1 City 5 Ways: Beijing

1 City 5 Ways THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO DISCOVER A DESTINATION. BEIJING BY THOMAS O’MALLEY Beijing can Be a confounding capital—at once ancient and futuristic, Communist yet creative, East meeting West and all the rest. What this means, of course, is that the city has something to offer many different types of travelers, whether you’re after five-star luxury or gruff hútòng PEK alleyway hospitality. In lifestyle terms, the Chinese capital is slowly but surely catching up to chic sibling Shanghai, and culturally, few other cities can match Beijing’s bevy of palaces, temples, triumphant Socialist monuments and a rather great wall, snaking through the mountains that shelter Beijing from the wilds beyond. MARK PARREN TAYLOR PARREN MARK delta sky / november 2017 73 1 City 5 Ways BEIJING WHERE TO STAY Graceland Yard Hotel LUNCH Country Kitchen AFTERNOON DINNER King’s Joy Slumber in the vestiges of a 500-year-old temple deep within Beijing’s With your yin expelled, time Temple of Confucius This elegant vegetar- hútòng alleyways, where eight mismatched rooms are styled with to feast on yang, or warming A short walk from the incense ian eatery serves the wooden furnishings and serene Buddhist décor. Order room service or food. Lamb is particularly and crowds at the Lama cuisine enjoyed by head to nearby hútòngs for tasty treats. graceland-yardhotel.com yang, so head to the rustic-chic Temple, Beijing’s Temple of Buddhist monks for HARMONY restaurant at the Rosewood Confucius is comparatively generations—with a SEEKER MORNING Tang Massage Beijing for its northern serene, a sanctuary shaded dash of culinary magic The traditional treatments here will help your qi flow freely; try moxi- Chinese-style leg of lamb— by ancient cypresses and courtesy of chef Pan bustion, a needle-free alternative to acupuncture where dried mugwort salted, spiced and roasted over populated by thousands of Jianjun, a former is burned near the skin. The heat of the “moxa” expels cold, or yin, and a fruit wood fire. rosewood stone stele inscribed with the Buddhist disciple warms your meridians, leading to well-being. 8 Jiaodaokou Dajie hotels.com/en/beijing names of scholars past. himself. kingsjoy.cn WHERE TO STAY MORNING AFTERNOON TEA AFTERNOON The Story of Communism in China China Great Hall Hotel Chairman Mao Beijing Hotel NUO This guided tour skips across the capital to reveal the Located near the Great Memorial Hall Feast on finger sandwiches party’s roots, the early years of Mao and the lives of the Hall of the People (China’s Watch the dawn flag-raising and scones with clotted Soong sisters, China’s most famous revolutionary spouses. parliament), this building ceremony from your room, cream at Beijing’s original bespoketravelcompany.com REVOLUTIONARY was strictly for government then skip out to Tiananmen grand dame, formerly the cadres until recently, when to line up with other faithful century-old Grand Hotel de DINNER TRB Hutong it opened as a public hotel. to view the embalmed Pekin’. Mao was even said to Modern European dishes and the city’s best wine list unfold Pull back the curtains to gaze corpse of Mao, draped in have cavorted on the dance in the environs of Zhizhusi, a Buddhist temple. Take a stroll out on Tiananmen Square. the red flag of the Chinese floor in the Writer’s Bar. after eating; the temple served as a TV factory post-1949, chinagreathallhotel.com Communist Party. nuohotel.com/changan and faded Maoist slogans are still visible. trb-hutong.com WHERE TO STAY MORNING LUNCH Wang Pang Zi DINNER Bianyifang The Orchid Private Jingshan Park Wang Pang Zi (Fatty Wang’s) is Beijing’s most famous pur- Beijing Bianyifang Roast Residences Rise early and join your veyor of donkey-meat sandwiches, or lürou huoshao, a local Duck Group Co. claims to These serviced rooms put fellow lao (old) Beijingers in favorite. The braised meat is diced with crunchy green pep- have been roasting fowl guests in intimate proxim- the capital’s most happen- pers and crammed in a crisp, toasted bun. 80 Gulou Xidajie since 1416. Their antique OLD BEIJINGER ity with the real Beijing. ing hangout for the over-60 method results in juicer Apartments come with crowd. Then clamber up the AFTERNOON Panjiayuan Flea Market meat with softer skin, which kitchenettes, but you can hill to Wanchun Pavilion to Dig through this magpie’s nest of Chinese curios and you eaters stuff into hollow still breakfast at The Orchid see the sun warming the might find Little Red Books, cigarette posters or faded photos sesame rolls, though pan- Hotel, just a stroll away. arched rooftops of the of old Beijing residents. Avoid buying anything claiming to be cakes and duck sauce are theorchidbeijing.com Forbidden City. from earlier dynasties, though—chances are it’s a fake. available. bianyifang.com WHERE TO STAY LUNCH Unïco Beijing AFTERNOON EVENING Club Sir.teen LATE-NIGHT Vue Hotel Hou Hai Lounge on the all-white Parkview Green Party with Beijing’s fuerdai EATS Bellagio This new boutique bolthole next Perrier-Jouët terrace and Browse through Beijing’s (wealthy second-generation Head to this to Houhai Lake knows how to drink in the killer skyline trendiest shopping mall, a Chinese) at this outrageously Taiwanese eatery party. Moon Bar, a swish cocktail views with your cham- futuristic glass pyramid of glitzy megaclub—all lasers, on the Gongti Xilu VIP PARTIER terrace, boasts its own Jacuzzi— pagne and Latin beats, as designer wares from the Chivas Regal and Russian club strip to get or take the party to your suite, the sweet aroma of grilling likes of Stella McCartney models. The EDM-synced your fix of sanbeiji where the hotel will lay on a lobsters reminds you that and Sandro, along with lightshow is something else, (three-cup chicken), private DJ and free-flowing wine it’s probably time to eat playful sculpture and and if you order enough XO mushrooms and and Spanish canapés. something. Life is hard. fabulous restaurants. champagne, you’ll get special mango shaved ice. vuehotel.com.cn/houhai unicobeijing.com parkviewgreen.com attention. 6 Gongti Xilu 6 Gongti Xilu WHERE TO STAY P.Loft Youth Hostel LUNCH AFTERNOON LATE NIGHT Formerly a military weapons depot, this industrial-styled hostel Punk Rock Noodles Dongyue Temple Temple Bar is popular with young Chinese for the cheap dorm beds, bar and Originally opened by Lei With its life-sized diorama A Gulou institution, basketball court. Best of all, it’s a short stagger to School Bar, Jun—the much-loved depictions of Taoist hell and Temple serves as both hands-down Beijing’s best punk club. ploft.cn frontman of Beijing rockers its incongruous downtown a live rock venue and BEIJING PUNK Misandao, who passed locale, this is one of a late-night booze MORNING Gulou Dong Dajie away in 2015 at age 40— Beijing’s most hard-core den for scenesters, Ground zero for Beijing punks, this hip street has record stores this memorabilia-filled temples—and potentially a with dozens of amus- (check out Indie Music), vintage clothing emporiums and diner attracts local rockers source of lyrical inspiration ingly titled shooters countless shops hawking cheap Chinese electric guitars. for noodle-centric tribute for that song you’re working poured at the bar. Cap it off with a rhythmic recital in the Qing-era Drum Tower. fare. 25 Donggong Jie on. 141 Chaowai Dajie 206 Gulou Dongdajie 74 delta sky / november 2017 SEE PAGE 46 FOR PHOTO CREDITS. delta sky / november 2017 75.

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