Hey All!
Hope life's good! It's getting into the home stretch for my exchange year here in Hong Kong. I'm busy with essays, projects, studying, and most importantly getting those last sight-seeing trips, outings with friends, and travels to other countries done. But, I've decided that I want to make sure I don't miss anything, so I'll be trying to blog once or twice a week until I go home now, both on things going on and on various subjects. Today's subject is one I've been meaning to write about for a while-Food!
Hong Kong Style Food
In Cantonese, a common greeting is to ask someone if they've eaten rice yet today. In fact, in Cantonese (and Mandarin too, I do believe), rice is substituted in when talking about food to mean anything in general. That is to say, there's a lot of rice! Generally, a meal consists of meat with a sauce, some vegetables, all in a bowl of rice. Siu Mei, or roasted food, is quite common: usually, it's chicken or duck (with the bones in) or roasted pork or Chinese sausage (both without bones) and rice. Spareribs are also quite common. Different kinds of soups are had as well: at local house holds, I've had soup you actually drink out of the bowl! Soup in Hong Kong is usually a flavoured broth that goes with what you eat-I've never seen it as a meal all by itself like in Canada. Generally, when you're eating Chinese food, all of the dishes are placed in the middle of the table. Everyone has their own bowl of rice, and you add food from the middle to your bowl. This is the style at some restaurants (especially ones serving Mainland food), and in houses. In our hall, however, meals are individual. Some of the other interesting HK foods I've tried are Pineapple buns, Egg Tarts, Portuguese Egg Tarts, various sweet breads, and toasted buns with sweetened condensed milk. One of the most interesting I've tried is a dish called "Clay pot rice", which is rice cooked in very hot pot, often with an egg which you add raw yourself, and then mix in to cook. Finally, all over the city are tiny stalls selling a variety of foods-some sell foods eaten with sticks that look like long toothpicks, such as wontons or dumplings; others sell waffles, chestnuts, etc.
Dim Sum
Dim Sum literally translates to "A little bit of heart." Actually, when you say you want to go for dim sum, you usually say you want to go for "yam Cha" (Literally, drinking tea). You start by ordering a pot of tea. Then, you order a bunch of small dishes-Rice Noodle Rolls, Shrimp Dumplings, Fried Turnip Cake, Spring Rolls, Barbecue Pork Buns, etc. etc. etc. Recently, I discovered that many small restaurants have little windows out of which you can get dim sum dishes to go!
Drinks
In Hong Kong, the standard drink at any restaurant is usually tea. This is even true for local fast food chains-you can order something else, but unlike Canada, where the standard drink is a coke, you'll usually be served a green tea. All sorts of tea drinks exist-Lemon Tea and Hong Kong Style Milk Tea are the most common ones that I've seen. They can be ordered hot or cold (although cold usually costs 2HKD (25 Cents) more), and sometimes are served unsweetened, with the milk and liquid sugar in tiny shot-glass like containers. What we generally refer to as bubble tea is also really popular here-10 HKD (1.20 CAD), can get you a large drink without the bubbles, and all sorts of different bubble teas, milk teas, iced green teas, and juices are on offer.
Restaurants
In small little local restaurants, some things differ quite a bit from restaurants in Canada and the US. To begin, it's not unusual to be given your bowls, glasses, and chopsticks along with a large bowl and a pot of either tea or boiling water. This is actually to wash your dishes off with. In almost all restaurants, water is served either boiling hot or lukewarm-I've been told that Chinese medicine states that it's unhealthy to eat or drink anything too cold. Another strange thing for many foreigners is that the servers don't come to you-you must wave them down, often having to say "M Goi" (Please/thank you/excuse me) very loudly. At the end of the meal, it's not uncommon to simply catch the eye of a server and shout "M Goi Maidan!" (The bill please!). A group of people eating together will almost always be given one bill.
Non-Hong Kong Food
I've had the opportunity to try lots of non-local Asian foods here as well. At home, we generally refer to "Chinese food," but in fact China is considered to have atleast 8 distinct regional cuisines, with some variety within. Macanese food (from Macau), for example, includes porkchop buns and Portuguese Egg Tarts. Northern Chinese cuisine involves lots of bread, and Sichuan cuisine is quite spicy. A few weeks ago, my roommates and I tried out Xinjiang food. Xinjiang is along the old silk road, and an ethnic minority region with a Muslim majority population. Their food was quite flavourful. Korean barbecue, which I've had several times, is a sort of all-you-can-eat affair; the catch is, you take the raw meats back to your table and cook them on your own grill. Malaysian food is definitely one of my favourites-almost a combination of Indian, Chinese, and Thai foods, but still very unique, there are lots of noodles, nuts, and, best of all, rice in coconut milk!
Monday 18 April 2011
Sunday 10 April 2011
China Pt.7-Xi'an and Shenzhen.
