Did you know there’s a Natural Reserve Just Outside Beijing?
Beijing sometimes gets a bad rap for it’s landlocked location, but the scenery just outside of the city’s ring roads is full of jaw-dropping natural beauty that’s just begging to be explored. Who needs a beach when there are glorious green mountains to climb?
Great Wall? Check. Forbidden City? Check. Learning how to turn a chirping insect into a fighting champion? Ch… oh, hang on. Bespoke’s ‘Meet a Cricket Trainer’ signature experience is one of the many fun things we do that other travel companies don’t. OK, so this one is pretty far out, but Beijing cricket trainer ‘Cricket Liu’, a champion trainer of fighting crickets, is an absolute hoot and a well of knowledge on this ancient and still thriving pastime. We hooked up local magazine The Beijinger with our man and they had a blast.
Read all about it below, and if you find the primal urge to go antenna-to-antenna on our ‘Meet a Cricket Trainer’ signature experience, visit our website or get in touch at info@bespoke-beijing.com.
Mustela sibirica. The Siberian weasel. A near-mythical denizen of Beijing’s ancient hutong alleyways. In Chinese, this animal is called a 黄鼠狼 (huang shu lang) – literally ‘yellow mouse wolf’. Most folks have never seen one. Many question their existence at all. But with their long, lithe bodies and little legs, these elusive creatures can dart across grey rooftops like gold streaks of lightning. Adult males grow up to 40cm long, with soft, thick fur well adapted to Beijing’s brisk winters.
Elderly locals say it’s good luck if you manage to encounter one of these noble beasts; and inversely unlucky if you bring harm to one. It is also said in China that the Siberian weasel is a wandering spirit (shen) that can steal and replace people’s souls. Eek.
Beer in China traces its origins to breweries set up by Russian and German settlers at the turn of the 20th century. Tsingtao from Shandong Province is a global trademark – light, low-alcohol, industrially brewed lager for the masses. Then there’s Yanjing, Beijing’s own cheap and cheerful brew of near indistinguishable similarity.
Woop! We’ve been nominated for BEST GUEST EXPERIENCE at the inaugural LE Miami Awards! The what? It’s the uber networking event of the travel industry calendar for innovative brands that push the luxury envelope. And it’s in Miami so that means lots of trendy parties full of people in swimwear sipping cocktails. We hope, anyway.
Our plucky Beijing brand is on the roster with the likes of W Hotels, the Soho House Group, Ace, Upper House and The Standard – which is daunting, but we’re keeping our feet on the ground and focusing on those cocktails.
Beijing a city of vice? Actually yes! When the Communist Party of China came to power in 1949, they re-educated around 35,000 prostitutes, most from Beijing’s former red light district of Dashilan. And — most amazing of all — some of the brothels and opium dens that once littered this centuries-old area still exist (though no longer in business, of course). Want to see them? Of course you do! Well, Bespoke Beijing and Beijing Postcards has the key.
Our first ever limited edition historical Walking Tour – Sai Jinhua and the Brothels of Dashilan – has already sold-out and is underway this May. But if you missed out on a place, don’t despair! You can view an exhibition of maps, prints and photos of the former red light district in its heyday (from the personal archives of Beijing Postcards historians Lars and Simon) at the wonderful Ubi Gallery, open Wednesdays to Sundays from 10.30am-18.30pm. The exhibition will run throughout May and June, and the gallery can also be opened by appointment for journos and the like – contact Zhang Fan on 137-1791-8120.
