I started writing this on 20 August, had to stop because the Internet was lousy and my laptop is an antique (if on the Internet). So here comes the report, a bit late.
In my quest to write my book (Don Quichote fighting windmills comes to mind), I try to disappear from time to time to be a recluse. In August that led me to a place at the very end of Pinggu County, near the border with Tianjin Municipality. I was in a tiny village (1 road basically) that sits next to the dam of the nice Haizi Reservoir (Jinhai Park) that is said to deliver BY PIPELINE water to Zhongnanhai.
Near the dam there are some impressive guesthouses, mostly from Chinese organizations.

Was there for nearly one week and did not see one single foreigner – only a small invasion in the weekend of Chinese tourists who go there to enjoy the local cuisine, all prepared in primitive but interesting wood-fired woks (with a lot of smoke…). The dishes are varied, a little “Dongbei Cai”, fish, porc and other meat, all in a rich sauce and cooked for a long time. Tastes good, maybe not too good for yout cholesterol, but one has to enjoy sometimes.
I was treated very well in my guesthouse (“Du Yue Shan Zhuang”) where I had a small room – with Internet (better than in Beijing that time!). Food was great, so was the air. All the locals were very friendly and starting knowing me – the funny foreigner jogging up and down the dam, listening to his iPod (music and my Chinese lessons).
Ate too much but did write quite a lot. Nice experience, also to see more of the real China, far away from crazy Beijing. I miss Pinggu right now.