Beijing Travel Bug

Archive for the ‘Wudaokou’ Category

One of my favorite restaurants are Korean BBQ places. I can’t resist the rice, sauce, BBQ altogether. That’s why I didn’t wonder why I got fat all the while. The hot coal grill is also a warm retreat versus the nasty cold during winter.

Typically, you need to choose different variety of raw meat (from lamb, karubi beef, harami beef, pork, chicken, squid, ribs). They serve appetizers first (actually a lot, I usually get a bit full with appetizers). If you love kimchi, you will love to eat in Korean restaurants. I get flushed out whenever I eat here, because of SPICY food and the hot coal grill.

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Soju is a very popular alcoholic drink Koreans prefer. It has I think 6% alcohol in it, if drank purely, you can really feel it tickle down your throat. Nice to have this for drinking games we usually enjoy back in Beijing. Though not all supermarkets have this (we usually buy in Korean convenience stores for around 13 rmb)

We got to try other variants of this, which made popular by the once Ramia (too bad it’s already close, maybe they moved somewhere else). They added flavors for it, like mango soju, peach soju etc. Fun times! Ask Koreans about their drinking games, super fun!

This cake is hidden specialty in Wudaokou area. You can buy this crepe cake in Cafe Bro. So what’s so good about this?? You just can savor it by rolling each layer and eating it with friends. One of my favorites in Beijing…

Wudaokou is one of the busiest area in Beijing because of a lot of schools in the area both local and international. It’s near BLCU, Beida, Tsinghua University, as well as a film academy just across BLCU. With lots of students wanting to live nearby, the prices of apartments get steeper by the year. We were lucky to get an apartment in Hua Qing Jia Yuan with the help of our friend M. It was a last minute request but the apartment was good enough, quite comfortable especially my favorite couch!

Hua Qing Jia Yuan, a apartment compound is children friendly though our building is isolated on the Tsinghua Science Park side. Going to Lotus Supermarket is a bit of a drag since you need to cross the street twice because it’s diagonal to our building. Crossing the big street can consume 3-4 minutes of my supposed walking time (this was when I was still not lazy to walk). When I timed myself, walking from our apartment to BLCU would take about 20 minutes! I’ve improved from first few trials of 30 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

I miss our cafeteria food in BLCU. Although it might look dirty but it’s cheap and yummy! For students on a budget like myself, my friends and I usually eat in the 2nd floor Cafeteria in BLCU, located near the south entrance gate. It’s always jampacked during lunch hours, but if you get there earlier than 12 noon, you’ll get seats asap. Though we always get there late, we would seat at the first floor (typical canteen food)

We would always choose the two window corner at the right. Ordering rice (0.5 rmb a bowl) then beef and eggs 牛肉鸡蛋 （7rmb a platter), fried pork 炒猪肉 (8 rmb a plate) ， chicken fried rice 鸡蛋炒饭 (4rmb a plate)， thailand chicken 台国鸡 (9 rmb a plate)， thailand fried pork 台国猪肉 (9rmb a plate)， lemon chicken 柠鸡肉 (8 rmb a plate).

When we order, three to four people share 2 orders so we get to save on food! That’s the nice thing about cafeteria. Surprisingly, the food is not bad. It’s actually more sumptous than my own cooking (well, i’m not a pro to judge haha). My only complain, their cooking is rather oily (很油泥）!

Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) is where I studied for technically 5 months for an intensive Mandarin course. I had my classes at Run Run shaw building. BLCU has a variety of students from all over the globe, most of my classmates came from Korea, some from Italy, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan and of course, Philippines.

BLCU has a spacious campus with amble greeneries to mentally relax a tired mind. Although it seems that the guards are not strict enough, our teachers say that the guards know who seems suspicious. There was no ID system where they check when you get in, but we have our student ID.

Inside the campus, there are several dormitory. My friends stayed in dorm 4 and dorm 17. Dorm 4 is near Runrun shaw Building and if you stay there, it’s easier not to be late (yeah right!?!). Dorm 17 is said to be have nicer rooms because it’s the newest building but located far off (outside BLCU west gate). Although I saw new dormitories under construction, will probably finish before the year ends. You can opt to stay outside schools, there are cheap places in Wangchuang lu area and expensive ones in Hua Qing Jia Yuan condominiums but usually you need to stay for a minimum of 1 year.

The campus has also a big library, a hotel, 2 canteens inside campus, badminton/ tennis courts, basketball courts, gym and swimming facilities.

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This is where I spent my New Year’s Eve, unfortunately, it was not so glamorous because in China, they have their own Chinese New year based on the Chinese calendar.

One branch of Pepper farm is located near our vicinity (Wodaokou). The place looks inviting but doesn’t have huge lighted signs. It’s kind of a lounge place rather than a dance club. The bartenders have occasional bartending shows where ladies can have free drinks of what they made in the show.

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