Beijing, baby! (part 3)

So, where were we? Ah, yes, the search for Beijing's alternative voice... It is to be found at 798 Art District, a cultural and artsy wonderland that feels like an oasis in the cultural revolution desert: 

The future is in the cellar... (photo by Tina!)

that's a real cat!

After that glimpse into a younger, free-er, alternative world, we were finally convinced that there was more to Beijing than the stiff, formal, proud (and for all intents and purposes, military occupied) face it puts up for the tourists....

So we decided that Beijing could be fun too... armed with that new-found conviction, we hopped on our bikes and set off to discover Beijing by night! First stop: the very cosy Bed bar, in the Jiu Gulou Dajie Hutong, for nice music, nice people, and nice cocktails....

...then off to Sanlitun, a hip and lively part of town, to meet up with some friends of M.'s that had very nicely offered to take us out on the town. Hanging out with the locals was so much fun! And the coolest part came after the obligatory bar crawl: street food, baby!!! 

any thoughts on what this is?? 

All you got to do is grab a beer (Tsingtao, of course!), take a seat and help yourself to the pile of funny looking skewers. It's strange, delicious, and fun. And the place was jumping until dawn!

Interesting side-note: it is apparently considered very un-gentlemanly for boys to allow girls to pay anything on a night out.... and a friend of the friends of friends that we were hanging out with was almost very offended when we offered to do so. So our entire evening was, awkwardly enough, sponsored by the only guy in our group, whom we'd never seen before and hardly spoke to all night since he didn't speak a word of english (he seemed very nice though)! It felt weird and unfair, but he became so flustered when we insisted that we let him have his way. 

Art, beer, street food, and cool people: what more can we ask for on our last day in Beijing...