Xi'an airport was the first place where I've ever been ushered off the plane, onto a bus and then driven to the terminal. It was a fairly organized affair, and soon we were out. A driver had been arranged for us in Xi'an, and we went out into the crisp air to wait. Quickly, airport staff, who's sole job appears to be helping people figure out how to get into town, came and talked to us, and made a call to the driver to help us find him. The driver himself didn't speak English, but we communicated some basics, and (I think) he told me that he was happy I spoke a little Mandarin (although I really had trouble understanding him. A hint: when speaking to a foreigner, speak SLOWLY!).
The highway into the city was clean, new, and almost entirely empty of cars. We seemed to have the only defensive driver in the Mainland, going 90 in 120 zones and keeping several car lengths in front of him. Xi'an was different than Beijing and Shanghai-a little less polished, much older (as in, dating back to several hundred years before Christianity). It's still quite a rich city, however. The walls surrounding the city were beautiful and old, although whether the LED lights lighting them up added or detracted to the beauty is debatable. As it was late, we made plans with the driver to meet the next day, and checked into our hostel.
This hostel was much more geared towards foreigners than the last one. After checking in, we went out for a walk around, looking for something to munch on. The smaller streets, including the one with our hostel, were filled with little plastic tables and chairs, makeshift outdoor seating areas for restaurants (these were also seen in Beijing), with the young children of the owners seeming to be the busboys (as in, three years old).
The next day, we set out for Xi'an's biggest site: the terracotta warriors. They were located about an hour's drive outside the city. Leaving the city limits was very different from Shanghai and Beijing. In these cities, the edges of the city resembled Calgary or Vancouver-new developments, with neat rows of cookie cutter houses, shopping complexes, and high rise buildings. Xi'an reminded me more of the Canadian Maritimes-grittier,older, less artificial. For sure, in the entire mainland we saw lots of gray and pollution, and Xi'an was no exception. While driving through the region we also passed row after row of high rises under construction, with workers scurrying across the roads to work on buildings which disappeared into the smog.
As with all other sites in China, the site of the warriors was swarming with people looking to be our guides. The interesting thing here was that, when we pretended not to speak English, only French, they switched to broken French. I would have loved to spend the day finding out in how many languages they can say "A guide?" But we went right up to the counter, asked for the, as usual, not-advertised-in-English student ticket. Finding our way to the warriors themselves wasn't easy, as the area is filled with shops. Even after passing the two ticket-takers, it's still difficult to locate the warriors.
The buildings open to tourists are pits one through three. We actually went into pits two and three first, and nearly left without seeing pit one, the main attraction. The warriors are quite impressive, given the thought that they were made several hundred years BCE-which is to say, they're really really really old!
When we met up with the driver again, we headed back into Xi'an. He dropped us in an area near the South Gate 南门of the city walls. This area, near a calligraphy museum, was filled with little stalls selling brushes and calligraphy. This was, however, the first touristy area in China where we weren't accosted by people trying to sell us stuff, and so it was nice to walk around in the midday breeze, enjoying the scene. We then headed up to the Bell Tower and Drum tower, in the fashionable shopping area of the city. It was here that, after more than a week in the mainland, the tiredness hit us strongly. But, we continued, and dragged ourselves down another shopping area (where we were, once again, aggressively sold to. Tip: calculators are used to negotiate price, but once you have it in your hands, they won't let you leave) to mosque street. This area was unique in that it was a combination of Chinese and Muslim cultures-Chinese architecture, with Arabic words and Quaranic verses.
By the time we got back to where we were to meet our driver, we had about an our and a half to wait, and zero energy. We sat probably forty-five minutes, and then wondered over to a roller rink slightly outside the walls, where we watched people show off their skills, before heading out again.
For the last stop of the day (the whole trip really), the driver took us to the "Big Goose Pagoda". At first, we wound up in some weird museum unrelated to the pagoda, and, after posing for a picture with tourists from Shanbei who seemed never to have seen foreigners before (much less ones who could ask them where they were from), we headed for dinner. We had zero guilt about the fact that we finally cracked and ate western food-really good pasta. Afterwards, we grabbed some ice cream (the world's worst. To quote my friend "I'm trying to figure out what plastic this Ice Cream's made of. I think Nylon is a serious contender"), and checked out the pagoda at night. All light up in LED fashion, we found an area full of bumper cars, movie theaters, and families, kids, teenagers, and old folks all out for a stroll.
After that, we headed back to catch some sleep before our early flight. The flight was quick and smooth, and we were soon in Shenzhen, the city just across the border from HK, where domestic flights are often much cheaper. The only part of Shenzhen really worth mentioning is to let the unsuspecting traveler know that to get back, A-you must spend around 100 RMB for the bus, and B-you may need to change buses at Kowloon Station if heading to the Island, but they'll only announce this in Cantonese, which we discovered the hard way, being dumped in Yau Ma Tei.
