Beijing JJStyle 03: Walking Wangfujing

The great thing about staying right in the center of Beijing with the Beijing Hilton Wangfujing is that we’re actually located so close to all that is happening in the city. Culturally, Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City are but a few blocks away. Also close by are the famous Hutong areas which I’ll get more into in the next few posts.

But right next door to the Hotel is the famous and historic Wangfujing Pedestrian Shopping street which houses tons of international and local fashion brands, but also houses the historic Wangfujing Beijing Deparment Store which welcomes up to 10 million customers a day apparently! 

For Mac Geeks, next door is the Apple Store, which opened the day we got there. Insane.

What Wangfujing is really famous for these days is the row of street food stalls which are open daily from 5pm-10pm. The food is representative of local Beijing delicacies, and all prepared in a very clean and nice way. The brand ambassador at Hilton, Elvis, took us around for a food tour on this street. I couldn’t get enough.

Hello Pineapple Rice!

This guy was making Spicy Dan Dan Noodles. I was dying of hunger.

Delicious!

These steamed soup dumplings looked juicy

Just add hot broth… instant soup!

My favorite were these tasty pork baos. I can still taste the flavour.

Hello lamb legs.

This larvae on a stick was not for me.

Nor was this snake for me either.

Custard buns!

And pan fried pork dumplings!

For the sake of adventure, I tried deep fried starfish.

I bit into it right away thinking that was that. The cook laughed at me because I was biting into the “shell”. I had no idea that it was to be eaten like a crab! You were supposed to break the shell open and eat the meat inside.

After dinner, my friends Denise, Jason, and I went for a walk down the shopping street. It was winter in Beijing so we all had to bundle up.

Local brands were interesting. We haven’t seen these brands outside of China.

Jason stopped by Nike to get hard to find limited edition shoes not available anywhere else in the world.

We fooled around a bit around the statues in the square.

I was getting a haircut.

The hotel looks so romantic at night.

The street food went back to the hotel. It was a mess. A good mess.

EAT Donghuamen Night Market at Wangfujing / SHOP Wangfujing Department Store

This post was originally published on November 2012 for CNN.com and Hilton Hotels and Resorts for the CNNGO Experience Asia Contest.

JJ.