China: Beijing. Spring Festival in Chaoyang Park 2012.

Yesterday, Em and I decided to go for a walk to Beijing Chaoyang Park (Chinese: 北京朝阳公园; pinyin: Běijīng Cháoyáng Gōngyuán) 20 minutes up the road from her Grandparents place. Most Spring Festivals we usually head up and enjoy the festivities with, what seems like, the rest of Beijing. It wasn’t too cold so I decided that I would risk a little frostbite and take a few photos from the afternoon.

As I mentioned, it was a little crowded, but it’s just no China if it isn’t. It was also nice to see a handful of foreigners here and there also enjoying the festive moment.

We didn’t buy much there, a toy car for Em’s brother, some snacks for dinner, some honey comb to keep us going in the cold, and we also had some fried noodles and a kebab. It was a most enjoyable day.

Click here to see the photos. Click the photos for a bigger picture.

Every man and his snowman showed up to enjoy some festivities at Chaoyang Park.

 
No, I still can’t read that, but I do know a few of the characters. That’s progress, isn’t it?

 
Delicious kebabs. Better yet, some English to go with it (although I can read a lot of foods in Chinese now, at very least different types of meat). I missed out on the turkey kebab, but enjoyed a chicken one.

 
These guys did some mean food. The hot fried noodles in the below freezing temperatures was to die for.

 
Some interesting knick-knacks on sale. My willingness not to buy is a testament to the time I’ve now spent in China (whereas I was happy to buy everything, at the asking price, early on).

 
Deep fried twisted potato. We had these now and then in Korea (in fact, they were advertised as from coming from Korea) and enjoyed then again. A little more oiler than I remembered and I missed the powdered cheese they put on it.

 
The world’s longest and most pointless scroll? Who knows?

 
Lots of soft toys to grab the attention of all the young children and, umm… fiancées.

 
Woof! Woof! Yes. Get your order of dog here! No thanks, I’ll stick to ostrich thank you.

 
I’m sure a lot of dog came back up after this ride.

 
The 4D theatre. Another favourite for Em and I in Korea, but with the line quite long, we decided to give it a skip this time.

 
As the sun starts heading down, Chaoyang Park is actually quite an attractive piece of Beijing.

 
If all the toys, stalls, and food weren’t enough, you had plenty of carnival games to play. Something for all the family.

So, a few hours of relaxing time at Beijing Chaoyang Park. Sometimes I like the fact that something never change in Beijing.