To conclude, I absolutely, positively, loved every second of the Mainland. It's an amazing and fascinating place. It's full of energy, enthusiasm, and progress. It's also clearly a place which much progress to still be made, which makes it a fascinating place to visit, and a fascinating time to go there. Although we were often stared at (something I hadn't really expected, since it almost never happens in Hong Kong), I never felt that it was malicious in anyway-on the contrary, people often smiled widely at us, waved, and practiced their "hellos" (including the most adorable group of pre-schoolers crossing from Shenzhen back into HK), and my only major regret is my inability to communicate better with them. So, for anyone considering heading to the Mainland, I advise you to: pack a good phrase book and a sense of adventure, leave your reservations (about food, about culture, about looking like an idiot) behind, never go for the first price offered in a shop, smile back at the people staring at you, and enjoy every second of it!
The highway into the city was clean, new, and almost entirely empty of cars. We seemed to have the only defensive driver in the Mainland, going 90 in 120 zones and keeping several car lengths in front of him. Xi'an was different than Beijing and Shanghai-a little less polished, much older (as in, dating back to several hundred years before Christianity). It's still quite a rich city, however. The walls surrounding the city were beautiful and old, although whether the LED lights lighting them up added or detracted to the beauty is debatable. As it was late, we made plans with the driver to meet the next day, and checked into our hostel.
This hostel was much more geared towards foreigners than the last one. After checking in, we went out for a walk around, looking for something to munch on. The smaller streets, including the one with our hostel, were filled with little plastic tables and chairs, makeshift outdoor seating areas for restaurants (these were also seen in Beijing), with the young children of the owners seeming to be the busboys (as in, three years old).
The next day, we set out for Xi'an's biggest site: the terracotta warriors. They were located about an hour's drive outside the city. Leaving the city limits was very different from Shanghai and Beijing. In these cities, the edges of the city resembled Calgary or Vancouver-new developments, with neat rows of cookie cutter houses, shopping complexes, and high rise buildings. Xi'an reminded me more of the Canadian Maritimes-grittier,older, less artificial. For sure, in the entire mainland we saw lots of gray and pollution, and Xi'an was no exception. While driving through the region we also passed row after row of high rises under construction, with workers scurrying across the roads to work on buildings which disappeared into the smog.
As with all other sites in China, the site of the warriors was swarming with people looking to be our guides. The interesting thing here was that, when we pretended not to speak English, only French, they switched to broken French. I would have loved to spend the day finding out in how many languages they can say "A guide?" But we went right up to the counter, asked for the, as usual, not-advertised-in-English student ticket. Finding our way to the warriors themselves wasn't easy, as the area is filled with shops. Even after passing the two ticket-takers, it's still difficult to locate the warriors.
The buildings open to tourists are pits one through three. We actually went into pits two and three first, and nearly left without seeing pit one, the main attraction. The warriors are quite impressive, given the thought that they were made several hundred years BCE-which is to say, they're really really really old!
When we met up with the driver again, we headed back into Xi'an. He dropped us in an area near the South Gate 南门of the city walls. This area, near a calligraphy museum, was filled with little stalls selling brushes and calligraphy. This was, however, the first touristy area in China where we weren't accosted by people trying to sell us stuff, and so it was nice to walk around in the midday breeze, enjoying the scene. We then headed up to the Bell Tower and Drum tower, in the fashionable shopping area of the city. It was here that, after more than a week in the mainland, the tiredness hit us strongly. But, we continued, and dragged ourselves down another shopping area (where we were, once again, aggressively sold to. Tip: calculators are used to negotiate price, but once you have it in your hands, they won't let you leave) to mosque street. This area was unique in that it was a combination of Chinese and Muslim cultures-Chinese architecture, with Arabic words and Quaranic verses.
By the time we got back to where we were to meet our driver, we had about an our and a half to wait, and zero energy. We sat probably forty-five minutes, and then wondered over to a roller rink slightly outside the walls, where we watched people show off their skills, before heading out again.
For the last stop of the day (the whole trip really), the driver took us to the "Big Goose Pagoda". At first, we wound up in some weird museum unrelated to the pagoda, and, after posing for a picture with tourists from Shanbei who seemed never to have seen foreigners before (much less ones who could ask them where they were from), we headed for dinner. We had zero guilt about the fact that we finally cracked and ate western food-really good pasta. Afterwards, we grabbed some ice cream (the world's worst. To quote my friend "I'm trying to figure out what plastic this Ice Cream's made of. I think Nylon is a serious contender"), and checked out the pagoda at night. All light up in LED fashion, we found an area full of bumper cars, movie theaters, and families, kids, teenagers, and old folks all out for a stroll.
