People will be eating dogs and other weird stuff…
We’ve never seen dog on the menu up here in Beijing. Except in the North Korean restaurants, where they do eat it. But you will see a lot of dogs in the capital – they’re just usually wearing mini Superman outfits (Beijingers are obsessed with their pet pooches). As for other unmentionables… Yes, local tastes can encompass everything from deep fried scorpion to sea slugs. The good news? You don’t have to encounter any of this if you don’t want to. You’ll only find these ‘delicacies’ on Chinese-tourist-heavy snack streets and at expensive banqueting restaurants, neither of which make up the bulk of the restaurants in the city.
The pollution will make you choke
Hmm. This one makes us a little angry. Not because it’s a lie, but because it’s often reported out of context. The pollution can make you ill – after many years of breathing it, or if you already have an existing respiratory disease. Otherwise it shouldn’t affect you physically at all. Most importantly, don’t let it ruin your trip. A visit to Beijing was never going to be a beach holiday now was it? You’re here for the culture. And besides, seeing it for yourself qualifies you to have your own opinion (the sky is blue more than people think). When the pollution is occasionally visible, Team Bespoke tends to re-imagine it as a mystical fog. Or a gust of dragon’s breath. Hey, whatever works.
If someone decided to shrink 798 and drop it behind the National Art Museum of China, you’d end up with C&C Park. This achingly hip former print factory isn’t just home to Meridian Space (with its fixie bikes, urban courtyard and café perfect for morning coffees) – but a huge surprise in the form of Chinese fashion designer Ma Ke’s showroom.
