Greeting! My dear fellow travelers of the Hive universe!
Today was the desirable winter weekend, and I usually had the lowest outdoor activities during the freezing winter season. However, I had my plan to visit some of my Pakistani friends at the University campus in Beijing known as YuquanLu Campus. And I have spent the whole day with them in the dormitory as I meet them after a 5-year break. And some of them are going back to their institutes in different cities in China such as Nanjing, Changsha and Chengdu. I took the bus to return to the Huairou campus of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, known as the Yanqihu Campus. It was a direct shuttle bus and the fastest way to return to Huairou City without any trouble. It also allowed me to visit the Yanqihu Campus after a long time, where I stayed for more than a year from 2019 to 2020 during my master's study.
When I stayed at this Yanqihu Campus, the whole campus was adorned with more trees and empty spaces. However, the whole campus has been changed massively, with many new buildings and construction all over it. I have walked through the main walkways to the canteen, my dorms, playgrounds, academic buildings, sports centers, auditorium, super shops, coffee shops, and all around the campus, revisiting my memories of the place. Today, the evening temperature was not so cold as there was no strong wind from the northern region most of the time, and the temperature increased due to the strong Siberian wind in this northern area of Beijing.
This is the beautiful overbridge that connects the east campus and the west campus of the UCAS (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences). both side's views are so beautiful from there. The natural views during daytime and now the night views are also stunning.
This is the stairs to climb up to the over bridge from the eastern side to the western side.
After getting down from the bus, I walked towards my dormitory, Home 2, which is located near the canteen and super shop. I have checked the new canteen opposite the old canteen and the Muslim canteen, where I used to have my lunch and dinner. These areas are unchanged, but the surrounding area has changed. In place of the empty premises of the old canteen, there is a new building for the students' hub with a coffee shop and restaurant.
These are the sports center building side by side. the left side of the building is the swimming pool and billiard boards, while the right side is space for indoor games like badminton or other games.
After passing my old dormitory, I walked to the playground area, where I used to run and play table tennis and football sometimes. As it is winter, there are very few visitors to the playground. I found no one playing table tennis or running around the track. Only a few people were playing badminton in the corner of the playground.
I bought cheese-layered beans bread and a litchi-flavored drink from the shop and enjoyed the bread, as it was delicious, just to rewind my memory of the super shop. This shop offers a limited number of fruits and snacks and daily necessities for the students. It remains open until 10:00 p.m., as it was previously.
After the playground area, I walked through the dormitory area, where I found many more new buildings which will be new dormitories as more students are going to be admitted here as the University is expanding its size. But I was hurt as there were more trees in some of the area, which are now converted into a concrete world. It would be better to expand the University area to maintain the previous natural beauty as there are empty spaces beyond the boundary wall.
This is the small super shop near my dormitory.
The dormitory two where I lived for more than a year and stuck here during the Covid 19 pandemic.
After the dormitory area, I walked toward the academic areas where I used to do classes in 2019 and 2020. This area has the coffeeshops, which was slightly far from my walking route as the whole campus is so large to cover. I have visited only the East campus, and there is the bigger part with many more teaching buildings and academic buildings in that area. I will make a day tour of the whole campus in the future as it is the largest and the most beautiful campus among the four campuses of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
After the area of the Academic building, I came to the sports center, where an indoor gaming center, a large swimming pool, some billiard boards, a dancing and chorus center, and a large Auditorium were also beside the Sports complex area. I saw some students playing pool there as the sports center remained open till 10:00 pm.
After that, I came to the beautiful bridge over the National Highway that divides the whole campus into the west and east campuses. I have my evening walk only on part of the east campus as I lived there during my master's studies.
The over bridge is an iconic spot; the northern mountain ranges could be explored during the daytime. But this evening, the University's clock tower made an iconic view of the campus. I have taken several clicks here before I take a taxi to my dormitory as this is the end of my today's winter evening walking in the Yanqihu Campus of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Before leaving the area, I felt different, as my old memory was triggered, and I missed all of the friends we lived with here years ago. Most of them are back in their countries, but many are still in different parts of the country and doing their further studies. It was a great weekend to revive my memory, both by meeting my old friends and visiting the old campus, where I spent a good portion of my life in China.
I hope you like my evening walk to my old campus this winter. It was a heartfelt experience, and it revived my memories! If you have any queries, let me know in the comments, and I will try my best to answer them.
Thanks a lot for your time and attention. I will catch up with you at the next one.
Wish you a good day!
All the photos have been taken by me, and these are my own property.
The camera is the mobile camera with Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.
