As New Zealand has been moving towards the date that Daylight Saving finishes, Beijing has reached the official date designated by the municipal authorities for spring. How did we know this? They turned off the heating in Beijing. Was it warm yet? Hell, no. We've spent the past week huddled under blankets on the couch in the evenings and sleeping under a pile of quilts at night. When I asked Richmond Park Apartment Management Office about this, they told me not to worry it would be warm in a few days. Sure enough, a week or so later it has turned beautifully sunnily warm.It's been a long weekend here as today, Monday 6 April, is Tomb Sweeping Day. In Beijing it is a public holiday to allow families to pay their respects to their departed members, traditionally by visiting the cemetery and tidying up their family graves. As we haven't got any family graves over here, we just went out to enjoy the sunshine.
As spring progresses, the quirkiness of Beijing also appears to be unveiling itself more obviously. These are some of the cute things that we have seen over the past couple of days:
- Seeing a young guy riding a red unicycle down the road through the hutong behind our place
- People's little dogs now wearing miniskirts
- A young woman saying good-bye on the phone, "Have a goodness day!"
People lining up to have their photos taken in front of the cherry blossoms, usually with them flashing the ubiquitous V sign
Sculptures outside the International Olympic Committee offices in Chaoyang Park
A group of workers on their break from their restaurant, singing in harmony while sitting on the steps
A guy painting beautiful calligraphy with a big brush with water on the pavement in Beihai Park
Taking a picture of Ian wearing a Beijing monument on his head hehehe
Public exercise equipment in Chaoyang Park, complete with many people energetically exercising including me
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