Alright, we're slowly getting caught up… our new hostel's internet is only available in the lobby, and has been sporadic. Here's more of what we've been up to!
Tuesday, September 4
So, we got up early-ish, and ate a quick breakfast at the hostel bar
. Same as before, really. We headed out to wander the hutongs around our hostel, with no particular end-point in mind.
After a couple of hours, we found ourselves in the area of Beijing north and east of the Forbidden City, and it was getting around lunch time. Andrew caught sight of a pile of bamboo steamers out front of a building down a nearby alleyway, with red lanterns hung out front, and a line-up of folks wanting what was in those steamers. Bingo!
We walked up, and some fresh bao were steaming hot and being eagerly snatched up by the few folks waiting in line. The restaurant behind the street-stall looked pretty busy as well, so we went in, and sat down. This was definitely a locals-only kind of place… well-worn tables, beat-up stools, and loads of staring locals. Haha. The hostess/server dropped the menu, and it was *entirely* in Chinese. "Well, that dude's noodles look pretty good…", we thought. "And that guy just got something tasty-looking served on rice
." So we pointed at each, self-served ourselves some beer from the fridge, and sat to wait.
The noodles were fat and round, and came in a brown broth that was very tasty. It had some bits of chicken (?), and greens on top. The stir-fry was of egg, with fresh tomato and scallions. The mixture was thickened with a bit of corn or potato starch, and was very rich-tasting, despite not having any meat in it. An excellent lunch, all-round, and we happily paid the $5 it cost (beers included). Woot! We grabbed a couple of pork bao on the way out to munch on our walk.
We checked the map out, and it turned out we were within walking distance of a famous Beijing landmark: the Lama Temple. We headed off in that direction, passing the Russian Embassy on the way. No pictures… didn't want to take a chance of having the Chinese army guys stopping us. The building was monolithic, with a huge fountain in the front…. Also completely surrounded by a huge stone wall with razor wire
. Eep.
We knew we were getting close to the temple, as the street on both sides rapidly began to fill in with stores selling incense and offerings. Passing beneath the huge gate, we wove our way through the tour busses and taxis, and bought our tickets to the temple.
The Lama Temple complex is the biggest Buddhist temple in Beijing, and is also the biggest Tibetan Lamasery outside Tibet. It was the residence of a count in the 1700s, and was turned into a monastery when he became emperor Yongzheng.
I'll direct you to the Wikipedia article for more info… it's a neat set of buildings. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonghe_Temple)
The long path leading into the temple was cobblestones, and the overarching trees provided some lovely shade. The high brick walls kept a lot of the street noise out as well, making for a beautiful retreat from the bustle of the city
.
Rather beat after our excursion, we headed back to our hostel, and crashed for a nap. Not longer than 45 minutes, we promised ourselves.
Almost three hours later (!!), we woke, feeling refreshed, if a bit groggy… and definitely feeling like we'd lost the latter half of the day. Shannon looked into dinner plans, and decided on a famous Muslim Hot Pot restaurant nearby. We strolled over, enjoying the evening cool, and were told on arrival that the wait would be a few minutes. We were given a number (59), and sat in the bar area, and waited. Andrew kept track of the numbers (using the Lonely Planet's translations) as the young man calling numbers shouted into the bar, and then escorted people to their tables.
We didn't have to wait long, and we were taken through the steamy dining room to our table. We perused the huge menu (huge physically, and also contextually), and selected a set meal from the back
. This included some thinly sliced raw lamb, some cabbage, mushrooms, "frozen tofu" (so called because it's frozen, then thawed, creating a sponge-like texture… easier to see in the photos), some noodles, and assorted other hot-pot ingredients… also included was a pair of lamb kebabs (with a sweet sauce, with sesame seeds), a pair of pan breads with sesame seeds, and a dessert of Muslim cakes (fillings unknown). Andrew felt that the set meal might be a little light (and hey… when are we going to eat Muslim Hot Pot in Beijing again?!), so he bolstered the meal with a plate of sweet pickled garlic, a plate of pickled chilies, and a few more ingredients for the hot pot (a plate of "Four Treasures of Lamb": kidney, tripe, liver and heart; a plate of black fungus mushrooms, and a plate of green winter melon (an un-sweet melon with a texture similar to cantaloupe, and not a lot of flavour).
The hot-pot arrived shortly after, and the reason for the hot and steamy dining room became evident almost immediately
. The copper hot-pots are constructed like a suspended bowl, with an inverted cone passing through the centre. The centre portion of the cone (a chimney) has charcoal in it, which heats the liquid in the bowl to a riotous boil in no time. The servers come by every so often to refill the liquid as it boils down. The charcoal is SO hot, in fact, that a 6" blue flame can be seen roaring above the opening in the top of the chimney, above your boiling hot pot. So reach *around*… not over. Easy lesson to learn.
