OUTER DISTRICTS AND COUNTIES - Living Abroad in Beijing - page 498

entire lines of trucks sell the exact same variety of fruit or vegetable from their open back
doors. You'll find it on Nanyuan West Road (beside Xinfadi Bridge on the Jingkai Express-
way, 新发地农产品批发市场, 丰台区新发地桥南苑西路 ).
Finally, buy all the kitchen equipment you could ever want at wholesale prices at
the Hotel Equipment Corporation, or HEC (1 Kaiyangli Yijie, You'anmenwai, 酒总酒
店设备, 北京, 丰台区右安门外开阳里一街1号, 东头条1号 , tel. [phone],
www.hec.com.cn ) . Over four stories of culinary heaven, this market sells everything from
baking goods to eight-burner stoves for restaurants. It's about a 10- to 15-minutes walk west
from Beijing South Railway Station (subway Line 4).
If you do require a school in the area, Fengtai has Sino Bright School

( www.schoolbj.com ) . Sino Bright offers an offshore school program from British

Columbia, and specifically aims to help children prepare for university in Canada.

SHIJINGSHAN DISTRICT
Shijingshan is the third-smallest district in Beijing, after Dongcheng and Xicheng. It covers
just 84 square kilometers (33 square miles) and sits out west at the tail end of subway Line
1. As recorded at the last census, 616,000 people call it home.
As far as expats are concerned, however, there is little here that brings it to their atten-
tion, and some may never even realize it's a district and not just the amusement park that
it shares its name with. Shijingshan Amusement Park (Line 1, exit A1, www.bjsjsyly.com )
falls a little short of the thrilling standards set by Happy Valley in Chaoyang, but it makes a
nice day out, queues are short to nonexistent, and those with young children will enjoy the
kids' world, which is colorful and chock-full of rides and games.
There is more to the district, though, than rollercoasters and Ferris wheels. At its east-
ernmost area, it's residential and gray, but as it extends out toward the Western Hills, city
life gives way to nature. Badachu is a pleasant escape, and many come here not for the an-
cient temples and pagodas but to hike and explore the mountains. It's easy to get to, with
several buses heading directly here from the city. These include the 347 from Xizhimenwai,
the 958 from directly outside Gucheng subway station (Line 1, exit A), and the 972 from
outside Pingguoyuan subway station (Line 1, exit C).