Day 3: 798 Art District

We are sitting in a snug, modern cafe in the heart of the BeiJing modern art district. Sipping coffee and looking out over the square of abandoned repurposed warehouses as the rain pours down - life can’t get much better than this. Warning thunder strikes drove us into “Las Coffee” and we sit, soaking up the humid storm air as damp pedestrians shuffle by. 

To add to the the enjoyment of the afternoon, the downpour has furnished us with entertainment. Before the rain, the grungy, distopian square boasted several native couples having their picture taken. Not one but two wedding pairs (!) and one matching girlfriend-boyfriend item. Whilst pretty in themselves, like colourful sparrows, watching them scramble, flustered, around the square in the rain was another sight in itself. To our delight, one couple even moved under our cafe awning, and continued the shoot - with the cafe’s logo overhead. 

The district itself is interesting - proudly grungy and abandoned. Modern art galleries hide in the shells of large graffitied factories, and upmarket shop/gallery hybrids boast anything from minalimist tea sets to delicate framed papercut maps of London. Artful cafes lounge in repurposed brick halls. Overall, It’s chic and urbanist. ...I think we’ll stay here a while.