Finally We Go Beijing: Day 9, Nanlougu, Shichahai, Home Sweet Home

This was our last day in Beijing. Unlike when the kids were younger, they would just be happy to spend time with their parents and hope that the holiday lasts forever. Now, the kids have their “life”, they wanted to go back to their friends and life. Maybe not exactly, Zaky said that he wanted to stay in Beijing for a long time so that he doesn’t need to go back to school. Lol. Me too. Even though I had enough of Beijing’s cold, I don’t want to go back to work and reality. T.T

Nevertheless, bfast must be eaten and my last chance to use the 饿了么 app. I ordered from a different shop this time and spent a little bit more money but ended up with a lot more food. Too much, in fact.

Then it was packing up and checking out. We had the day to roam before catching the midnight flight. 

I then remembered that we had not done our online checkin and did so while leaving the hotel. I don’t remember the seats that I have booked but they shouldn’t be that bad. 

Our 1st destination for the day was the 南楼鼓街. It is a famous/ touristy 胡同, aka neighbourhood. I saw on 百度 map that it is about 1km from our hotel and my plan was to use one of the 小蓝车. Alipay worked! 

I had asked everybody to download Alipay before the trip. To rent the bicycles, we would still need to enter our passport details, which Daddy Lim did with a lot of grumbling. Zzzzz. But then, he was happily riding the bicycle after that. We ended up only renting 3 bicycles while I jogged alongside, just nice for my morning workout. They nicely matched my pace. 

I did get crazy looks from passerby; I was afterall jogging in the cold in my jeans. It didn’t take us very long to get to our destination. The kids said that the bikes were lousy and it was very cold. #beijingbucketlistchecked

I don’t know what to expect of the 胡同 actually. We saw some shops, and many of them were not opened yet. Luckily, we chanced upon the main street and there were a lot more interesting shops and food. 

It was very cold. We had to buy heat pack. I hesitated as it was our last day in Beijing. I was glad that we bought them bcos those were life savers, and made walking in the open more tolerable.

While exploring the 胡同, we found this Michelin star 炸酱面 and of course we must try. 

We were supposed to add the suave and whatever vegetables to the noodles. Extra noodles and sauce come free but we were good bcos there were a lot more other snacks available. Hoho. Eat some more.

We got to 什刹海. The lake Wes supposed to be frozen and we were planning to do ice activities but the plan failed, bcos… not totally frozen ah. Why like that?

We ended up hiding in a cafe. The warmth was to die for, the cake and coffee as well. Hoho. 

We hid in the cafe for a long time bcos it was so comfortable and we still had a lot more time before our flight. We finally left at about 4pm to explore the other part of the 胡同, the 烟袋斜街.

The shops were similar kind and we ended up strolling one big round, admiring the views. 

The timing was just nice; it was time to head back to the hotel. This time, we walked back. I got this 烧饼 along the way. I had been wanting to try this but it was so-so only. 

This was our last dinner - beef noodles and rice. 

Time to go home. We got our luggage, and a didi to the airport. We were so eager to change out of our heat tech and vacuum packed all the big ass jackets to checkin, without realising how super cold the airport is. Then, the kids reminded me that I should embrace the last bit of Beijing’s chill before we come back to Singapore. Sob. 

It was finally time to board after tolerating the cold and we made used of my Elite Sliver priority boarding privileges. Luckily we did bcos it was damn cold in the tunnel; I had to run from the gate to the plane door. Then we realised that our 2 by 2 seats were like 2 rows apart and on opposite aisles. Lol. I duno, I duno. I got to sit with Zaky. 

He was super tired and was dozing off soon after we boarded, asking me to wake him for supper/ bfast. Did I? Of course. Some years back, I tried waking him up for flight meals but failed and he was upset with me after that. Lesson learnt.

The flight was tolerable; we were drifting in and out of lala land and soon we were back in Singapore. Noooo!

This marked the end of our 9 days super cold Beijing holidays, when so many Beijingers whom we met told us that this winter wasn’t as cold as previous years. The Singapore heat hit us immediately and thankfully, the housing agent had helped us with the aircon repair awhile we were away. 

As I had planned, Daddy Lim and the kids to each manage a luggage and I be served. Hoho. In the beginning of the trip, I was lamenting over the 3rd luggage bcos we had to keep looking for a bigger car. In the end of the trip, I was glad with the 3rd one, so that we were able to bring the 5 pairs of shoes back. Hoho.

Mummy Lim