Wild Animals in the streets of Beijing!

Datum: 11-05-2008
Locatie: Beijing, Qianmen
Written by Ester van Dam, poodle picture by Koen van Westbroek

Because of the relentless rain and cold weather it was not possible to train today. I set out to finally buy a warm coat, a beautiful fake 100% plastic jacket. Luckily it was cheap and will remain a- probably- will- be -left –behind- emergency- only- jacket.
The most exciting event was to happen after the shopping, when we stood eye to eye with a rare, free running Beijing poodle. The creature was trimmed, blow dried and curled perfectly , had orange ears and a blue tail, the rest of it being immaculately white. The owner beaming with pride walking beside it. This was absolutely a picture moment! Koen set of to capture the beast on film…just when he caught up with it and kneeled down to save this apparition for future generations, the poodle turned out to be a lot less Barbie then he /she looked. It nearly attacked Koen, barking loudly in a deeply annoyed tone and revealing its teeth. Imagine being hospitalized with rabies in a Chinese hospital because you have been bitten by an orange eared, blue tailed poodle…. Luckily barking was all it did and after showing its grief the deeply insulted poodle ran off. All ended well and we had to laugh even more. We have a picture to show for it, on which we also discovered its nail where painted in red-white and blue….
Even when it rains, Beijing is definitely not boring!
We had a bite to eat and are now hoping for sunshine in the morning. That it would be colder in Beijing than in the Netherlands surely must be a mistake