China Travel, News and Lifestyle
Archive for August, 2007
Origus is a Nice Place to Eat When Hungry
Aug 8th
So what do you do when you drink too much one night and feel like shit the entire next day, and then comes evening and you’re starving. Easy – go to Origus.Origus is a Chinese buffet chain serving pizza, chicken, pasta, snacks, salad, fruit, ice cream, cake, soft drinks, beer, tea and coffee. For 43 CNY ($6 USD) you can eat and drink as much as you want. The food is pretty good, but a little fatty. I would recommend you to eat there if you’re really hungry and/or work out.
What! A Chocolate Pizza?
The last time I went to Origus I was really surprised to find a chocolate pizza. It was basically pizza bread with chocolate sauce and cheese on top. Although I don’t think it was very nutritious, I’d have to say it was quite good.
Prostitution in Beijing
Aug 7th
Here in Beijing, prostitution is rampant. You can find prostitutes at clubs, hairdressers, massage parlors and on the streets. The normal price range goes from 100 CNY to as much as 2,000. Prostitution is illegal in China, but it’s pretty hard for the police to bust them, because they’re all covered in some way. Hookers at clubs don’t openly announce their profession, and it’s impossible to see the difference of them and a regular club-going girl. At the hairdressers, how can the police know that they are prostitutes and not just hairdressers? Despite difficulties, the local police has had quite a few successful raids in the past.
The area in Beijing that I live in is called Fulicheng. Several times a week, we get these namecards (pictured above) of massage services with suggestive pictures of girls slipped in under the door while sleeping. Whether they really do massage or not, I’ve yet to find out. But from what I’ve heard, these girls generally do very poor massages. I guess the rest should be left to the imagination. 
Club Tango Beijing
Aug 5th
By a rare stroke of luck, I’ve managed to gain a great contact. She works in the Beijing nightlife scene and can get free tables and drinks for friends at clubs around town. Without going into more details, we hit to Club Tango one night.
Club Tango is a nice, newly renovated place located near the south gate of Ditan park. Inside, there are many rooms for karaoke, but also a regular club with DJs, bartenders and tables. Tango is more known for their karaoke than their club.
We got a three-sofa table group and were 7 people. We had sweet strawberry cocktail shots, fruit plates, 3 bottles of Johnny Walker Black Label and lots of soft drinks. The Black Label was mixed either with ginger ale or grape juice. Both were good, but I preferred the ginger ale version.
Between the Black Label drinks, I had some pure Black Label. On one shot a bartender and also part-owner of the club set the 43% JW shot on fire with his lighter. It was pretty hot, so I dropped it and set the tissue on the table on fire – a small embarrassment. That night I also learned a drinking game played with dices. It’s pretty fun and I’ll probably cover it some time.
Drinking Beijing Style
Aug 4th
When you’re tired of all the Western-style bars and clubs over at Sanlitun, Houhai and Workers Stadium – you should definitely try this out. This is what many Beijingers do and is a cool experience for the casual traveler.
- Make sure you’re with good company.
- Scourge the streets until you find the closest Muslim (Xinjiang) joint, and get a table outdoors.
- Start ordering Yanjing (Beijing) brand beers and some shish kebab (yang rou chuan / lamb on a stick), some pickled peanuts and green beans to go along with it.
- If you don’t know how to order, point at the plate of your neighbors and order what they’ve ordered.
- Let the games begin. Usually 6 bottles is enough for a person.
- Be merry.
The beers go for around 4 CNY ($0.6 USD) per 600 ml bottle and the kebabs 0.5 CNY ($0.1 USD) each. All together it shouldn’t cost more than 35 CNY ($5 USD) per person. Not only is this a very good deal, but also something unique to remember. I liked the food and the beers, and would do this again anytime.
These guys know how to earn money and close when all their customers leave, so don’t worry about the time.
Papa John’s Beijing
Aug 3rd
Sometimes you are allowed to cheat. When you get tired and run out of ideas of what to order at Chinese restaurants, there are always western chains to satiate your hunger.
This time I decided to pick up a pizza at Papa John’s just downstairs. The pizza was pretty good (a little greasy), but the waiting time was a long 30 minutes. I ordered the 12-inch Pizza Alfredo, which I only managed to finish half of. Along with it I had a can of Coke, which brought the final price to just below 100 CNY ($15 USD). This is a pretty expensive meal by Beijing standards but something pretty nice to have once in a while.
