Beijing Duck

I think if you travel to Beijing and you don't try this famous dish, you will miss one of the greatest foods ever created.  Whole duck roasted slowly over a wood fire, basted so the skin becomes golden and crispy, moist and crunchy all at the same time.  And the meat juicy and succulent.  Truly amazing.

Our duck was carved tableside and beautifully presented.

To eat this, you place few pieces of the meat onto an impossibly thin crepe, along with some strips of vegetables, some rich dark sweet sauce, wrap the crepe around the contents and eat with your hands - a rare thing in China.  

The best part - taking just pieces of the crispy skin, dipping this in sugar crystals and eating this like the greatest tasting candy ever!

3 Days Off in Beijing

A few days into this trip, China had a national holiday, the Mid-Autumn Festival.  As my customers and colleagues would not be working, I had a decision to make.  I could be a good boy and continue working from my Shanghai hotel room, or I could go f#%& off somewhere.  It took about three nanoseconds to make that decision.  I was going to Beijing.

I had never been to Beijing even though I had been traveling to China for seven years.  I had told my plans to Darren, a british friend in Shenzhen while I was there earlier in the week.  Darren faced a similar quandary, he had also never been to Beijing, and before long a new plan had emerged.  Darren, his girlfriend and a friend of hers would meet me in Beijing!  As they often say in China, "more people, more fun".

It was a great time.  We toured the Great Wall at Mutianyu, we saw the Imperial Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, and we enjoyed some great food too.  Beijing Duck will change your life!

A few pictures follow.

The Great Wall at Mutianyu
One of the "newer" sections of the wall - only 600 years old...

The Olympic Village in Beijing

Tiananmen Square

Huge, crowded and LOTS of security cameras!

Each one of the light poles in Tiananmen Square had a minimum of eight cameras.  I estimate sixty such poles.  More cameras atop the surrounding buildings.  "GeGe" is watching you!

The Imperial Palace

The Summer Palace

On the outskirts of Beijing

They Probably Meant Well

Remember the "I (heart) NY campaign from a few years back?  This was a very successful ad campaign to improve New York's failing image and improve tourism.  This idea was so successful in fact that it was quite naturally copied by many other places hoping to draw tourism, or maybe to just sell more t-shirts.  This worked especially well in those places with commonly accepted and therefore, easily recognized initials. Think "LA" for example.

In Beijing recently while walking towards Tiananmen Square, we passed a souvenir shop and spotted this now familiar theme.  But guess what is the common shorthand for Beijing

I laughed out loud, as did Darren, my British friend who joined me on this trip, but the Chinese among us did not get the joke.  Darren was good enough to explain it to them.  No one bought a shirt...

Tree-po Rot-tay!

There is a Starbucks around the corner from my hotel in Shanghai, a nice perk since the coffee at the hotel restaurant is nasty and consistently inconsistent.  My Chinese colleagues don't seem to understand my need for a big-ass cup of coffee on the morning.  Their first site of my Grande cup when I enter the office is usually met with a knowing snicker, and a Venti cup will generate a laugh or two.  I don't mind.  I get to make fun of the way they drive so I guess we have achieved some measure of balance in our relations.

Ordering at this Starbucks is always entertaining.  No Chinese is required - their employees the world over are well trained and speak the same corporate language (I wonder if it has a name...).  A couple of days back I was in a bit of a rush, the queue to order was longer than normal, typical, and the tiny waif of a barista taking orders was clearly struggling.  She apparently forgot to mark my cup, I realized this after a few folks behind me in line got their drinks before me.  The somewhat older and much meaner looking girl making the drinks picked up on my situation, and asked if I was waiting for a drink.  I replied that I was.
 "A triple Grande Latte", I told her.
She gave an apologetic smile, which was a bit unsettling on her still mean looking face.  "Tree-po Rat-tay?", she sounded out.
"Yes", I said.  "Grande"
"So sorry.  Prease wait a moment" she said, and then turned to the waif and yelled "RAT-TAY.  TREE-PO RAT-TAY!"  "GRAN-DAY TREE-PO RAT-TAY!!"
Having thoroughly berated her co-worker, she returned to her coffee-making duties with a now satisfied smile on her still angry looking face.
I got my "Rat-tay" a few moments later and left.  

Street Food Gone Terribly Wrong

I love street food, even though it occasionally "bites back".  Nonetheless, on my recent trip to Beijing some friends and I took an evening walk to see what was nearby the hotel.  What we found was a two-block long line of food carts - Nirvana!

Or was it?  Some things looked quite good, and I sampled a few.  Just point to what you want and they will cook it for you on the spot.

Steamed crabs!  Very tasty

Squid - quite good too...

Starfish?  Didn't even know you could eat those

I also had some terrific dumplings and noodles.  But a closer inspection revealed some of the weirdest shit I have ever seen on a stick.  I know I have developed a reputation as someone who will try almost anything, but some of this is crosses the line by a fair bit.  

Top row from the left - Snake, silkworm pupae, taranchula, some other larva and chicken hearts.  Bottom row - more larva, centipede, more taranchula and snakes.

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I asked the vendor what these last ones were.  He smiled, made an exaggerated fist-pumping motion and said in a proud voice "Balls!"

But the strangest of all - well just watch the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecspUMbzluY

Imagine a Grapefruit the Size of Your Head!

I hopped into a taxi the other day in Shenzhen, an unusually clean and dent-free new Kia, and I noticed something odd inside the otherwise spotless interior.  Something that appeared to be a huge pale-green citrus peel was lying on the small deck behind the back seat.  I assumed this served some purpose, but I didn't think too much about it until later that evening when I saw a similar looking peel in one of the beer coolers in my friend's Shekou bar.  I relayed my earlier sighting of this to Lula, the girl working behind the bar and I asked her what it was.  "Pomelo", she said with a heavy accent.  She tried to explain what it was, but "fruit was the only thing I could really make out from her limited English.  She tried again to answer my question, but after another failed attempt she admitted defeat and called for backup.

Linda, the bar owner explained that Pomelo peel absorbs odors and asked whether I had tasted this fruit before.  I hadn't of course, and upon hearing this she yelled something in Chinese to one of her more idle employees who in turn ran out the door and returned a few minutes later pomelo in hand, or rather "in hands" - it was quite literally as large as her head.  Within a minute or two it was peeled and a large section was placed on the bar in front of me.

Like a 6-inch long orange slice

It tasted nothing like a grapefruit, slightly sweet but a much milder flavor than any other citrus fruit I have had.  Quite tasty really.  

They take pretty good care of me at this bar.  I also had a special "flower tea" that same night.  

OK, This Is Getting Weird...

Do you remember how every Seinfeld episode contained at least one reference to Superman?  If you didn't catch this before, watch the reruns and check it out.  Anyhow, my trips to East Asia are starting to follow a similar theme, except it's not Superman, it's Popeye!  Third time in the past three trips. 



On the plane from Tokyo to Hong Kong - a fellow passenger's comic collection