The Look of Brr...

What is Beijing like around December?

One word:

Cold.

Some more words:

Blistering, knife-cutting-through-your-skin, skull-blasting, can't-think-about-anything-but- making-a-run-for-the-sun coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooold.

Like this picture. We were in a warm bus and the three of us ran out only to be pretty much stunned in the face with a blast of frozen air. It took a fair amount of energy to summon up the smiles for this shot. However in the world does the guard in the back stand like that through the entire day?

She may look warm but she is not.

On the first day, we ventured out to try and shop. Hah! What a joke that was. All us Hong Kongians and Los Angelesians accustomed to warmth couldn't stand 15 minutes out in the streets.

We sought the nearest warm shop to huddle in.

Despite the cold, Beijing is sure quaint. This street, known as the outdoor silk street, has kept its traditional Chinese exterior but has all these little shops inside. We saw many a quirky things but these Chinese are smart (or stingy) and wouldn't let us photograph.

Cold.

So cold.

So cold the Christmas trees turned gray.

So coolness, I had really wanted to see snow this holiday season. We were hoping that Beijing would grant us our wishes but the entire we were there, we faced the unbearable cold but no snow!

That is...until the last day...

The whole city was blanketed with a light layer of white. Haha, "Federico" down there got a little happy writing in the snow.

Jessica and I are Californians so snow is not a regular occurrence for us. We were delighted!

Our cousin, Irene, not so much... (she's from Toronto)

The weather kept us from being outdoors the majority of the time so we had to resort to our most favorite (and most hated) hobby. What is it? I'll let you know at next post. (Which I hope will be updated at a much faster rate than I have been updating these past few weeks.)