Well, there’s Breadtalk around Singapore and Philippines..quite commercialized nowadays. However, during our stay in Beijing, we were craving for Tour Les Jours, a quite relaxing place to hang out. Actually, I notice more Koreans before. Later, I researched about it apparently, it wasn’t a French bakery like its namesake. It is operated by a South Korean company.

“Tous Les Jours means “every day” in French, and the name expresses the bakery’ commitment to making fresh bread every day.”

It still looks cozy inside…warm during the winter.

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While cruising along the outskirts of Beijing (getting back from a tiring Mutianyu trip with my family)…we saw an array of fruits being sold. I read somewhere that the fruit farms were popular nearby the city.

It actually reminds me of one of the outskirt county here in Manila called Tagaytay…but in Tagaytay it’s cooler and more relaxing (seeing the lake with the smallest volcano at the middle)

We actually stopped by to buy some local fruits along the way. My mom acted coolly as she tried to manage her way to haggle..even oblivious to the local pricing, she used her instincts (which I envy I do not have in terms of buying food)
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Interestingly, you can learn Chinese (Mandarin) at your own home. This sounds like an advertisement but I do think this is the best alternative for those who would want to self study Chinese. I found this site before, when I wanted to practice aside from our usual text books. I wasn’t really paying much attention to my teachers in BLCU because I have this tendency to deviate from my own thoughts (I think I have a slight Attention Deficit Disorder) so I push myself to learn online.

It quite fun actually to learn in Chinese Pod. It has audio voiceover which you can choose if you’re not sure how to pronouce Pinyin. Plus there are also levels if you want to accelerate the lessons. Likewise, it’s fun to know the basics. Now they only have 1 week trial but before they had a month. I used two of my emails to access the lessons unfortunately, I’m still not the diligent student even if I’m my own teacher. Argh. Got to waste another opportunity to practice.

I saw the Frozen Grand Central

which facinated me so much. Imagine people suddenly stopping and you feel like there might be something wrong! Cool right??

And last April Fool in Beijing, they also orchestrated the same thing! The location in Beijing was Jianwai Soho on April Fool’s Day..perfect way to celebrate the day!

You can watch the Beijing version here

I saw the article from TBJ Blog with really nice photos! Enjoy!

Beijing has a notorious subway line not just of the crowded area but more of the smell. Well, I’m not really discouraging people to use the subway because it’s rather convenient on some parts of Beijing. Going to Wangfujing or to Forbidden city is easier through this.

Ultimately, you never been to Beijing until you tried riding the subway during peak hours! I mean, literally, an adventure. People wouldn’t really care if the train seemed like a big tin can of sardines full of people. You would have to push your way out even if it feels like part of you is stuck somewhere in the middle of the train!

Upon news of snowfall for the winter season 2007 in Beijing, I began reminiscing my first snowfall in Beijing.

Snowfalls are incredibly rare in spite of common misconception of winter season for Beijing. Since the atmosphere is dry, the rain/snow are probably less than the usual compared to other countries. During my stay, I recall only around two times when it snowed hard. But the temperature would drop around -10 so suddenly. Yahoo widgets was my best friend during those times.

I can’t help but reminisce. Firsts are really memorable, the year 2006, Nov 25 was one of the best moments in my life. My first touch of the snow ever! It was surreal because I was awaken in the middle of my sleep. My friends were all yelling that I should wake up and see the first snowfall! As far as I remember, I was slacking because of the ungodly hour when that happened (3am).

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This, I recall, is one of the handiest gadget one should own if you will be staying in China without a tour guide.

I first discovered this handy-dandy gadget when my friends were all raving about their classmates little electronic device they all use to translate the word they want in Chinese. I was not familiar with it since the last time I held a English-Chinese dictionary was in High school and it was a big book! (more…)