After that, we headed back to catch some sleep before our early flight. The flight was quick and smooth, and we were soon in Shenzhen, the city just across the border from HK, where domestic flights are often much cheaper. The only part of Shenzhen really worth mentioning is to let the unsuspecting traveler know that to get back, A-you must spend around 100 RMB for the bus, and B-you may need to change buses at Kowloon Station if heading to the Island, but they'll only announce this in Cantonese, which we discovered the hard way, being dumped in Yau Ma Tei.
To conclude, I absolutely, positively, loved every second of the Mainland. It's an amazing and fascinating place. It's full of energy, enthusiasm, and progress. It's also clearly a place which much progress to still be made, which makes it a fascinating place to visit, and a fascinating time to go there. Although we were often stared at (something I hadn't really expected, since it almost never happens in Hong Kong), I never felt that it was malicious in anyway-on the contrary, people often smiled widely at us, waved, and practiced their "hellos" (including the most adorable group of pre-schoolers crossing from Shenzhen back into HK), and my only major regret is my inability to communicate better with them. So, for anyone considering heading to the Mainland, I advise you to: pack a good phrase book and a sense of adventure, leave your reservations (about food, about culture, about looking like an idiot) behind, never go for the first price offered in a shop, smile back at the people staring at you, and enjoy every second of it!
Saturday 9 April 2011
China Pt.6-Beijing Part 3
Having made quick work of our list of things to see in Beijing, the last day was to be pretty calm. I set out alone in the morning, and first headed to the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is one that you see a lot in pictures of Beijing, which is mostly why I went. By that point, I was experiencing a little temple fatigue, and found the place wasn't overly amazing. To be sure, it was interesting to see the crowds of people out for a Saturday stroll, including a crowd of senior citizens dancing and others singing karaoke. I found the temple a bit boring, in all honesty, for which I felt somewhat guilty. I didn't linger too long, however, and, after lunch, made my way to the Subway to head to the Summer Palace.
The subway in Beijing (actually run by HK's MTR corporation), is, like the rest of Beijing, a little less clean and a little more crowded than Shanghai and Hong Kong's are (by which I mean crowded outside of rush hour). Beijing is also quite large, and it took a while to get to the Summer Palace. The Palace itself is a large (very large) complex which was the retreat of the royals of Beijing during the hot summer months. The whole area around the palace is being renovated, but the park itself was full of tour groups from around the world. It was quite beautiful,easily one of my favourite places I went to. I stopped and grabbed a second lunch, pot noodle (instant noodles in American English), and enjoyed a moment of peace.
Unfortunately, I underestimated how large Beijing was. After finishing at the Summer Palace, I rushed back to the hostel, we grabbed our bags, and we rushed to the airport, with only minutes before they were to close our gate. Time for our last city: Xi'an.
The subway in Beijing (actually run by HK's MTR corporation), is, like the rest of Beijing, a little less clean and a little more crowded than Shanghai and Hong Kong's are (by which I mean crowded outside of rush hour). Beijing is also quite large, and it took a while to get to the Summer Palace. The Palace itself is a large (very large) complex which was the retreat of the royals of Beijing during the hot summer months. The whole area around the palace is being renovated, but the park itself was full of tour groups from around the world. It was quite beautiful,easily one of my favourite places I went to. I stopped and grabbed a second lunch, pot noodle (instant noodles in American English), and enjoyed a moment of peace.
Unfortunately, I underestimated how large Beijing was. After finishing at the Summer Palace, I rushed back to the hostel, we grabbed our bags, and we rushed to the airport, with only minutes before they were to close our gate. Time for our last city: Xi'an.
China Pt.5-Beijing Part 2
It's the one thing that you just have to do in China.
It's on the logo for the Chinese government. It's on the hats the soldiers wear. It's even on your tourist visa.
It's the Great Wall. And we had decided to take a tour from our hostel.
The bus left at such an ungodly hour I can't even remember, but its was probably 7 AM. I'll admit to being a little nervous: a 15 passenger van, no seatbelts, Chinese-style driving, and a trip into the mountains. But there was no stopping us, we had to climb the wall. The bus picked up several people from other hostels, with the person sitting next to me actually coming from a town in Oklahoma I once lived in. The trip took two hours, and the van nearly hit a dog, but eventually we arrived. The guide gave us a quick explanation of the history, told us the routes, gave us our tickets and told us to be back for our included lunch.
We took a ski-lift up. You so often hear about how amazing the wall is (and it is), but the countryside is astonishing too. Atop a mountain, you can see a huge distance. When we got to the wall, we started walking. The section we were on was restored, and there were people, dressed in fake army fatigues, selling all manor of things on the wall (tip: stock up on everything first. They're the only source of food or water up there, and they will not budge too much on the prices. Although, in all fairness, you're not likely to pay more than you would in Hong Kong or anywhere else anyway).
The walk becomes steep quickly, and we were eventually crawling up sets of stairs, stopping frequently to catch our breath. We eventually got to a sign proclaiming the end of the area accessible to tourists. Beyond it, unrestored wall, replete with crumbling guard towers, trees growing into the rocks, and foolhardy tourists who go past the sign.
