iamles

I'll be staying at the SiHe courtyard hotel in Bejing. http://www.beijinghotelchina.com/sih...ing-hotel.html

I booked at sinohotel.com, where I got a better price than booking direct with the hotel. In fact, the hotel recommended I book that way for the best price.

You can google the hotel and view reviews from travelers

Les

Violet_1125

Hi Shanghainese,it is glad hear that you went to Tanzhe Temple,i guss it was very hard work to go there by bike,did you went to Jietai Temple in one day?they are close to each other.i went to there with my clients by van.

Shanghainese

Violet -- Didn't get to Jietai Temple. In my student days, we attended classes 6 days/week, were required to live in dorms on campus, and on Sunday the curfew is 6 pm, report to the classroom to study/complete homework. We usually ate 2 meals on Sundays, the dry-as-cardboard "wo wo dou" (steamed corn buns) and thin as water "yu mi tzou" (corn porridge), no wonder my low cholestrol shocked the doctors when I arrived in the U.S.!

ggreen

I just went to Tanzhe Si during my study in Beijing! What a gorgeous, peaceful place; I highly recommend it to anyone who can get out there.

We took the #1 subway line to the end of the line on the west side (Pingguoyuan), then hired a car for a long drive up into the hills (about 120 yuan round trip). It was the usual zoo of men crowding around trying to get our business; fortunately for us, the driver we ended up with was friends with the monks and we got to stay after the temple had closed.

Our reason for going was that it was an incense-burning day and one of my classmates who's mother lives in Beijing wanted to go. Unfortunately since we had class at Tsinghua until noon and then needed lunch, we didn't make it to the temple in time for the ceremony. So the after-hours visit was extra special!

The entire trip from Wudaokou subway station in the northwest of Beijing to the temple was about 2 hours (same for the return).

Unfortunately we didn't make it to Jietai Temple also. I guess there's always a next time! Thanks, Violet, for telling everyone about such a beautiful spot.

Shanghainese, we didn't stay in the Tsinghua dorms in part because of their curfew and other rules (some of our group had significant others with them, which wouldn't be allowed in the dorms). But I'm happy to say that other than the occasional wo wo dou for breakfast, our food was much more varied than your school fare! (And I still managed to lose a few pounds LOL.)

Shanghainese

Wow, ggreen, now you're a Tsinghua alumni! the China-born alumni in the SF area have monthly lunches and annual GTGs,a friend invited me to an annual event and it was very impressive to seeing what they are doing now.

ekscrunchy

topping for recent poster with restaurant questions

Violet_1125

plus anothe restaurants,Dingtaifeng for Dim Sum,Donglaishun for Hot-Pot.Maojiafandian for Hunan restaurant.

ekscrunchy

topping for poster asking about private driver in Shanghai..his number is contained within the report below.

ekscrunchy

topping in response to recent question about eating in Beijing..

Shanghainese

Ni Hao, EK -- I heard Our Place Shanghai Tea Garden at 141 E. 55 Street between 3rd & Lexington has good xiao long bao, have you been there?

I am leaving for Shanghai next week and will have a GTG with Nutella and nagiffag at Lost Heaven, a Yunan restaurant in the old french concession area nagiffag recommended, she lives there.

Violet_1125

Hi,EK,Another good Restaurant in Beijing is Maojiafandian.I went to there with my clients many many times.they loved it very much.which is closed to Tea City.but it is a Hunan restaurant.so it is must for spicy food enthusiast.

shelleyk

Just want to thank you for your entertaining, informative and very detailed report. I know I will find the information you presented very useful when we go to China a year from now. We decided to go after the Olympics, although unfortunately much of Beijing will probably be modernized by then. This was the tradeoff we made for seeing the monuments without scaffolding. Hope we made the right decision.

ekscrunchy

Shelley I am glad you enjoyed the report. thanks.

Shanghainese: I live very close to that restaurant and although I have been a couple of times, I have not tried their xiao long bao. I think it is about time I did so if you got a good tip! Maybe we can share a basket sometime, someplace. Have fun! I wish I could be at the GTG!!

Shanghainese

EK -- We just might be able to share a basket of XLB before the end of the year! Making plans to be in NYC late Dec, will keep you updated.

I believe baaj is also in NYC, not sure about ggreen.

ekscrunchy

That would be superb!!! Keep me posted! We can do an XLB tour!

ggreen

Yes, yes - xiao long bao in NYC with ekscrunchy and Shanghainese! Count me in!

Shanghainese, do you know roughly what part of the month you'd be here? I ask because my schedule is a lot more hectic before the 19th - but with planning, anything is possible!

Shanghainese

EK and ggreen -- Our travel plan is for the last week in Dec, spending Xmas in NJ and leaving before New Year's eve. I can get to Manhattan preferably for lunch on weekdays. How about I start a new thread here about the GTG after Thanksgiving?

ggreen

Sounds good to me! Looks like Xmas is a Tuesday - so people probably will have Monday off? For once, I don't think I have any plans that week!

I'll look for your GTG post closer to the date. (And maybe repost here to top and remind us, since I can get scatterbrained LOL.)

ekscrunchy

That would be great for me!!! Just keep me posted; I will look for the GTG thread after T'giving...

Shanghainese

Will do, may even post before Thanksgiving, looks like Wed 12/26 is the preferred date.
Leaving tomorrow for China, can't wait!