This is HILARIOUS!! "那個" lah!!!!!  You only have to spend 10 minutes talking to a Beijinger to know he didn't make it upl!

There's a lot more about the Chinese language that is foreign to me (Why are there no spaces between words?? How do I know what's a verb vs. noun vs. adjective? Why does BabelFish online translation suck so bad?!). But hey, I survived 3 weeks working in Beijing.

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Like most good travel experiences, this one started with a night out with the locals. I was so happy to see my colleagues, who took me to Gui Jie (Ghost Street), a 24-hour haunt with a mile-long stretch of restaurants offering Mongolian hot pot, chili-spiked cucumbers, spicy crab, water-boiled fish, etc. The food, though not always elegantly presented, was delicious. Beijingers, like most foodies I know, subscribe to the notion that if you don't know what it is, just try it first! And with this, my adventure with eating random food on this trip started the first night. We indulged in a variety of spicy Sichuan dishes, many plates of appetizers and cold beer, all for less than 50rmb (6.50usd) / person.

Peking duck.. duck blood.. duck stomach.. duck head.. you name it. i ate it.

I stayed at the Raffles Beijing Hotel, a Beijing landmark run by the Singaporean hotel group. The hotel is situated in the heart of the city, on Chang-an Da Jie, between Wangfujing Ave and the Forbidden City. My office was to the west so I’d pass under the huge portrait of Chairman Mao and Tiananmen on my way to and fro work each day. Within a few minutes (and for less than 20rmb or 2.6usd), the ride would take me from the vast spaces of Tiananmen Square, to the massive skyscrapers and new hotels in the densely populated business district in Xidan.

The second week I was there marked the unveiling of the National Grand Theatre, one of the most controversial buildings sitting incongruously in the city center, just west of the Great Hall of the People at Tiananmen Square. Critics have nicknamed it 'the Eggshell' (indeed, the theatre by the esplanade in Singapore is affectionately named 'the Durians' for its perculiar shape as well). And to the north of the city, there's the $480 million Olympic stadium, dubbed 'the Bird's Nest' because of the steel beams stretching to resemble a basket of twigs and branches.

I was amazed to see the massive buildup in the city but had always been curious about lao Beijing (old Beijing). The second weekend, my coworker offered to take me on a hutong tour to the north of the Forbidden City in a neighborhood where he grew up in. Although these hutongs (alleyways) were first formed in ancient neighborhoods that were once inhabited by officials and aristocrats, they still represent the dwellings for a large part of the urban population in modern Beijing. We took a stroll along the gardens, courtyards and alleys in the area, peeking occasionally into the homes of the hutong residents. Imagine living where 12^th century magistrates once lived! Communal bathrooms and color TV sets!

The hutongs were located near Houhai, an area that recently became known for its bars and restaurants that line the lake. It was there that I rocked to a Chinese band, watched a belly dancer perform after a traditional Beijing mask-change performance, and played drinking games in a Thai-themed bar. Perhaps a tad touristy, but there's nothing I like more than bars+shops(+drunk asians) by the water. kidding! I found the Chinese light beer to be quite enjoyable and initially thought I was a good match for the drinking powress of the Chinese… until they started to take shots of the Chinese bai jiu faster than I can count the number on the dice.

 that's the meatpacking district in nyc! hur hur... tricked you didn't i? (sorry no pics of houhai)

Since so much of my time was spent in taxis, I’d hope that the cab conversations would help me gain a feeling of ease and familiarity with Beijing. It seemed to work. After some time, I was soon tossing my limited vocabulary, occasionally giving directions to the drivers, some of whom just came from the rural villages and did not know the roads well. How they passed the driving/English language test required for all taxi drivers, I do not know. 
那個, 那個, 那個 Houhai 是很那個,那個,那個酷  ("nega nega nega Houhai is very nega nega nega cool!")   Can you tell I had a lot of fun in Beijing? Olympics 2008, anyone?