China 2019 Day 6, 11th May Beijing

OK, so we may have pushing it a bit as we both woke at 9am this morning after a rather solid sleep. As we weren't meeting Alec and Helen until around 11am this was a good thing. After the necessary ablutions and arranging the laundry collection, it was off to find some brekky. Arrived downstairs at 10.10 and were informed that breakfast closed at 10; no words just two fingers in a cross and a shake of the head. The only "issue" with the hotel is not many staff speak English, and yes OUR fault not theirs, but ALL so friendly and helpful once we get over the language barrier.
Alec told us to try a "jianbing" from a street stall if we wanted something different, we didn’t have to go far as there was a “hole in the wall” shop opposite that sold ‘jianbing’; basically a thin flour egg mix cooked on a round hot plate and then filled with lettuce, onion, something brown and spring onion etc. Then a waffle placed on top, rolled, cut in half and presented in a bag (see photos). We then went down to the park we had walked through in the dark the previous evening and sat down to eat brekky with some juice. Excellent !! It was then a case of a little walking and people watching until we returned to the hotel around 11am. The park was so vibrant with people dancing, exercising, reading, playing musical instruments and just enjoying life. There was even a huge ‘sandpit pit’ ( read dirt) for the children and they all had plastic spades, digging and having fun.

Alec and Helen arrived about 11.30 and were taking us to an Art region called 798 which was a area of disused industrial spaces and buildings that now housed art galleries etc. It was about a 30 minute bus ride there but the weather was warm and fine so a nice day. We wandered around the various galleries and spaces for hours and had some lunch at Lakers79 ( An American style food place) where I had a burger. We continued to wander around looking at the various galleries and exhibitions on show and even though we didn’t see half of them it was still nearly 5pm when Alec ordered a Didi (Uber in China) to take us back to the hotel. All in all a really enjoyable day doing something out of the blue.

We had a little rest before meeting Alec and Helen again and this time it was onto the subway and into a more central “tourist” area with a large shopping centre where we went to a Korean place for dinner. Great food, conversation and a beer before we all wandered back to our respective places for rest and recuperation. Alec and Helen where busy the next day so we were going to venture to the Lama Temple and vicinity and then meet for dinner in the evening. A great day, now for a sleep and hope the forecast rain stays away tomorrow.