The items from the hot pot are added as the diners see fit. (Either dipping a little at a time, or dropping the whole plateful, and waiting for it to cook.) The dinner came with a plate of condiments (chopped cilantro, and raw garlic), as well as a sesame sauce, made of soy and a tahini-like sesame paste. The hot pot itself contained water, and some basic flavourings (scallion, ginger, wolf-berries), and no salt. So, the sesame sauce was a must, to season the food coming out of the hot pot
. All-told, a bit boring in flavour, as the broth was very bland, but a fun and interactive experience and well worth repeating. We had a great time, and rolled out of the restaurant, back to the hostel, and crashed shortly after.
Wednesday, September 5
Determined to make more of a go at the day, we got up bright and early, and headed towards Tiananmen Square. In lieu of walking down the main street (with traffic and construction), we elected to follow the lovely narrow parkette that parallels the main street east and west. There's a little canal, trees, pagodas, statuary, gardens… it's really very lovely. We saw elderly folks going for a morning constitutional, and also a woman doing a tai chi routine with swords, and fans (to accompanying music).
The walk became quickly more congested as we walked towards Tiananmen Square, as more and more people were walking that way
. Still early…. We couldn't imagine what it would be like on the National Day celebrations. o_O
The Chairman Mao memorial opens at 8:30, and while we've dealt with crowds before, we figured the best time to avoid the full crush would be early. Tiananmen Square is huge. I mean huge. Almost 300m wide by nearly a kilometer long. There are security checks, and limited points of entry… as well as plain-clothes security people wandering at all times. Not exactly relaxing, but a really neat place to get a view of the architecture of the Chinese Communist Party.
We wandered the square for awhile, and then made our way out, and across the street to the large building where you can check your bags. (You're not allowed to bring any bags or cameras into the Mao Memorial). We paid, left our bags, and walked back across the street (through security again) into the square. There are very few ways to actually cross the square, as most of the centre portion is barred to civilian access
. We walked around, and to the end of the long line of people waiting to get into the memorial.
As with the Ho Chi Minh memorial in Hanoi, the line is huge, but moves very fast… we wended our way around the huge memorial building, and through another set of security checks. We passed the flower-vendors selling daisies for 3 RMB, which you can buy to place in front of the crystal case. (They're picked up, and resold the next day). There were many guards, but none had automatic weapons (as they did at the Ho Chi Minh memorial)…. But there was still an air of reverence as we ascended the stairs, passed into the front doors (past the huge, white marble statue of the Chairman, seated on a chair, leg crossed in a relaxed fashion, smiling beatifically at the people as they enter), and then moved into the mausoleum itself. Guards move people along, as two stand guard at the end of the sarcophagus (the right word?... I'm not sure). Once you pass the body, and out the back door, there are loads of vendors selling Mao kitsch
. Everything from reproductions of the famous Mao portrait hanging in front of the south gate of the Forbidden City, to Mao lighters, Mao t-shirts, Mao statuettes… you name it. A very odd experience, all-in-all. I wonder if we'll wind up with something like that when Stephen Harper kicks it. ;)
We went back across the street to collect our bags, and then wandered the square some more, getting some photos. We wandered west, past the "Great Hall of the People" (China's seat of politics), and past the National Centre for the Performing Arts. See the pictures for this one… it looks like a gigantic mercury bead, or some kind of alien aircraft. It has been a little bit controversial locally, for its complete discarding of Chinese traditional architecture.
We were feeling pretty beat up by this point (we're convinced it was remaining jet lag), and decided to head back to the hostel for an hour or so. Shannon napped, while I did a bit of reading in the hostel bar area over a cappuccino
. After the rest, I decided to take us out to lunch at a Sichuan restaurant. The best, I was assured, by several English-language websites about Beijing. The recommendation was bolstered by the fact that this restaurant is on the ground floor of Sichuan's Provincial Headquarters in Beijing… and is run by the Sichuanese government. Sweet.
After having been burned a couple of times by trying to find some store or restaurant, only to realize it's not there anymore (and a new building or construction site is in its' place), Shannon was justifiably worried when Andrew took her down an unlikely alley, and into a building's driveway, but once inside the building courtyard, we could see the restaurant. There is *no* way you'd find it if you weren't looking for it.
