Eric's Beijing Diary

Stopped by the new Old Town Coffee Bar tonight. Jeremy was there, and he wanted me to sing some praise songs while he played the piano. Jeremy is from Taiwan, but he spent a good bit of time in Germany. He has recently purchased an old colonial mansion down on the old street, and built a massive restaurant and coffee bar. You know, in an average Chinese city, there are Chinese restaurants, and then there are KFC and McDonald's. Chinese restaurants are the best if you are going to eat with a group. I mean that both in terms of price, and food. But if you are by yourself, Chinese restaurants are kinda awkward. There are very few places where you can just go in and buy a single meal. I live near Wudaokou, which is basically College Town, China, so I have several options.Pretty easy for me to get bacon and eggs or a plate of spaghetti. But Beihai doesn't have many such places. There are a few--Tommy's Bar out on the spit has really good burgers, and the shepherd's pie isn't bad, either. And I had a really nice lamb steak on my birthday. I go to McDonald's, but I really don't like to do that every day. So it's always interesting to see a place that gives some new options. This place is really nice. Jeremy knows a lot of praise songs, and he happened to have a book with him, so I sang some songs while he played the keyboard. Good sound system in that place. It's hard to describe this old, old brick building. Beihai was made a treaty port by the Treaty of Yantai in 1876, and the foreigners moved in. The street they lived on is one I have seen many times, because the old village church is located here. But I have never been in one of these old mansions. You really have to see it.

Labels: Beihai