May 22, 2023
Mandarin Immersion (Part 8)
By Simon J. Lau
I returned to Beijing for a night, as a transit stop before leaving for Wuhan tomorrow. One place that I’ve always liked is Beihai Park, which was once an imperial garden. I spent the evening photographing this park and portions of the outer wall of the Forbidden City.
When leaving Chengde this morning, I had my first experience riding a bullet train. 🚄 It was crazy efficient, organized, and fast! (Average speed was around 190 mph.) Also, this was my first time buying train tickets in Mandarin on my own. My Mandarin has really come a long way since I started learning it 5+ years ago.
For example, the last time I was in Beijing in 2010, I needed train tickets to Shanghai to attend the World Expo. The hostel would buy these tickets for me, for a fee, and I gladly paid. The thought of buying them myself then was just terrifying. Now, it’s a breeze for me.
Finally, I checked out a brewery in a hutong nearby. After speaking with my bartender, I discovered that the owner had studied in the US, and it was there that he learned to brew beer. It amused me to see American brewing techniques being brought to, and shared in, China.
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