Monday 14 June 2010

The Far East, Day 4

A quiet Sunday in Beijing, as I continued to get over my jetlag. I lounged around during the morning, and then the three of us went to a nearby cafĂ© to allow Martyn and Catherine to get some work done. 

Dinner, however, was quite another story. Matt, a friend of Martyn and Catherine who they know through their school, was due to fly home on Tuesday, so he and his wife Janet joined the three of us for dinner at Fukunoya, a Japanese restaurant just ten minutes' walk away. 

The menu allowed to order as many dishes from a certain list - basically more than half the total menu, excluding mainly expensive things like sashimi - for Y108 per head (about £10), inclusive of beer. Which was very good value, especially given how much we drank - though one pint was more than enough for me - and we had a hilarious evening chatting about everything from ash clouds to wedding dresses. Chicken teppanyaki was undoubtedly the best plate in an array of dishes shared by the five of us, including bacon rolls, shrimp, and salmon with cheese (which Martyn claims to have enjoyed).

The humidity had been rising all weekend, and in the evening the cloud finally mustered and gave us the biggest thunderstorm I can remember - though I'm told it's fairly normal for Beijing, even if this year it's been raining rather more than it used to. It cleared the air, and Monday saw clear skies.  With the beer down me, I slept like a log - which was good, since I had a much busier day on Monday...  
 

1 comment: