Great Visit!

After already 9 months, there are still many historical sites in Beijing that I have not yet taken the time to visit. Nonetheless, during the last couple of weeks, I have the occasion to look at 2 new ones. The first one was The Temple of Heaven. It’s there they apparently made animal sacrifices to the heavens. I was a bit surprised to learn that. Another interesting fact, although completely unrelated, it is not rare to see women of all ages walking around with umbrellas on sunny days as you can see on the photo. Unlike occidentals, whom for the most part, rather have tanned look, here it’s the opposite. Women like to be as pale as possible. Some even go around wearing full face visors straight out of a science fiction movie. That’s to show that we’re never happy with what we have and always want what we don’t have…


It was on the way to that temple that I learned from a friend that Dj Champion and his G-Strings were on their way into town. For those whom might not know them, they are quite famous in Quebec. The band is composed of 4 guitarists, 1 base player, 1 signer and they are all mixed through Dj Champion. I knew Champion a little bit after interviewing and meeting him a couple times in Montreal when I was working for Metro newspaper. I was extremely surprised and trilled by the news. The band was going to perform followed by a solo performance of Champion a few days later in the club where I had worked before. What a coincidence! It was almost too much and too great to be true.

Both shows were awesome. Apparently I was wearing a smile the size of a jumbo jet. It brought me back closer to Quebec for a little while. We spent some time all together. It felt so good to hang out with a bunch of Quebecois. Everything made so much sense. No language barriers whatsoever. Every tiny details and intonations were perfectly interpreted, so nice… We also went for a quick and superficial visit of the Forbidden City. It was my first time there too, even after nine months…


They left back home at about the same time that I moved in my new apartment. Wow! What a humongous difference. I am so much more comfortable and tranquil here than in my old place. It’s much better in every ways. To underline the occasion, I organised a housewarming party last Saturday. About 25 people showed up. Thank you to all of you who made the effort to come, even on a rainy day. Here, a simple rainy day has about the same effect as a 15-20 cm snow storm in Quebec. People simply stay home. I leave you with photos of my new place. Who and when is going to visit me next?