Don’t have the chance to see it in Japan so I had to settle for the ones in Beijing. Yuyuantan (玉渊潭) Park is located between subway stations Gongzhufen (公主坟) and Muxidi (木樨地). It’s quite a walk from the subway so if you’re unable to ask for directions, it’d be better that you take a cab. It might be unfair for me to say that the cherry blossoms in Beijing are unimpressive given that I haven’t seen them anywhere else. Maybe it’s because the grounds had more earth than grass with the exception of random spots like in the photo above.

Midi Music Festival and Strawberry Festival this weekend! I’m going for Midi (flea market, yay!) and probably White Rabbit, post-party. It’s a shame that I’ve never been to Zoukout or The White Rabbit in Singapore; gonna make the effort to if I go home…

庙会

Is it raining outside? Afraid not. It’s just endless fireworks day and night since the eve and it’s still going on. We went to Chaoyang Park Temple Fair (庙会) to rub off some of the festive atmosphere. Entrance was 15rmb and I don’t quite understand why this counts as a Spring Festival fair as international food stalls greet you. Lots of game stalls, terribly stingy with the prizes. We had a good time on the bumper cars though, I love bumper cars.

View from my apartment

Realised I left out a lot of information about my Europe trip after going through the digital footprints on my laptop. Particularly fish and chips from North Sea Fish near Passfield Hall, with vinegar instead of mayonnaise. My last couple of days in Europe were spent getting wasted every night with Hert and Kyle, two American soldiers I met in Paris who really changed my perspective on wars. I can never watch another war flick or read news about wars the same way again.

The previous posts are a year late and I’m currently in Beijing embarking on the next chapter of my life. Snow cheers me up in these negative temperatures.