Random Thoughts of a Neophyte in Beijing: Shan Ba escape

Some of us took a little day trip away from the center of Beijing. Partly, to get away from the heat and humidity but also just to see something outside the city. We travelled by bus to the Huai Rou district north of Beijing and then contracted cars to take us to a place called Shan Ba. Shan Ba translates to Mountain Bar. It is a short ride up into the hills and out of the city heat. The restaurant, lodge and cabins are tucked into the hillside near a stream.

As much as I love being in Beijing, it was a nice change to be in the cooler mountain environment surrounded by greenery. The restaurant is known for it’s seafood but friends told us that the hot ticket is the huge racks of ribs. They didn’t oversell it at all. We ordered two Fred Flintstone style rib racks that could tip over even the sturdiest foot powered car. We also ordered fish, lamb and some veggies to round out the meal. Of course there was the usual stack of green bottles of Yanjing beer to cool us off.

Our bevy of comrades grew on the trip out as we met a migrant worker from Hunan?? We ended up inviting him to come along. He seemed to very confused and a little nervous as to why a group or laowai would want him to come along but must have been curious or hungry and decided to come along. He was just arriving in Beijing to work on a road project. He does steel work with rebar. At one point he pulled out his phone and showed pictures of his kids to us and sent a text message. I offered to one of my friends that he may be thinking, if I show these guys I have kids, maybe they won’t take me and murder me after dinner and that his text said…. I have been kidnapped but some foreigners, I don’t know what they want with me but will try to text later. After a few beers and food his trepidation seemed to melt away and soon we were laughing together. He knew a few words in English. We had a Chinese friend with us and most of us know a little Mandarin. Beer is like a liquid translator because I noticed on more than one occasion, after a few drinks people seem to be able to understand more. Who knew? He pulled out his phone to text again and I turned to my friend to offer that now he was saying…I think I am getting Stockholm syndrome because I like my captors. They’re not so bad really, they are buying me food and drinks and smiling and sharing cigarettes. I still don’t know what they want but at least the situation is bearable. Later we laughed more and he seemed totally comfortable in the fact that we just liked him and wanted him to join us.

After several hours of feasting and enjoying the mountain air, we decided to catch the 7:30 bus home. We were approached by men who have cars to rent, unofficially of course. They were trying to tell us the bus doesn’t stop here anymore and negotiations started for rides all the way back to Beijing. It is about an hour journey or so and if the bus came it would take at least two buses and a cab to get home. At first they seemed to be saying eight hundred kuai for two cars. There was a lot of gesturing and back and forth reasoning. Soon we agreed to 600 kuai for two cars four of us in each car.

Our driver jumped in and cranked the Techno music up to eleven and took off like a grand prix racer. He was taking the mountain curves like a pro and we were lost in a sea of noise, screeching tires and strange looks from every one we passed. He had a horn that sounded like a police siren and another that made the sound fire trucks make when approaching an intersection. He zoomed past horses, carts, cars, motorbikes, probably a goat or two, pretty much everything that you see on a typical mountain road in china. He seemed to be very skilled. Under normal conditions we would have been a bit nervous about the way he was driving but under the peaceful fog of good food and many beers, we just all seemed to be happy and in that (let’s just enjoy the ride kind of place). We made a short stop to drop off our new migrant worker friend and after a cramped, loud but fun trip, we were back in our happy neighborhood, the echo of techno music still in our ears.