The Hutong Heyrobics Challenge

The Hutong Heyrobics Challenge is all about good times, exercise, healthy living, a community gathering, and the coming of springtime.

“Known in Sweden as “Jympa” and in France as “La Gym Suedoise”, Heyrobics is a full body workout including strength, running, cardio and agility. It is performed with music to simple movements demonstrated by an instructor, and is the in-vogue way to keep fit. The biggest overall sport in Sweden, with more than 5% of the population participating every week. Check us out: www.heyrobics.com”

Heyrobics Top Gun, Linus Holmsater will lead a Heyrobics session at the East Gate of Ditan Park at 10:00AM and will proceed to lead “a human Heyrobics train all the way from Ditan to Beixinqiao” (you choose to run either 4 or 7 kilometers) ending the challenge at The Hutong.

Participants will be rewarded at The Hutong as they are hosting their Global Gourmet Spring Fayre featuring an assortment of cuisine from all over the world (including a Swedish meatball station).

Sign up early here and get pumped for 2 hours of exercise, eating and exploring the city in your running shoes!

Event Details:

• Date: Sunday, April 17
  
• Time: 10:00AM-12:00PM
• Location: Ditan Park (East Gate)
  
• Price: RMB 70 + RMB 5 for park entrance fee
• Sign Up: email:  info@heyrobics.com
• Tel: +86 1590 104 6127

An Action-Packed Chinese New Year Day in Beijing

While many rush away from Beijing during the Chinese New Year holiday break either to return home or travel, I quite enjoy staying in the city this time of year.  The non-stop fireworks can get a little intense at times, but it’s one of the few times a year Beijing has no traffic and everyone is totally chilled out.

With most places closed and many people away, it’s nice to spend quality time alone, catching up on work and on sleep, but after a few days of down-time, it’s also good to get out and explore what is available in the city.

Luckily this Chinese New Year break, Beijing’s been blessed with quite a few beautiful days with abnormally warm(er) weather! Taking advantage of the blue skies and sunshine, I spent the day in true Chinese New Year style.

Starting off on Guozijian Street 国子监街, we wandered in and out of various furniture shops, knick-knack shops, Beijing’s oldest toy store and peeked in its cozy cafes, Imperial College and the Confucian Temple.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Guozijian Street 国子监街:

After exploring Guozijian Street, we made our way over to Ditan Park to check out their annual temple fair, one of the liveliest in the city (click here for full list of temple fairs in Beijing).  Decked out in red lanterns and festive decorations, this temple fair was packed to the brim with people.  Weaving through the herds of people, we explored the fair and checked out the live performances, snack stalls section, game area and a few private temples.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Ditan Park’s Temple Fair:

Our next stop: Houhai Lake for some serious ice-biking fun.  The frozen Houhai Lake offers a gigantic space for people to ice skate, ice bike or ice sled on chairs with picks to slide yourself around.  Our group all hopped on ice bikes for races around the lake and a seriously awesome good time.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Houhai Lake Ice Biking Fun:

We topped off our perfect Chinese New Year action-packed day with a final Sichuan feast at the popular Sichuan joint directly across from the north end of Nanluoguxiang.  Spicy and flavorful, this restaurant was an ideal cap off to a long day exploring the city’s most festive sites.

LumDimSum Snapshots of Sichuan Feast:

With only a few more days left of the Chinese New Year holiday, I encourage everyone in Beijing to head over to one of the city’s temple fairs (full list of fairs here) along with a day trip to Houhai lake for some fun on ice.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Rock Out This Weekend at Max Star Music Festival

If you haven’t left work early this week to head down to Ditan Park to check out Max Star Music Festival, then make sure you head down this weekend to check out live sets from the country’s top rock bands from Omnipotent Youth Society (Wang Neng Qu Nian), Pet Conspiracy, New Pants, Brain Failure, Carsick Cars, Twisted Machine and Rustic.

Visit www.t3.com.cn or call 400 818 3333/6406 8888 for tickets.

• Time: 4PM-late

• Price: Fri-Sun 80RMB; 60RMB (presale), 40RMB (students)

• Location: Ditan Park

• How to get there: subway to Lama Temple, walk west along the north side of the second ring, you will come to the south gate of Ditan park which is the closest gate to the main Stage. Also there’s an electro stage near the north gate.

Weekend Schedule:

August 20
Rock day 2

Alt Senior
Maze
The Bigger Bang
Si Wu
Omnipotent Youth Society
Subs
Pet Conspiracy
New Pants

August 21
Rock Day 3

Lao Ya & Band
Steely Heart
Ourself Beside Me
Nancheng Erge
Brain Failure
Carsick Cars
Twisted Machine
Xie Tianxiao

August 22
Rock day 4

The Reason
Velvet Road
DH & Chinese Hellcats
Tookoo
Zhang Mengmeng
Long Shen Dao
Yaksa
Tang Dynasty