Surviving is hard but oh so much fun (sometimes)
On 9 September, another round of pizza at La Pizza, in the back of 3.3; two different types.
Packed as usual. And many Chinese.
The pizzas are really tasty, they only get a little too much burned. Also, they should spread the toppings a bit better. Maybe too busy? Quality needs to be consistent.
Need to talk to the Italian boss once… Feedback…
On 8 september 2016 The Beijinger reported the closure of Heaven Supermarket on Xindong Lu. “Everyone’s favorite half-bar/half-liquor store Heaven Supermarket was shut down this morning as a dispute arose between the management of the popular 24-hour Sanlitun watering hole and its landlord.” Moving trucks and piles of boxes could be seen.
See:
The Beijinger article
I pass there often but usually fairly quickly so I did not notice anything.
Intrigued I went to have a check on 13 September and … it was open again. I asked one of the senior staff I know what time they would really move. His answer was simple: we don’t move but we are looking at a second location.
So whatever dispute there was, the Heaven will remain there, at least as for now.
It has been a real institution in Beijing. It opened in 2011 and is a favorite with many foreigners and Chinese. Service is basically nil, you order and pay for the food at the cashier and take yourself the cold drinks out of the fridges. Except if you buy bottles of wisky or other liquor. Somehow they figured out a way that your food does arrive at your table: in the past that was improvized but now they use numbers.
And no, all the imported beers (immense choice) were genuine (probably parallel import). And really really cheap. I did buy some whisky there time ago, never had a fake. But yes, there are many fakes around in Beijing. Food was actually pretty OK while I always wondered about sanitary conditions. I compared it to “Beijing Railway Station” with the crowds coming and going. At one stage they took over the whole pavement in Xindong Lu, till the chengguan stopped that (everywhere actually).
So what about the new location? See the pic of the poster they show.
I have to go and check where that could be because it seems right on the left side of D-One Sports Bar. Not sure there is an vacant space there. If they would go there it could become a big competition for Legend Beer and D-One.
On 15 May 2016 we were invited for a special concert at the studio building of a famous painter, Liu Yaming. The large building functions as a gallery and has workshops, reception areas and a small auditorium. The area is called Qiaozi International Village Arts District, Qiaozi Art Commune. It is located about an hour’s drive north of Beijing, in a mostly rural and mountainous area called Huairou, home to several national parks, nature reserves, and ski resorts. Qiaozi is a small arts community and populated by established artists, architects and filmmakers. Artists like Shen Shaomin (who hosts the 4A residency), and Qu Yan, (who organizes the XuCun residency) live and work there. Several (oil) painters have their studio in the area; the buildings are all pretty big. Not your poor artist corner! See some of the buildings as well as some of the many paintings hanging around in the house.
The artist was born in 1962 in Neijiang in Sichuan province. He is best known for his somber, evocative oil paintings of female figures. Liu’s paintings focus on a single female figure, usually looking straight at the viewer without a smile. This moody, mysterious atmosphere is heightened by the hazy backdrops he paints the women in. In this piece, though he uses multiple colors in the background, the pinks, yellows, and blues are murky and painted in almost nebulous shapes. In contrast to the backgrounds, the subjects are painted in exceptional detail, which contributes to a sense of individuality and personality unique to each piece.
See more: http://www.pixelle.co/liu-yaming/
The location of the concert also has one of his famous paintings, a huge Dante / Inferno kind of somber piece. On the left side, other large paintings.
The concert focused on the pipa.
The pipa (pronounced “pee-paa”) is a four-stringed lute, one of the oldest Chinese musical instruments with over 2000 years of history. The concert showed several different types. None had the bent neck: all were straight.
The star was Zhang Hongyan, an outstanding Chinese pipa performer, teacher, Professor at the Central Conservatory, supervisor of MA students and member of the Chinese Association for Cultural Development. Zhang Hongyan trained at the University of Columbia in the USA.
Zhang Hongyan graduated from the Central Conservatory and attained her Master’s degree. Zhang Hongyan is one of the finest pipa performers and teachers. Her rich repertoire includes works by many composers. Zhang Hongyan frequently performs at the world’s most prestigious concert halls, in New York, Berlin, Vienna, Washington, Beijing and many other.
See: https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/orchestra/harps/zhang_hongyan/
After the concert we were invited to a buffet, on the rooftop, with a great view on the countryside.
Diane (our French girl from Toulouse) was here in Beijing for a short internship but attended many of our Rotaract meetings. With her permanent smile and lively humor she made a lot of friends, so we decided to have a surprise farewell party for her. Preparation was typically chaotic at times through a special and “secret” Wechat group but it all ended up just great, despite a last-minute unannounced thunderstorm.
She was feeling not that upbeat because she thought nearly nobody would turn up for a drink.
We finally settled for Beer Mania, as it was a special evening: the 11th anniversary of Beer Mania, the birthday of the owner Thierry and the drink for Belgians in Beijing. And the Belgian bar also launched a promotion of 11 Belgian drafts, some being new.
As it happened it was also the birthday of our Rotaractor Sophie.
Diane was, well, totally taken aback with the whole setup as so many turned up.
Needless to say, beer flowed pretty well, music was great with the disk jockey and Thierry kindly provided a cake.
Great evening thanks to all who joined, and Thierry.
On 12 September another well attended Rotaract meeting in TUKTUK (Sanlitun).
This time an extra: Diane, our French Rotaractor who leaves us soon gave a slide presentation of her home town Toulouse, France.
Always new faces, this time we had several newbies from South Korea.
See the other post of the surprise farewell party for Diane.