I Hate It When...

The NY Times beats me to the punch! I always have big goals for my updates here, but I slack off way too much! I meant to write about our visit to Beijing and Xi'an back in October but it never happened. I meant to write that the nice people we met on the Great Wall gave us super tips about fun places to visit in Beijing, such as Pure Lotus, a fantastic Buddhist, vegetarian restaurant, with fabulous atmosphere, beautiful presentation,

great tableware and really funny names of dishes on their giant menu. I felt totally behind the times when I opened up the nytimes.com travel section to see the 36 Hours in Beijing article where they wrote just about the same thing.

At least they didn't also mention the Red Capital Club, another place we were directed, a bar/restaurant where Mao and his buddies used to hang out, furnished with old Communist relics, where all the drinks had names relating to the bar's theme. From the Club, the Maitre'D put us in a cycle rickshaw, where the driver took us through streets of the old hutong to the Red Capital Residence - the related hotel, where you can go into the courtyard, slip down a rabbit hole and end up in an former bomb shelter, where you can have a drink and watch old Communist propaganda films in the background. If you're heading to Bejing, we highly recommend an evening at one (or both) of these places.