Wanderings in a day

Wednesday was a long day that stretched into Thursday and melded into one of those travel memories that I'll look back and smile at.

It started bright & early with breakfast at the Bridge Cafe. Yes, we went back, to my delight. Too hard to resist when it's the place that holds the best moments. Books, breakfasts and silent company. Our supposed party of four got halved when the sleepy duo awoke at the time we were supposed to leave so the two of us made our way to the Temple of Heaven. The weather was still drizzly from the previous night and while it was dreary, it was better than the scorching summer sun.

Lunch was a pleasant affair at a little shop proclaiming "We have English menus" and "We serve coffee". We found Singaporean fried rice here, except without the peas. There was a pair of expats too who entered and immediately launched into a conversation about pom-pom girls. "Once a pom pom girl, always a pom-pom girl." Excellent eavesdropping material.

Then came shopping at the Pearl Market. Walking circles around the same stores, poking at products, analysing wallet differences, bargaining and making new friends. Bargaining is so fun.

And for the rest of the day, we walked. Having no grand plans, we decided to find a lake by which we could nurse a beer and have dinner. With no GPS or wifi whatsoever, we used the subway map as a guide and went to the only station that had lake in it. So we walked til we reached the lake, walked back to find a supermarket, (only to have our plans rained on, literally), walked to Sanlitun, walked back&forth to find dinner within our budget and walked to meet the sleepy duo who were also at Sanlitun by pure coincidence.

Unwilling to end the last night so early, we went back to the corner to find some drinks. We walked up, down, hovered around the street and eventually ambled to a place we passed many times but never entered. Midweek was open bar day and it was funny how we never took advantage of that until this late. I imagine the biggest regrets will come from the boys who left a few weeks earlier. In between fruit juices, multiple re-entries, strange personalities and heart attacks, it was probably the best way to end a chapter (: It was afternoon when we began the next day and four had become three by then.