qianmen

i had my farewell dinner to beijing with my chinese roommate and two high school friends who were also living in the city. we ate in a fairly empty two-story hotpot place just off qianmen that was a) not a chain restaurant, b) not fast food, and c) not overpriced! amazing. i miss eating two-hour meals in large groups.

qianmen was renovated pretty recently. i visited the area when in china in high school and it is now completely different. it's beautiful, but it is basically just a touristy outdoor mall, which i guess is what is was intended to be. this past december, i turned right off qianmen down my beloved and mercifully not-yet-completely-sanitized dazhalan alley and wandered to the west through some unlit hutongs until i emerged in the liulichang antiques area. this is another one of the many places in beijing where i would love to live.

it was really cold: