Spring has sprung and Beijing is now in summer mode. Luckily, boyfriend and I managed to picnic in the park on breezy, sunny day a couple of weekends ago, before I left for Yunnan on a mini-vacay and missed the remaining days of Beijing spring.

Ritan (Sun Temple) Park is a 10-minute walk due north of our building. Our first picnic was quite spontaneous, so we just bought sandwiches, chips and juice from the nearby Western food market and went in search of a nice spot to plunk down. But the grass looked like this:

The grass looks lovely from far away, all crisp and green and trim. But when you’re staring right at it, you realize it’s planted in patches. Or tufts, if you will. Yes, they look like the tufts of hair on many a Chinese baby.

Undeterred, I plunked down anyway. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but, well. I love picnics! It was a gorgeous day, I was wearing my picnic dress, and I wasn’t going to let Chinese weirdness or the fact that no one else was anywhere near the grass keep me from this desire I’ve had since the dead of winter. More pics inside.