Presenting a water issue in Beijing may seem strange – perhaps as strange as a major world capital not being located near a major body of water, whether it’s an ocean, lake, or even river (and no, Houhai doesn’t count). While June was pleasantly temperate overall, July always means the onset of serious heat and humidity, Beijing’s only wholly hot month.
As such, get thee into a cool and refreshing body of water. We have a list of Beijing’s top swimming pools, including the exclusive, the attractive, and the accessible. Need some sand and salt air? Hop a fast train out of town and find yourself on the seashore at Beidaihe or Qinhuangdao. While you’re out there, pay a visit to the loosely-named Beijing Sailing Centre, where a day on the Bohai Sea could be just the remedy for the summertime blues. And if being on the water isn’t enough, we even tell you how to get under it, with, ahem, scuba diving options around Beijing.
Elsewhere in this issue, we take a look at the diverse folks that call themselves Beijingers. Water not your thing? Birding Beijing’s Terry Townshend tell us where to enjoy the great outdoors, and see more birds than any Londoner or New Yorker. Kipp Whittaker slaps on his chaps and rides with some of the city’s toughest biker clubs. And Kipp takes us one step closer to the biggest name to grace a Beijing rock stage in a while, in his interview with Chester Bennington, Joe Hahn, and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. We also have excursions to Cuandixia and Hong Kong, and a whole lot of dining, wining, and other good stuff in between.
And July 31 could be a very special day for Beijingers. On that day, Beijing could be named the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics, and become the first city to stage both the Summer and Winter Games. It’ll be like Spring Festival in July.
We hope that you enjoy reading the July issue of the Beijinger as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you. You can read it online via Issuu. Alternatively, pick up a copy now at your favorite venue!
Image: the Beijinger
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