Life in Beijing – Wudaokou

Sunday, July 18th, 2010 in: News, Travel

Beijing is an interesting city, distinctly Chinese but still different from the other parts of the country I’ve visited. Sprawling like LA, multicultural like SF, crowded like Tokyo, but with pockets of “real China” poking out here and there. Only a couple miles from the old Olympic village, our school is just outside the 4th ring road, in an area with a high concentration of schools. A college town within the city, the major hub for foreign student activity is Wudaokou. Located around a subway station by the same name, Wudaokou is teeming with students from all over the world, walking, talking, shopping, eating, drinking and dancing. The first day I arrived, it was Wudaokou’s night market that I walked through searching for the school. That doesn’t feel so long ago as I stride down the wide avenue, dodging cyclists and careless motorists roaring through the intersection. It’s still strange and foreign, yet comfortably familiar. It was 6 weeks ago I first walked through this crowd. So close to home, I feel as if I haven’t spent much time in Wudaokou, but the time I have been there has been memorable:

Beer pong and watching the American soccer matches at Pyro Pizza. Sweaty crowded dancing at Propaganda next door. Tasty but overpriced western food at Lush. Mediocre Mexican at La Bamba. Studying at Bridge Cafe along with 50 other silent students. The Japanese curry place where everything but the curry is pretty good. The vegetarian restaurant where everything is good and nothing is meat. The beggars shaking their cups absent-mindedly at you, threading the crowd of makeshift stalls selling all sorts of fake goods, scattering when the cops come to check their vendors licenses. Affordable-tasting sushi at affordable prices at Isshin, ogling the pets for sale next door. Enjoying a hookah with a burger at Lush. KTV at the U-Center and all the drinking that goes along with it…

Wudaokou is a place where the students go to play, to enjoy their youth and their ever-regenerating livers.

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