Saturday, July 9, 2011

Sanlitun Street


Wow, my legs were sore and stiff today! After cycling for almost a month in Tibet I should have been fine "walking" up & down The Great Wall, but I guess not.

Today was a city day in Beijing where I'm just chilled and explored the city. I had all the best interest to check out both the Silk Market and Sanlitun Street, but I had a late start. It was just nice to relax in the morning and not have any planned itinerary.

Who knew Wangfujing Street was so close to my hotel...this street was like New York's Fifth Avenue! It seemed like all the high-end stores - Rolex - Hermes - Cartier - Nike (and McDonald's?) - were here. You would not think you're in a communist country based on all these upscale stores.

Sanlitun Village is a new shopping complex that's geared to the younger, trend-oriented shoppers...sort of like the SoHo area in New York. It's anchored by stores like Adidas, Nike and of course the Apple Store. I had read a review of The Tree as having the best pizza in Beijing and I was craving for non-Chinese food - pizza and beer sounded perfect. Now I just needed to find the spot (the guidebook said The Tree was hard to find as it's behind the shopping complex on a side street...ugh!). Of course, I got lost and I kept walking around in circles since I didn't have a detailed map of this area. Then I realized - the Apple Store! Once I got connected to the Internet (thank you Apple!), I was able to find The Tree (so easy...behind the Police Station, around the corner, inside a hostel's courtyard, just past the trees)! Well the pizza was good, definitely not as good as any NYC pizzeria, but it hit the spot.










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