The menu contained many popular Sichuan dishes, and we ordered several that we'd enjoyed when we were there last year. Ma Po Dofu (spicy braised bean curd in a meat and fermented bean sauce, with LOADS of chilies and also LOADS of the mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns), braised chicken with chilies (easily 50% chilies), and also, for the sake of getting some veggies, a plate of stir-fried snow peas
.
We headed back to the hostel, wandering the whole way (somewhere in the realm of 5-6km), and started to work on the blog post. We were jetlaggy to the point of distraction, and called it an early night without eating dinner.
Thursday, September 6
After much discussion about our lingering jet-lag, we decided to trounce it for good and all today!
We were up super-early, packed our bags (we were checking out of our hostel today), and headed out at about 7am for the Forbidden City (hereafter referred to as the FC). This is another tourist site well worth rising early for! We were out the door, and in search of local street breakfast. After some wandering, we found a street near the FC that was loaded with small booths selling delicious-smelling things. We loaded up on some soy-sauce-boiled eggs, a crispy pancake (stuffed with Chinese chives and tofu), some big steamed round dumplings (one with pork, and one with scallion), and some smaller boiled dumplings (which had pork stuffing)
.
We headed to that same waterside park, and found a bronze statue of two chairs and a table, clearly designed for park guest use. Sweet! We sat and ate, and planned our day in the Forbidden City. As we munched, that same woman with the swords and fans came to the little square that our table and chairs was in, and began her musical tai chi routine. Gorgeous. ^_^
Off to the biggest tourist attraction in Beijing! I'll leave most of the history to Wikipedia (it's well worth reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City). We entered (as all visitors do)from the south, under the Mao portrait, and through a series of impressive gates. We purchased entry tickets, and also an automatic audio tour, which uses sensors to trigger the audio.
It took us a few hours to wander the majority of the areas that are accessible to tourists (which is only about 60% of the total area of the FC)
. The area is grand… and is designed to make you feel that way. As you walk to the centre of the city, it appears to open up like flower petals, as you pass through gate after gate, working your way into the central court.
The tour groups got more and more pervasive, and we took our leave of the FC at about 11am. We had to check out of our hostel at noon, so we walked back, through the hutongs. On the way, we ran across a booth selling crispy crepe-like snacks, filled with crispy fried cracker, brown sauce, chili paste and lettuce. The crepe is made on a spinning griddle, and has an egg cracked onto the surface just before it's scraped off, folded, filled, and cut in half. The video is attached! Check it out… it was awesome.
We got to our hostel in plenty of time to check out, and we spent a few minutes trying to locate our next hostel, so we could walk there. Irritatingly, the hostel's directions showed a map that wasn't to scale, and that didn't match it's location on google maps
. Also, the two different booking websites had the hostel marked at different locations in the same area. >_
Turns out our new hostel (The Happy Dragon) is down an alleyway beside a massive, unused building, with the area surrounding it used for parking. Looked a bit sketchy, truth be told. (It later became obvious why it looks a bit roughly used in the afternoons/evenings…. The early morning turns the area into a massive market, selling everything from fruits and veggies, to meat, assorted prepared snacks and yummy things, some clothes and shoes… all the vendors shouting and hawking… it's awesome…) But we didn't know that at the time.
We checked in and unpacked, and discovered that the free wifi didn't extend to our room. >_
KOREAN BBQ!!
Gotta love random Korean bbq. ^_^ We ordered a couple beers (as per usual), and a bunch of grillables. A plate of various cuts of lamb (including a few rack chops, belly, raw kidney (!), and marinated shoulder slices), a plate of mixed veggies (taro, potato, zucchini, sweet potato), a plate of mixed mushrooms (kings, oysters, shiitakes, marinated cinnamon caps?) and just because we could, a plate of crispy smelts, fried with flour and full of roe
. Yum!
We were brought a number of side dishes (as we should, given the Korean nature of the restaurant), and also a hopper of charcoal, which went below our table-top grill. We got to grilling and had a phenomenal time! Grillin', chillin', chit-chattin'. We whiled away a couple hours, and had a great meal.
We took a long walk after lunch, taking in a bunch of the little shops and stores around our new hostel neighborhood. Window shopping is a fine thing, when none of the advertising has *any* effect on you. Haha!
One heck of a long walk later, we were back at our hotel, working on the blog post, and heading out to grab snacks and water and other assorted sundries at the Wu-Mart (!)
We crashed relatively early but without a nap, and felt like the damn jet lag was finally getting gone! Finally! Tomorrow is the Summer Palace! V. exciting.
More catch-up blog posts coming, everyone!
We have valid and accessible internet! Woot!
Later!
A & S
Sittin' on the dock of the Beijing, wasting time
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Beijing, China
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