An Appetite for Adventure

From [08.10.25] Five Year Anniversary

Can you believe Sean and I have been together for five years? I certainly can’t.

It’s been five long and wonderful, adventurous years since Sealleen, as some of my friends have deemed us, came into being. You can read about how we met on my City Weekend blog, so I’ll spare the details and get right to how we celebrated.

Since GRE studies were consuming Sean’s life — he took the test on the morning of our anniversary — I happily made the plans. When it comes to planning, my A-type personality shines. After Sean returned home and lamented the annoying person playing guitar just outside the testing room’s window — I believe he was singing “Daisy, Daisy” — we headed into the heart of the hutongs, Nanluoguxiang. Every fall, the street hosts a festival featuring lots of handicrafts vendors, colorful red paper lanterns lining the “Lao Beijing” (Old Beijing) street and even some wilder events like a hutong catwalk put on by Plastered T-Shirts. We strolled the street for the afternoon, stopping at a tapas bar for a beer and my first Shandy (lemonade and beer).

From [08.10.25] Five Year Anniversary

While sipping our afternoon aperitifs, we were surprised by troupes of brightly-clad traditional dancers, the highlight of which was our first glimpses of the red dogs puppet-costumes usually associated with the Spring Festival (known to us as Chinese New Year). Most of the performers were rather old, leaving me to wonder if Chinese young people in my generation will one day carry on these traditions with such fervor and excitement. The China they know is quite different from the China in which these older folks came of age. It is amazing how much this country has grown and changed in just a few generations.

While lounging at the window, I also experienced another very different but distinctly Chinese occurrence: becoming a sudden celebrity. As I was drinking and gazing out the window, I started noticing people with large cameras stealthily slithering between the shadows to snap a picture of me. Eventually, the photog’s actions became more brazen, a few even expanding their tripods directly across from me. I don’t fancy myself a glamour model, and I also know that the shot must have been nicely set up, with the golden afternoon light spilling perfectly over the bar’s yellow facade, my face cocked out the window watching the passersby. But it isn’t an infrequent occurrence. Whenever I am anywhere that might attract some Chinese tourists, I get photographed. Sean, too. At first, it was odd. But, as anyone that knows me can attest, I’m a ham. So eventually, I just took it as normal. In this instance, I was so keenly aware of the photographers that I even made sure they got a clear shot. I may be a nobody back in the States, but it’s kind of fun to feel like a little bit of a star here.

From [08.10.25] Five Year Anniversary

Next up was our luxury 2.5 hours of perfectly pampering spa treatments. Massage is a big part of traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, it is believed that blind masseuses provide the best massages, and as a result there are a number of massage parlors in Beijing at which you can feel the supposedly healing touch of the blind masseuse. We went the more mainstream route, with an hour of full body Chinese massage followed by an hour of foot massage in a private room at Dragonfly, one of the nicer spas in Beijing.

For dinner, we went to a Beijing staple: The Courtyard. We indulged in three delicious courses and a nice bottle of wine — a rarity in Beijing — next to a beautiful nighttime view of the Forbidden City. We topped off the night with champagne at a beautiful new restaurant called Domus.

It was a lovely night that smacked of Beijing’s best. Cheers!

[08.10.25] Five Year Anniversary