So long to Beijing, but not before eating the famous duck

I am about 85% to a sinus infection. All that smoke in the hotel really did me in and I haven't been able to breathe through my right nostril for more than a day. Hopefully taking some medicine, a shower, and doing a little neti pot action will help, but I suspect I could make a doctor's appointment for when I get back and take full advantage of it. Ugh. I hope flying today is okay.

Yesterday I woke up and was extremely happy to be leaving that hotel, even though we were there all day. The afternoon session went well. I introduced myself and then Qiong and Xiaoyu taught the class. I went over to the other 'desker class for a while, but since Dong was doing at least 1/2 in Chinese anyway, I thought I'd just sit in my own class and take photos to record the big event.



After the class we said our goodbyes to coworkers, and then Qiong, her husband, Jia, and his friend loaded us up into his friend's car and the three of them took me to one of the most famous places in Beijing for roast duck (aka Beijing Duck, aka Peking Duck, aka the thing you MUST have when you come to Beijing).



Needless to say, it was a spectacular restaurant and the duck was fantastic. You actually take the duct and put it into the little tortilla-like thing with sprouts and sauce and then eat it like a mini burrito!



I also had duck feet in spicy mustard, more jellyfish, and Japanese tofu. And of course the noraml things like bamboo shoots, corn, chicken, and duck soup. It was all fantastic.



Everybody still seems impressed with how much I love the food and how willing I am to try everything that comes out. If I don't like something, that's fine, but if I don't take a bite of everything, that's just unimaginable to me.

Look, it's me and some fresh ducks hanging by the door!


After that we came to our new hotel downtown, which is a super-fancy nice hotel. And I have a club room, so it's got a great view and it's quite posh. It felt good to have the reception and concierge folks speaking enough English to be helpful, and the bed was great, and the bathroom is very slick. Ahhh... luxury...



I know I can do crashing in lesser hotels if that's the plan, but the conference hotel purports to be a fancy high-end hotel and it just isn't, so that was the most frustrating part. And the smoke. Ugh.

Anyway, I have a few hours before we leave for the airport and fly down to Shanghai. There's much in Beijing I didn't get to do, but I did a lot. And it just means there's more to do when I come back!