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Writer
China
is open today as it ever has been to the rest of the world,
and undergoing mind boggling changes, but it remains distant
and mysterious to many. The country is big and varied as Europe.
Calling the cuisine "Chinese food" is similar to saying
"European food" because there is no such thing. Every
region has its own distinct cuisine and flavour. There is enough
material from the one trip to fill pages of my travel log.
click on images
to enlarge
Beijing
It was a sparkling clean, modern city with wide streets. The
hordes of bicycles were nowhere to be seen. Instead it was filled
with new luxury cars, and electric bicycles that moved silently
past us. The two cigarette butts we saw on the sidewalk were
swept by the time we walked past. We did find people, though,
lots of them jammed in subways and train stations, but otherwise,
it was nothing like I imagined, except the smog.
Our first food foray took us to Snack St or Wangfujing in the
centre of the city. (By the way, get use to the long, anglicized
names in China.) The food was disappointing. Most of it sat
in piles, repeated items stall after stall. Many of the street
cooks were replaced by sellers who were merely peddling the
food. As least the scorpions were ... live, and fried to order.
They were crispy and tasty, and left a little tingle.
Fortunately
faith in the food was restored at Dongximen, or "Ghost
Street" which opens at night under rows of red lanterns.
We
devoured the steamed pork belly which melted like butter and
the Peking style roast duck ... the skin was light and crispy,
not overdone and chewy like most, and the flavours of the duck
blended perfectly with the nutty sauce and supple pancake.
It was perfect.
The
street came to life in the evening. This guy was literally preparing
the hot pot outside on the street, using charcoal to boil the
water. Live fish was brought out to be weighed on the sidewalk
and next door, people waited for their tables in rows of chairs
with tea and bowls of toasted pumpkin seeds. It was dining entertainment
for us
The
next morning, we came across this terrific version of bacon
and eggs sandwiched between bread baked over a griddle at a
street corner. We wanted more and went back to the same spot
but never saw it again.
THE
hike worthy of all the food consumed was on the Great Wall.
Jinshanling is a section of the Wall farther out in the mountains.
The driver we found told us that he would drop us off at one
end of the wall, and pick us up "by the road" at the
other end. Uncertain but off we went.
The
trek, climb, really, went for miles without a soul in sight.
It was the Wall at its best, despite the fact it disappeared
into the mist. We were caught in a thunderstorm and torrential
rains near the end. Apparently it was the biggest in 30 years,
quite believable, because the water level was knee high within
a couple of hours. The good thing was the rain cleared the smog,
and we witnessed a gorgeous sunset over Beijing. Oh yes, the
driver did pick us up at the other end of the wall - no worries!
