish- waiting to be chosen

Pork airing? or drying?

Duck eggs! 

Speckled goose eggs!

Storage area

What's the most interesting and unusual part is that what seems to be a chaotic unhealthy mess is just that each shop does not seem restricted by its walls. With entire families living in the back of the shops, the alleyway seems to be a useful extension of the shop and family home. The public 'down-stairs' area is used not only to store the restaurants' newly-delivered produce but anything else they fancy. Small bicycles, magazines on rusty racks, clotheslines covered in delicates or even grandma out on the dust covered couch. Outdoor dining is very popular and throughout the day and well into the night the small alley is littered with fold-up tables; patrons spilling out of the restaurants leaving their glass bottles and napkins on the ground for someone to clean up... tomorrow.

There seems to be no quiffs about the hairdressers setting up shop outside in the afternoons and letting long black hair blow into neighbouring restaurants next door. Men with missing teeth sit outside chain smoking, dangling the cigarettes from between the gaps, betting on cards while oblivious to their pant-less grandchildren releasing their bowels 'down-stairs'. Children cycle up and down chasing each other around in circles or lie stretched out colouring books and entirely toothless grandmothers bring out their washing in plastic buckets. Along the brick side wall, the alley is littered with boxes, cartons, old chairs, broken motorbikes, bicycle seats, and even pet birds. There's a place for everything.

Most mornings restaurants take their kitchens outside, finding a space on the low brick wall. Chopping up long green vegetables under the hazy Beijing sky, just throwing the prepared produce in big wet buckets on the ground. They bring out large pots and boil eggs in a strange coloured brown water, misting the alley on cold mornings. Sometimes a cook stands next to buckets full of soft boiled purple-white peanuts, selling them by the bag to residents passing by.

Heads of something

Pet birds in their cage, outside

This restaurant does take-away pancakes

What we enjoy the most is quickly glancing into the glass display cabinets outside the noodle restaurants, one at each end. The far side offer all kinds of cooked animal heads and might specialise in savoury pancakes by the looks of their lumpy brown jelly, peeled black eggs, slimy seaweed and salted nuts. Closer to us, the refrigerated glass cabinet is full of bright green broccoli, a dish that looks like bread but smells like garlic and slightly more recognisable foods. Too timid to order yet, we are working on the courage to try the vegetables and what smells like a smoked tofu.

Glass-cabinet salad bar

For now, we have found that one of the beef noodle restaurants has smoky yellow pictures on the wall which are perfect to point at! Hao! Hao!

Tot siens,
John and Kara