A two-hour standing train ride passes quickly when you're full of anticipation.
We arrived in Beidaihe at roughly 10 a.m. We took a sketchy black cab from a man who approached us immediately and continued to follow us to the information station saying, "taxi! Taxi!"
Regardless, we hopped in the car. Honestly, we weren't sure where he would take us. He had two different phones and received and made phone calls on both. Beidaihe is a Russian-ran, Chinese, tourist beach town. After the second phone call, we were certain he was taking us to his Russian leaders for a human trafficking trade.
He stopped at a hotel that was not where we asked to go, nor where we'd booked our reservation, and continued to convince us it was cheaper than where we'd asked to go.
Finally, he backed out of the driveway and took us to the correct hotel. Instant relief.
Checking into the hotel was surprisingly the easiest part of our day so far.
We dropped off our backpacks and traded our tennis shoes for sandals and jetted back outside toward the beach.
The sun was shining and the weather was a perfect 70 degrees... We had no time to waste!
We headed to the beach, only stopping for a few pijiu (beer) along the way. We found a terrible place to have lunch, but again, there was beer so we were okay. It's a seafood town and none of us care for it and we had a vegetarian, almost vegan, with us so food was a chore to find.
We headed to the beach to dip our toes into the Pacific Ocean and enjoy the view. The water was of course freezing, but we were meeting some nice Chinese people who spoke as much English as we did Chinese so it made for interesting conversation.
Then I saw two guys playing soccer at the top of the beach so I recruited my new Chinese male friends to join with me and my two girlfriends.
He responded, "but we don't know them." I said, "it's cool, I'm a foreigner so they'll love it."
And they did!
We played a mad game of keep away then a three on three game. Managed to work up a sweat though it was nearly 65 degrees by this point.
We sat with our new friends, Dan and Jesse, after the game and enjoyed another beer. We headed back to our hotel to clean up and meet the guys for dinner. We finally met some cool locals who actually live in Beijing.
We drove to the next city over where we had a feast over hotpot. This was my first time, and now I know what all the rage is about! Hotpot is a really popular form of dining here. You have a boiling pot in the middle of the table and you cook your own food and make your own dipping saices. The bowl has two sides and you can choose the level of spicy you want in each. You also choose the food you want to cook. I tried a lot of new things last night including prawns and crab. We had dumplings, noodles, steak, radish, carrots and so much more.
We headed back to Beidaihe and went to the hotel and had a great night relaxing and girl talking.
We slept in and had a whole day of nothing planned ahead of us.
We set out for some coffee and breakfast. Close to the hotel was a place called, "Westen Style Food." Obviously we intended to try this, mainly because the misspelling humored us, but it was closed so we just ventured on. We managed to find a coffee shop, but the food was pricey so we just grabbed a coffee and moved on. None of us felt like Chinese food for breakfast so we wandered around for a solid hour trying to find anything remotely Westernized. We ended up in a market area full of shopping and street food so we settled for the unhealthiest breakfast. :) I took two bites and tossed mine and resorted to the apple I'd bought earlier that morning.
From here, we wanted to go parasailing or bungee jumping at a place someone recommended to us. We took a cab to the location, which turned out to be a water park that was obviously closed for the season. We'd assumed the venue was separate from a water park and never considered it wouldn't be open. Instead we turned the cab around and headed back toward the hotel. We grabbed our suits and threw a sweater over and ventured to the beach.
We took a million photos and were watched and photographed by countless Chinese tourists. It's funny when they are sneakily trying to take a picture and you catch them. For some we just start to pose. I in return take photos of them.
We took a speed boat ride out into the Pacific that lasted just long enough to get a few photos and we were back on the shore. At this point we were hungry because we technically hadn't eaten today. We found a spot for pizza and continued with our beer drinking. After lunch we were freezing because the sun had disappeared and the rain was coming in.
We took a shower, had a group meeting and decided it was time to return home to Beijing. We'd done all we could in this town in the last 48 hours! We'd had a great time but we're on vacation and the town was practically shut down. We were also ill-prepared for the cool temperatures. We decided to catch the next train out so now we're here, drinking more pijiu and playing a fun round of 'never have I ever.' We are still enjoying our time off and just going to have sleepovers back home but in warm clothes and in a city with food and fun options!
We headed to the beach, only stopping for a few pijiu (beer) along the way. We found a terrible place to have lunch, but again, there was beer so we were okay. It's a seafood town and none of us care for it and we had a vegetarian, almost vegan, with us so food was a chore to find.
We headed to the beach to dip our toes into the Pacific Ocean and enjoy the view. The water was of course freezing, but we were meeting some nice Chinese people who spoke as much English as we did Chinese so it made for interesting conversation.
Then I saw two guys playing soccer at the top of the beach so I recruited my new Chinese male friends to join with me and my two girlfriends.
He responded, "but we don't know them." I said, "it's cool, I'm a foreigner so they'll love it."
And they did!
We played a mad game of keep away then a three on three game. Managed to work up a sweat though it was nearly 65 degrees by this point.
We sat with our new friends, Dan and Jesse, after the game and enjoyed another beer. We headed back to our hotel to clean up and meet the guys for dinner. We finally met some cool locals who actually live in Beijing.
We drove to the next city over where we had a feast over hotpot. This was my first time, and now I know what all the rage is about! Hotpot is a really popular form of dining here. You have a boiling pot in the middle of the table and you cook your own food and make your own dipping saices. The bowl has two sides and you can choose the level of spicy you want in each. You also choose the food you want to cook. I tried a lot of new things last night including prawns and crab. We had dumplings, noodles, steak, radish, carrots and so much more.
We headed back to Beidaihe and went to the hotel and had a great night relaxing and girl talking.
We slept in and had a whole day of nothing planned ahead of us.
We set out for some coffee and breakfast. Close to the hotel was a place called, "Westen Style Food." Obviously we intended to try this, mainly because the misspelling humored us, but it was closed so we just ventured on. We managed to find a coffee shop, but the food was pricey so we just grabbed a coffee and moved on. None of us felt like Chinese food for breakfast so we wandered around for a solid hour trying to find anything remotely Westernized. We ended up in a market area full of shopping and street food so we settled for the unhealthiest breakfast. :) I took two bites and tossed mine and resorted to the apple I'd bought earlier that morning.
From here, we wanted to go parasailing or bungee jumping at a place someone recommended to us. We took a cab to the location, which turned out to be a water park that was obviously closed for the season. We'd assumed the venue was separate from a water park and never considered it wouldn't be open. Instead we turned the cab around and headed back toward the hotel. We grabbed our suits and threw a sweater over and ventured to the beach.
We took a million photos and were watched and photographed by countless Chinese tourists. It's funny when they are sneakily trying to take a picture and you catch them. For some we just start to pose. I in return take photos of them.
We took a speed boat ride out into the Pacific that lasted just long enough to get a few photos and we were back on the shore. At this point we were hungry because we technically hadn't eaten today. We found a spot for pizza and continued with our beer drinking. After lunch we were freezing because the sun had disappeared and the rain was coming in.
We took a shower, had a group meeting and decided it was time to return home to Beijing. We'd done all we could in this town in the last 48 hours! We'd had a great time but we're on vacation and the town was practically shut down. We were also ill-prepared for the cool temperatures. We decided to catch the next train out so now we're here, drinking more pijiu and playing a fun round of 'never have I ever.' We are still enjoying our time off and just going to have sleepovers back home but in warm clothes and in a city with food and fun options!
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