We backtracked and went the other way. An interesting thing about the wall was the presence of tourists who'd occasionally strike up a conversation. It's always interesting to hear what brings people from places like the US (where most of the really talkative people seem to come from ) to the top of a stone wall across the planet. As I said, the views are beautiful, and one can see the wall snaking off along the hills, far into the distance beyond.....
One reason that we chose this particular section of the wall (Mutianyu), was that it included a real attraction: a toboggan ride back down! This was every bit as exciting as we'd imagine: and how often do you get the chance to toboggan down the side of the Great Wall? When we got to the bottom, we did some souvenir shopping. The people at these stalls were the most aggressive I've seen, and I was actually cornered into a stall. The funniest part, though, is that once you do agree on a price, all of the tension evaporates, and everyone smiles again. You have to remember, on the one hand, it's not personal about you, it's just business; on the other, however, it's personal for the shopkeeper, who depends on that money for their income.
After some westernized Chinese food, we took the 2 hour drive back to town. Totally exhausted, we spent much of the afternoon watching CCTV, the state-run broadcaster, in English. I actually really like CCTV, it reminds me a bit of watching PBS, with no commercials and a less sensationalistic attitude than the news media at home.
The last real thing on our Beijing list was Peking Duck, and the hostel recommended a place nearby. No English was spoken, and for some reason I'd become a little sheepish with the Mandarin, but soon enough a massive amount of duck, pancakes, sauce, rice, and dressings for the duck (pickled carrots and cucumbers etc) appeared. This probably ties with that meal in Shanghai for the best we had in China, and definitely one of the best I've ever had.
It's on the logo for the Chinese government. It's on the hats the soldiers wear. It's even on your tourist visa.
It's the Great Wall. And we had decided to take a tour from our hostel.
The bus left at such an ungodly hour I can't even remember, but its was probably 7 AM. I'll admit to being a little nervous: a 15 passenger van, no seatbelts, Chinese-style driving, and a trip into the mountains. But there was no stopping us, we had to climb the wall. The bus picked up several people from other hostels, with the person sitting next to me actually coming from a town in Oklahoma I once lived in. The trip took two hours, and the van nearly hit a dog, but eventually we arrived. The guide gave us a quick explanation of the history, told us the routes, gave us our tickets and told us to be back for our included lunch.
We took a ski-lift up. You so often hear about how amazing the wall is (and it is), but the countryside is astonishing too. Atop a mountain, you can see a huge distance. When we got to the wall, we started walking. The section we were on was restored, and there were people, dressed in fake army fatigues, selling all manor of things on the wall (tip: stock up on everything first. They're the only source of food or water up there, and they will not budge too much on the prices. Although, in all fairness, you're not likely to pay more than you would in Hong Kong or anywhere else anyway).
The walk becomes steep quickly, and we were eventually crawling up sets of stairs, stopping frequently to catch our breath. We eventually got to a sign proclaiming the end of the area accessible to tourists. Beyond it, unrestored wall, replete with crumbling guard towers, trees growing into the rocks, and foolhardy tourists who go past the sign.
We backtracked and went the other way. An interesting thing about the wall was the presence of tourists who'd occasionally strike up a conversation. It's always interesting to hear what brings people from places like the US (where most of the really talkative people seem to come from ) to the top of a stone wall across the planet. As I said, the views are beautiful, and one can see the wall snaking off along the hills, far into the distance beyond.....
One reason that we chose this particular section of the wall (Mutianyu), was that it included a real attraction: a toboggan ride back down! This was every bit as exciting as we'd imagine: and how often do you get the chance to toboggan down the side of the Great Wall? When we got to the bottom, we did some souvenir shopping. The people at these stalls were the most aggressive I've seen, and I was actually cornered into a stall. The funniest part, though, is that once you do agree on a price, all of the tension evaporates, and everyone smiles again. You have to remember, on the one hand, it's not personal about you, it's just business; on the other, however, it's personal for the shopkeeper, who depends on that money for their income.
After some westernized Chinese food, we took the 2 hour drive back to town. Totally exhausted, we spent much of the afternoon watching CCTV, the state-run broadcaster, in English. I actually really like CCTV, it reminds me a bit of watching PBS, with no commercials and a less sensationalistic attitude than the news media at home.
The last real thing on our Beijing list was Peking Duck, and the hostel recommended a place nearby. No English was spoken, and for some reason I'd become a little sheepish with the Mandarin, but soon enough a massive amount of duck, pancakes, sauce, rice, and dressings for the duck (pickled carrots and cucumbers etc) appeared. This probably ties with that meal in Shanghai for the best we had in China, and definitely one of the best I've ever had.
China Pt.4-Beijing Part 1.
