4A Beijing Residency
I woke up pretty early around 630am ready for the work out we’d been planning the night before while we were all a little pissy. I ate some super sweet croissants and when nobody appeared by 800am I headed out for a bit of a run. I didn’t go very far, I’m not super fit at the moment but I need to scrape in every bit of exercise I can with all this fantastic food. It’s a quiet little town full of slightly too small exercise equipment. When I got back Hamida was cooking French toast so I showered and came down for breakfast. After breakfast we headed out to Huairou, the nearest town to Shen’s studio so the others could get sim cards. We went to a department store and stocked up on snacks and whatever looked cool. We met up with Eugenia’s mum Susan and her 2 year old daughter Eda who is the cutest little lady ever. Back at Shen’s we had another amazing lunch, I never knew tofu could be that awesome. After lunch Shen showed us around his house and studio set up. It’s seriously the most amazing compound I’ve ever visited with three huge studio spaces, guest quarters, gym, cinema, kitchens, courtyard, chicken coop and loads of balcony’s across four levels. He has his own gallery downstairs. We watched a couple of documentaries on Shen and everyone disappeared for a nap. Around 530pm we walked down to the farmstay where Eugenia’s folks are staying and had dinner at the restaurant over the road. It was an amazing communal hotpot with prawns, fish, potatoes, sweet potatoes, greens and all sorts of stuff. Shen was plying Justin and I with some local spirits, 56% is heavy duty for me but it would be rude to refuse. We walked back to the Shen’s afterwards dodging trucks with high beams and spent a little time checking out Air BnB’s in Beijing for late in the week. We’re heading off to the markets pretty early tomorrow and I wouldn’t mind getting a little exercise in beforehand so I’m going to bed earlyish tonight.