798 Art District

Today was our free day in Beijing. Had a nice sleep in, then headed to the main train station to pick up our train tickets for the next month. It took quite a while, as the lady had to print off each one individually! There was quite a queue behind us by the time we'd finished, whoops. But we figured it was better to print them all now at the counter where (in theory, at least) some English was spoken, as opposed to printing them out as we go and having difficulties.

Mission accomplished, we headed back to the hotel and then grabbed a quick lunch nearby.

In the afternoon we headed over to 798 Art District, an area of Beijing in an old electronics factory noted for art galleries, shops and hipster cafes. There was a very different vibe here to the rest of the city - graffiti, hipsters and ironic slogans! Even a statue of Chairman Mao without a head - very subversive.

We wandered around for a few hours, but most of the galleries were paid entry and a lot were closed on Monday anyway - not the best idea. Oh well.

In the evening we met up with a friend from the World Heritage group that we're in. He's a Filipino guy who's lived in Beijing for the last 6 years, so he had some good tips and was quite chatty, we had an enjoyable evening hanging out and drinking. And then he unexpectedly put the drinks on his work expenses! He said he gets a very high amount of living expenses included with his salary - more than he can realistically spend, so it didn't cost him anything either. Lucky us.

Back home around 9pm where we grabbed a quick noodle dinner around the corner from our hotel and settled in for the night - last night in Beijing!Read more