The differences between Beijing and Shanghai were immediately appearant. The airport seemed a little smaller, a little more run down. The airport express train was a little more worn out than what you'd find in Hong Kong. None of these was an issue; however, getting to our hostel was. Having arrived late, we probably didn't get to the main subway line until after 11, at which time it was closed. When we emerged from the closed subway, two foreigners with big bags, the taxi drivers new they could make some extra money. Asking Qu nar? Qu nar? （去哪里？Where are you going, but with a Beijing accent which I was even able to notice), they refused to turn on their meters, and quoted as prices that we knew by that point were too high.Particularly disturbing where the unlicensed taxis, with their tinted windows, which I'd read and been told not to take under any circumstances. Instead, we walked away from the station and hailed a cab exiting the highway. This driver was more friendly and honest, and turned on the meter (though I'll admit to holding my breath a little until I saw that the meter was working right). Another observation I made about China: the taxi drivers are super friendly. They always greet you in and say good bye and thank you. Also, they do this in Chinese, whereas in Hong Kong few people will actually speak to foreigners in Chinese (although this likely boils down to HK drivers speaking English and Mainland drivers not).
The driver got a little lost and had to call the hostel, but we did eventually find it. It was recommended by a good friend, and turned out to be a great recommendation! Designed like a Hutong (traditional allyway house, more on that later), the rooms all faced an inner courtyard, and were clean and nice.
With less time in Beijing than Shanghai, we got right down to business. After dealing with some errands in the morning, we took a cab down Beijing's extremely wide streets to Tiannenmen Square (天安门广场）。 Driving in Beijing is interesting, as most of the highways are ring-roads, which pass many beautiful old buildings and houses (including some temples), as opposed to Shanghai's noticeable lack of history (since it's really not that old). Tiannenmen itself was pretty busy. We had to go through security (in fact, there's airport-style security at every subway, museum, and major attraction we saw in China). It is known as the world's largest public square, and it is indeed large! We walked around a while, taking pictures and look at monuments. As we were taking a few photos before leaving, large amounts of PLA soldiers came and started doing some sort of drill, which made for excellent photos (their outfits are really, really, friggin' cool looking). As it turned out, the soldiers were clearing the square- China's once annual political meetings were about to begin in the Hall of the People, opposite next to the square.
The square is directly opposite the forbidden city, officially called the palace museum, and that was our next destination. It was massive, full of the stately old buildings in which the upper crust of society once lived. Although we thought we'd be spending a full day there, it turned out not to take too long, and we found ourselves heading out to lunch around two (it's important to note that the scam at the forbidden city isn't tea ceremonies but rather "art students" wanting to take you to art shows). (Mixing the old and new, the forbidden city was home to a basketball court!?).
The streets in this part of Beijing are picturesque, surrounded by Hutongs-common courtyard areas in the middle of several houses. We checked out a dumpling shop recommend in the Lonely Planet. It was pretty much empty when we arrived (half the staff was asleep at a table), but the food was great (and the English translation of the Menu provided some mid-day entertainment). Deciding to be adventurous, we gave donkey meat a try (not my favourite, it had a really strong flavour. Plus I kept thinking of the movie Shrek). Having finished our day's worth of plans in the mid-afternoon, we looked through the Lonely Planet for something, and decided to head out to the Olympic Park.
We started by heading to the Bird's Nest, or National Olympic Stadium. The design was fascinating-it was barely shielded from the outside, and none of the seats we tried (and we tried many) provided a better or worse view. Although the action was long over,I did feel a chill go down my spine thinking that this was where Ussain Bolt shocked the world, a few metres away (and unfortunately not open once we got there, save, of course, for the gift shop) was where Michael Phelps set all his records, and that this was the site were China had its massive "Coming out" party to the world. It also brought back memories of how proud I felt watching the Winter Olympics in my own country almost exactly a year prior; I can definitely understand the feeling China must have had.
With the water cube closed, and not interested in any of the strange souvenir army-men, we took a cab back to a street food market we'd passed on the drive up. It was pretty touristy, but a wide range of things were available-including Scorpion, bugs, and "dog" (although my friend tried it, we weren't convinced that it was actual dog meat rather than chicken). There were plenty of foreigners here, and many of them scoffed at the foods, but this made us wonder why bother coming so far in the first place.
We took a stroll around then, through an area filled with nice shops, into another food market (The sign said "model food market", but it was so dirty we figure that it was the model of what not to do. We hope.), some quick souvenir shopping, and then faced the same problems hailing a cab (tip:do what we did and just go to the taxi stand at a fancy hotel. Cabs aren't going to pass up a fair at any major or expensive joint).
To round off the day, as I was checking my e-mails at the hostel computers, some of the staff brought out a guitar and started singing (very beautifully) the song "月亮代表我的心" (The Moon represents my heart. Probably the only Chinese folk song I would recognize, having heard it in Hong Kong as well). It sounds corny now, but a couple of people singing softly to a Chinese folk song in a (beautiful) youth hostel in Beijing was definitely one of those irreplaceable travel moments.
