How many entrepreneurs does it take to find a restaurant for dinner?

The answer: Twelve. Plus one chinese roommate.

Twelve of us (the other four had a scholarship dinner. We aptly called this the anti-scholarship dinner) set out last night to find dinner in the Hadian district (that's where I live).

Armed with a map, bus passes and a vague idea from our "Insider's Guide to Beijing" guidebooks, we set out at seven to find a restaurant on the other side of the district. One bus ride and a fifteen minute walk later, we were completely lost. And, if you ever visit, you will find that in order to get directions, you should ask at least 5 people and take the general consensus, because no one seems to know where anything is (this city IS that big).

After another hour, we determined that we should just abandon the search for whatever restaurant we were looking for, and go into the first restaurant that looked half-decent. We ended up in a place that served hot pot (like fondue). It turned out to be pretty good, though the lone vegetarian in our group really suffered, since hot pot is meat and vegetables.

Almost four hours later, we made it home in cabs. This is the third night in a row I've come back from dinner after ten. No wonder my roommate always opts not to join and instead stays home to study. She'd never get it done otherwise.