Marriott Beijing Northeast 北京海航大厦万豪酒店 & Red Theater 红剧场

It was time to bid farewell to Holiday Inn Downtown and say hello to Marriott Beijing Northeast! We checked out of the hotel and hopped in a taxi to go from the first ring to the third ring, where Marriott was located.

Our view from the room.

Complimentary welcome gift from Marriott includes fruits, fresh water, and two brownies. Mm.

Pros:
Super clean
Spacious room
Welcome gift
Cable TV
Free WiFi
Helpful staff

Cons: 
Location  

Amar and I decided to take it easy today since we spent the whole afternoon moving hotels. After consulting with my trusty advisor (TripAdvisor) and my consultant (Google), I called up this place through http://www.redtheatre.cn/. It turns out it is not the actual Red Theatre's website but a travel agent's. (Oh China.. everything is so confusing.) Anyways, I called them to see if there were any tickets for that night and surprise surprise, they did! We booked balcony tickets for RMB$125 per person for the Kung Fu show. Therefore, we decided to go out around the hotel area for an early dinner before heading to the show by 7PM to meet the guy who has our discounted tickets (sounds so sketchy). 

Amar wanted to try this Korean restaurant, which turned out to be a franchise.

I learned not to use their wet napkins cause they charge you like five bucks for it.

Our view from our table.

HUGE portions of banchan (◑‿◐)

Amar's Grilled Rib Eye Steak

I ordered the Spicy Fish Tofu Soup and I was SO excited to get it. 

Hence my smiling face. BUT. After this picture was taken, I dug in with my spoon and there were INTESTINES. ((((゜д゜;)))) I can never trust the English translation of some items. I checked the menu again and it says Spicy Fish Tofu Soup but it actually said Spicy Fish Insides Tofu Soup.  （￣へ￣) I ended up drinking the soup and eating everything around all the spiral-y unknown inside parts of a fish.

We took a little walk and found our tapioca stop!! First tapioca stop in Beijing and it was delicious! Definitely cheered me up from eating soup that was cooked with intestines. 

After dropping our things back at the hotel, we hopped in a taxi for the Red Theater! It's my second time seeing the show but I did not remember any of it. Once we arrived, there was a guy standing by the front entrance with my name on it. When we approached him and gave him money RMB$250, he went to go get the tickets (which is smart because if someone reserves tickets and don't show up, it's their loss). 

We bought tickets for The Legend of Kung Fu, produced by China's Leading Performance Art Production Company (ranked #25 of attractions on TripAdvisor). The show was mediocre for me with some good moments, but I think Amar enjoyed it seeing it for the first time with all the Kung Fu moves, dance, and acrobatics. Definitely a unique show. 

The balcony seats were the cheapest in the house but I thought we had the best view. Because you can literally see everything up here! Their most expensive tickets were right in the front for RMB$500 but the stage was big with everything happening, I think we got the most out of our buck. 

After the show, I wanted to check out the Donghuamen Night Market, also known as the snack street. Thanks to Google Map, who failed us this time, we walked for 25 minutes in the cold and in complete darkness to a nonexistent market. We did however end up on a busy street with big malls on both side of the street. We walked closer because there were so many people crowding the entrance of the mall. 

It turns out that there was free dumpling tasting on the street as some kind of promotion for either Chinese New Years or some kind of event.. I'm not really sure. Amar did not want to go at all.

So we didn't end up getting free dumplings in the freezing cold. But we did get McDonald's (again) as a midnight snack before heading back to our hotel. This time we tried the weird pies. Sweet Taro Pie and Pineapple Pie. Strangely good! It has such a yummy, crispy, fatty, artery clogging crust and it's always hot! 

Donghuamen Night Market 东华门夜市 (✿...✿)

Thanks Blogger, I really appreciate you saving the post that I spent so much time on and when I hit Publish, you decide to crash. 

With that said, let's try this again. After we rested from our whole day at the Ming Tomb, Great Wall, and the whole tour guide fiasco, we had two options for our last night in Beijing. 1.) Enjoy what Beijing is most famous for-- the Peking duck. 2.) Dinner at the Donghuamen Night Market! It is a night market located near Wangfujing with 5-6 blocks of unusual food stalls. Amar's goal was to try something he would never try and this was the perfect place for that. There are stalls with deep fried crickets, centipedes, worms, scorpions, lizards, snakes. You name it, they probably got it. I actually really wanted to do both but too bad my stomach can't handle that much food..  so a difficult decision had to be made. Amar doesn't like duck much anyways so Donghuamen it is! This was easily the highlight of my trip. I love food! So when we arrived, 

All my favorite foods (and more) on the same street. I was in heaven. #isthisreallife 

This stall (above) had all the raw foods on a skewer ready to be grilled or deep fried, however you prefer. I was watching her grill the centipedes and then squish them flat so it's easier to eat. So strange!

My favorite! 

This is also the stall where Amar decided to go for it and try grilled spicy snake. I hate snakes and all reptiles. I had to pass but apparently it tastes like chicken with a lot of bones. Shivers.

Crab soup dumplings!! So delicious.  

Quail eggs. O.O

Stinky tofu!! So good.

TARANTULAS ON A STICK!

 As if one picture's not bad enough. Here's a close up!

Hot and sour clear glass noodles. Perfect for a cold winter night!

We probably spent around RMB$60-70 on a range of different foods from dumplings to different skewers to desserts! The fried caramelized banana mochi (above) was one of the best desserts everrrr. It was so good and so cheap! At the very end, we discovered a mall with all the American stores like Apple, Gap, AE, Sephora, etc. It was like we're back home! 

The night can't end without trying out a new tapioca place! This was located inside the mall and Amar enjoyed their fresh banana milk with tapioca. Super fresh and not powdery at all.

Before we left, I just had to go back and get my favorite candied fruit on a stick! This time, I got the strawberry and kiwi combo which was good but not as good as the RMB$2 one from the guy on the bike! I wish they had these in Hong Kong.. But then I'd be 500 pounds.

I'll squeeze in our last day in Beijing here as well. Our flight was at 2PM the following day and we were able to sleep in and grab lunch nearby the hotel before leaving! We picked Flying Noodles because it had the most people inside and the name was quite catchy. 

It's quite interesting how these little modern restaurants work. The waitresses sit you, take your order, gives you the check, and you have to pay before you eat. I guess it prevents a lot of dine and dash-ers. But it's quite an interesting concept. Much more efficient.

I had a wonderful time in Beijing (like I do all the other places I've been). Spending New Years here was definitely an experience to remember, especially being able to say I visited the Great Wall on New Years Eve right before the spectacular fireworks! It was also nice to spend time with Amar after being apart for 2 1/2 months and being able to see the beautiful historical sights. Despite almost being unintentionally spit on on several occasions and watching people sneeze and cough without covering their mouth, Beijing will always have a special place in my heart. The good food, great people, and spectacular views. Until next time, 再见!