China memories, part 7 : Beijing farewell

On our final day in Beijing, we decided to spend time in our favorite places.

We admired the Red Lantern House hostel in the morning light, and gave the managers our Beijing guidebook. 

We went to the Qing Feng Steamed Bun Shop for our last dumplings. We learned that President Xi Jinping had visited a branch of Qing Feng in December 2017, causing a huge spike of interest in the chain. We just really liked the dumplings -- and the fact that each location had a picture window into a kitchen where a group of women were making the dumplings by hand. Exquisite!

We splashed out and had sides -- a cold noodle dish, and some amazing pickled cucumbers.

Then we walked to the lakes one last time, gorgeous in the morning sun. 

Oh, and of course I did a little shopping -- going back to the store with the lovely Lord Rabbits, admiring their lions, and buying some Lord Rabbit pieces. 

Oh, and my favorite qilin statue, of course!

Finally, we headed back to our hutong, where I finally captured some of the lovely art. See, each hutong is decorated differently ... ours had custom art on every electric box, whether it be an air conditioner, a power monitor, or whatever. #besthutongever

Then it was time to head to the airport. We took the subway and then the airport express train, which were easy and seamless. 

The airport is big and beautiful...

We had some time to kill before we could check in, but it went smoothly... and we finally bought some of the famous Beijing dried fruit as a souvenir!

Then through "Emigration" and security -- hardcore patdowns, bag checks, etc... and then into the serenity of the airport lounge... where we whiled away a couple of hours before getting on our plane and flying home!

China was beautiful -- so modern, so bustling. I'm so glad we were able to go (thanks again, Scott's Cheap Flights!) and see multiple stretches of the Great Wall.