The driver got a little lost and had to call the hostel, but we did eventually find it. It was recommended by a good friend, and turned out to be a great recommendation! Designed like a Hutong (traditional allyway house, more on that later), the rooms all faced an inner courtyard, and were clean and nice.
With less time in Beijing than Shanghai, we got right down to business. After dealing with some errands in the morning, we took a cab down Beijing's extremely wide streets to Tiannenmen Square (天安门广场）。 Driving in Beijing is interesting, as most of the highways are ring-roads, which pass many beautiful old buildings and houses (including some temples), as opposed to Shanghai's noticeable lack of history (since it's really not that old). Tiannenmen itself was pretty busy. We had to go through security (in fact, there's airport-style security at every subway, museum, and major attraction we saw in China). It is known as the world's largest public square, and it is indeed large! We walked around a while, taking pictures and look at monuments. As we were taking a few photos before leaving, large amounts of PLA soldiers came and started doing some sort of drill, which made for excellent photos (their outfits are really, really, friggin' cool looking). As it turned out, the soldiers were clearing the square- China's once annual political meetings were about to begin in the Hall of the People, opposite next to the square.
The square is directly opposite the forbidden city, officially called the palace museum, and that was our next destination. It was massive, full of the stately old buildings in which the upper crust of society once lived. Although we thought we'd be spending a full day there, it turned out not to take too long, and we found ourselves heading out to lunch around two (it's important to note that the scam at the forbidden city isn't tea ceremonies but rather "art students" wanting to take you to art shows). (Mixing the old and new, the forbidden city was home to a basketball court!?).
The streets in this part of Beijing are picturesque, surrounded by Hutongs-common courtyard areas in the middle of several houses. We checked out a dumpling shop recommend in the Lonely Planet. It was pretty much empty when we arrived (half the staff was asleep at a table), but the food was great (and the English translation of the Menu provided some mid-day entertainment). Deciding to be adventurous, we gave donkey meat a try (not my favourite, it had a really strong flavour. Plus I kept thinking of the movie Shrek). Having finished our day's worth of plans in the mid-afternoon, we looked through the Lonely Planet for something, and decided to head out to the Olympic Park.
We started by heading to the Bird's Nest, or National Olympic Stadium. The design was fascinating-it was barely shielded from the outside, and none of the seats we tried (and we tried many) provided a better or worse view. Although the action was long over,I did feel a chill go down my spine thinking that this was where Ussain Bolt shocked the world, a few metres away (and unfortunately not open once we got there, save, of course, for the gift shop) was where Michael Phelps set all his records, and that this was the site were China had its massive "Coming out" party to the world. It also brought back memories of how proud I felt watching the Winter Olympics in my own country almost exactly a year prior; I can definitely understand the feeling China must have had.
With the water cube closed, and not interested in any of the strange souvenir army-men, we took a cab back to a street food market we'd passed on the drive up. It was pretty touristy, but a wide range of things were available-including Scorpion, bugs, and "dog" (although my friend tried it, we weren't convinced that it was actual dog meat rather than chicken). There were plenty of foreigners here, and many of them scoffed at the foods, but this made us wonder why bother coming so far in the first place.
We took a stroll around then, through an area filled with nice shops, into another food market (The sign said "model food market", but it was so dirty we figure that it was the model of what not to do. We hope.), some quick souvenir shopping, and then faced the same problems hailing a cab (tip:do what we did and just go to the taxi stand at a fancy hotel. Cabs aren't going to pass up a fair at any major or expensive joint).
To round off the day, as I was checking my e-mails at the hostel computers, some of the staff brought out a guitar and started singing (very beautifully) the song "月亮代表我的心" (The Moon represents my heart. Probably the only Chinese folk song I would recognize, having heard it in Hong Kong as well). It sounds corny now, but a couple of people singing softly to a Chinese folk song in a (beautiful) youth hostel in Beijing was definitely one of those irreplaceable travel moments.
China Pt.3-The rest of Shanghai
Two days of having Chinese friends who were familiar with the city, and able to speak the language, guide us around had helped us quickly tick off most of the things on our list (and of course made the experience much more enjoyable!). On our third day our first stop was the Shanghai Zoo. Although not as bad as some of the stories we'd heard, it was still a Mainland Chinese zoo, which is to say, not a place for the animal lover. We went primarily to see Pandas, which we did see, but it was also an interesting experience in terms of the way zoo goers treated the animals- kicking and stomping to get their attention, and at one point feeding coffee to the red pandas. Many of the animals had probably seen better days-especially the selection of house pets. For us, it was also interesting to be in a zoo accross the globe, where animals which are familiar to us (for me, these being raccoons and seagulls, both the bane of many a garbage-day in Canada) were an attraction.
