Yesterday morning after enjoying our morning jiaozi, baozi, and shaobing at home on our new dining table (provided by our real estate agent – apparently all furnishings belong to the apartment complexes themselves, and someone in our complex had too much furniture and was willing to part with this table) I put on my running shoes and headed over to IUP. I ran a bit, but I’m not feeling so energetic these days. Between pollution, jetlag (still plaguing us all to some extent), and what may be a bit of a cold causing a sore throat, my cardio endurance was significantly compromised. Even so, I had a quick tour around the campus on foot until the doors of IUP opened at 8am. I needed to give them my contact information and pick up my “welcome packet.”
When I returned home, the girls and Eric and I decided to head back into the center of town for further exploration of Beijing.
Eric had read about a lovely bicycle tour of the hutong, the small winding alleyways that are vestiges of old Beijing, which we undertook on foot. 
It was interesting to see what those alleys look like today; many are rundown and crumbling, interspersed with recently built grey block structures. We were amused to notice that even the tumbledown, un-retouched old homes have air conditioning units installed on their exteriors. The last hutong we visited was clearly one that the government here has selected as a showplace. The brick paved street has been freshly and perfectly re-done, many of the colorful doorways are freshly painted, and the bicycle rickshaw drivers are relentless in their pursuit of tourist customers. Along the way we had lunch in a lovely restaurant on the bank of the Qinghai lake just north of Beihai park in Beijing. Again, this area has clearly been spruced up, through government-directed influence and/or sheer capitalist forces, and there is a strip of really appealing looking restaurants, bars and cafes looking out over the lake, complete with shaded terraces along the waterfront. With the exception of the Chinese aesthetic, the layout could easily have been mistaken for a European location.
(Except for the Starbucks….) If you look closely, you’ll see the chrysanthemum flowers floating in our chrysanthemum tea in front of Eric and Amanda:
The hutong tour turned out to be indeed better suited to bicycle (or rickshaw) travel. Eric is unstoppable of course, but the girls and I were exhausted after our 4+ hour stroll. Nevertheless Emma and Amanda were absolutely delightful, nearly the entire time. They didn’t complain, barely dragged their feet, and generally carried on like troopers in a way that I have rarely seen even in them, seasoned travelers that they are.
After our (very long!) walk around the hutong of Beijing we returned home and paid a visit to the local outdoor market, where we had promised the girls that they could pick out a goldfish to bring home as a temporary pet. (We figure we could give them back to the vendor at the end of the summer if they live that long.)
They were delighted, and spent a long, pleasant period selecting the particular fish that suited their fancies. Sadly, it appears that we are not very skilled in the art of fish care, as this morning both fishies are floating on the surface of their home. :-<
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