In the crazy world that is the Chinese holiday schedule today is my fifth day off of the past six. Tomorrow begins a stretch of working eight days in a row. For most of the five days off I've been inside alternating between reading, watching tv, playing with the kids, and eating. Today I decided to get out of the house for a bit. The plan adventure was a walking audio tour of Beijing. But not just any walking audio tour, this one was based on an unofficially unsolved murder of a foreigner in Beijing.

The murder took place on a cold January night so it was appropriate that I take the tour on the coldest of our winters here. As I reached the Beijing railway station I realized doing the audio tour in 20F weather might be a bit of a problem. I almost gave up in favor of a cup of coffee, after all it took me 90 minutes and three subway lines just to reach the beginning of my tour. But I persevered and hit "play" on track one. Track one led me to s hutong just to the east of the train station and supposedly to the house the young woman lived with her father in 1937. At first I walked down the hutong and didn't notice the dwelling and I realized I should have printed the map that went with the tour. As I reached the end of the hutong, I doubled back and found the house which is now a printing shop. My confidence swelled and I was off to stop two of the tour, where her body was found.

As I reached the base of what was then called the Fox Tower and after helping some Russian tourists locate Yabou Lu, I realized how nice it was to listen to these little audio instructions and find my way. Not nice maybe, but leaving me feeling somehow capable. No GPS, no detail map, no high tech guide. Leaving the tower behind me, I walked along what remains of the great Beijing City Wall and eventually to an area that was known as the Badlands in 1937. Naturally, a church was the first thing I noticed in the badlands. The badlands now just looks like any other old hutong here or at least those that remain. In 1937 it was a place of vice and where the young woman, Pamela Werner, was killed.

After the badlands it was into the legation quarter which then housed what are now called embassies. I've done the legation quarter walk a few times and it was easy to find my way. The old French embassy, where Pamela was last seen ice skating, is now a heavily guarded Chinese official building. The audio tour warned against trying to get inside or taking a picture. I just walked by.

The book the audio tour is based on is called Midnight in Peking and as far as true crime goes it is a decent read. The audio tour did its job of getting me out of the house.