Merry Christmas from Beijing!

Christmas in Beijing is really about what you make it. Luckily, I wasn’t the only foreigner who didn’t go home, so there were lots of laughs, good food, and of course, ugly sweaters.

Afternoon Park Adventure

Beijing Opera

Jingshan Park

This is my favorite spot in Beijing. It’s right in the middle of the city, offering a 360 degree view of how big Beijing actually is. It was cold, so I wasn’t here long, but sometimes it’s nice to be outside and just take a moment to appreciate the city in which you live 

Hutong

The streets among Beijing’s hutongs are pretty narrow, especially with cars parked on either side, but somehow, they still manage to deal with the throngs of tourists that roll through snapping pictures of the capital’s old neighborhoods.

Fancy Tuktuk

I’m not sure the kind of look this Tuktuk driver was going for, but I’m guessing he’s pretty satisfied with his work

Blue Go Go

The bike-share wars of 2017 are behind us and now, only three companies are left standing: Mobike (orange), OFO (yellow), and Blue Go Go (pictured above)

Classic Gym Problems

I’ve always believed that very specific rules come about because of an “incident” that require that rule to be made. I only wish I were here the day my gym needed to make this specific warning.

Taobao find of the day

Taobao, China’s version of Amazon that is, with no disrespect, 100 times better than its US counterpart, has some weird stuff on there. Today, I present one of the greatest ugly Christmas sweaters I have ever seen

Winter is here

Don’t let the picture fool you, Beijing is cold. And not the kind of “oh it’s a cold August night” kind of cold. I mean negative temperatures cold, in Celsius though, so don’t be too alarmed.

UFC in Beijing

UFC was something I’d always wanted to see, and thanks to Beijing, I can now cross that off my list as well. It was exciting watching the 12 fights before the main card, and after all the hype, all the exchanged words, it ended in 25 seconds. The knockout was impressive, but for a fight that was scheduled to go five rounds, I would have liked to have seen a bit more.

Thanksgiving

It’s weird not being back in America for Thanksgiving. In Beijing, I know the holiday is approaching, and I know I’ll do something that involves turkey, but I think the biggest difference is the lack of atmosphere. Not a lot of people are talking about it beforehand, there aren’t any window decorations or annoying advertisements talking about “Thanksgiving specials!” I also don’t have an oven in my apartment, so cooking my own Thanksgiving dinner was out of the question. Ended up going out with a friend to a nice Mexican restaurant who did their spin on the classic turkey meal.

Beijing Fall

Maybe whoever swept the leaves like this had OCD, or was super bored; either way, thank you.

Xinhua

Team meeting at CIIE in Shanghai

CIIE

I had a good time going out and reporting live from the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. There were lots of interesting people to meet, both exhibitors and other media representatives. Plus, the cake wasn’t half bad either.

Xinhua Special: Xi's Speech at CIIE

Xinhua CIIE Video

Shanghai 2

Shanghai is great. Every time I come to this city, I’m reminded why it consistently ranks first or top two for “best cities to live in China”

Shanghai

The traditional looking pictures were taken at Yuyuan park in Shanghai. The Chinese characters I’m pointing at is a chéng yǔ - a Chinese set expression, often made up of 4 characters or two couplets of 4 characters each, often alluding to a story or historical quotation; idiom; proverb; or saying. This is one too hard to describe. Something about always working towards your goals and the mountain is high but you go in a circle and reach the point where you were going. It’s confusing…

Malaxiangguo

I like this dish because it’s sort of a Mongolian BBQ style food, where you choose the ingredients you want, then they cook it up and serve it all in a giant bowl.