When we left the zoo we headed for the China Pavilion, the only one remaining from the 2010 Expo. This was the first time since we'd arrived that I had to communicate anything more complex than "2 please" in Mandarin. It was then that I realized that the tricky bit isn't speaking, but rather understanding the answers to your questions. Thankfully, we met a subway employee nice enough to point out on a map how to get where we were going. Along the way, we stopped for food at one of the connecting stations, having skipped breakfast and arrived in the late lunch time of day. This was probably the cheapest food we had in the mainland-"Cantonese" Chow Mein (funny how even in China sometimes the food from other regions isn't authentic. Or I didn't understand the menu) for 11 Yuan (Less than 2 Dollars), and some very cheap sweets at the bakery next door.
The pavilion itself was fascinating. This was the first place, from what I can recall, where we learned the lesson that sometimes there IS a student discount, but it's only advertised in Chinese, even if the rest is also in English (look for学生）. We wondered briefly if we would have been granted that discount had our student cards not been from Hong Kong, which is technically China. Many people approaching the Pavilion were photographing their tickets with the building in the backdrop (since the building was on the ticket), and smiled happily at us. The whole process of getting in was quick, and we were quickly transported into a bizarre world of displays about the future of China.
Having finished the pavilion, we tried to go to the Shanghai Museum, which turned out to have already closed (we also ran into our friend who wanted to practice English again, and another who invited us to a "tea ceremony". Like I said before, this is a scam, and I had read about it in the travel reports from the Canadian government). We had gotten so much done so quickly in Shanghai that we actually took a break for a few hours before checking out Xintiandi (新天地）。 Meaning "New Earth and Sky", it's an upscale, up market newly constructed area. It was a bit too reminiscent of our own countries for us, and also too pricey. We quickly decided to go to McDonald's for a cheap reprieve from expensive food (this was probably the only time in my life I've ever suggested taking a taxi to McDonald's!).
Our last day in Shanghai was pretty subdued, having exhausted both our to-do list for the city, and ourselves. We spent the morning at the Shanghai Museum, which was both excellent (really, a must-see to get a taste of the history and culture of the country) and, inexplicably, free. This was followed by the Communist Party museum, and the purchase of a new memory card for my Camera, before heading to the airport.
Shanghai has two airports, and the one we flew out of, Hongqiao, is probably more used for domestic purposes. Within 15 minutes of arriving by cab, we had our bags checked, our tickets in hand, and were through security to KFC for dinner (where, unlike at home, the prices were the same in the airport as everywhere else), a sort of efficiency one doesn't find at many airports. The airport even provided free newspapers and internet, both of which usually cost money at home. Flying a Chinese airline was also interesting- many Hong Kong friends had told me to prepare for terrible service, and when the plane started boarding half an hour late, I felt they might be right. However, in comparison to what I'm used to in North America, they were actually quite wrong-we were given another free newspaper, served a meal, offered many drink re-fills, offered pillows and blankets (all of which a short flight like that wouldn't entail in Canada), and, despite our half hour delay taking off, arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule in Beijing.
Edit: I almost forgot to mention, one of these days in Shanghai was the first time I understood a pun in Chinese (I've read that they're pretty prevalent)! Since puns can't really be translated, I won't try, but for those who understand, I saw this ad, for a restaurant, written on the back of a cab: 57-57-5777 我吃我吃我吃吃吃。
Well, I thought it was good, anyway.
When we left the zoo we headed for the China Pavilion, the only one remaining from the 2010 Expo. This was the first time since we'd arrived that I had to communicate anything more complex than "2 please" in Mandarin. It was then that I realized that the tricky bit isn't speaking, but rather understanding the answers to your questions. Thankfully, we met a subway employee nice enough to point out on a map how to get where we were going. Along the way, we stopped for food at one of the connecting stations, having skipped breakfast and arrived in the late lunch time of day. This was probably the cheapest food we had in the mainland-"Cantonese" Chow Mein (funny how even in China sometimes the food from other regions isn't authentic. Or I didn't understand the menu) for 11 Yuan (Less than 2 Dollars), and some very cheap sweets at the bakery next door.
The pavilion itself was fascinating. This was the first place, from what I can recall, where we learned the lesson that sometimes there IS a student discount, but it's only advertised in Chinese, even if the rest is also in English (look for学生）. We wondered briefly if we would have been granted that discount had our student cards not been from Hong Kong, which is technically China. Many people approaching the Pavilion were photographing their tickets with the building in the backdrop (since the building was on the ticket), and smiled happily at us. The whole process of getting in was quick, and we were quickly transported into a bizarre world of displays about the future of China.
Having finished the pavilion, we tried to go to the Shanghai Museum, which turned out to have already closed (we also ran into our friend who wanted to practice English again, and another who invited us to a "tea ceremony". Like I said before, this is a scam, and I had read about it in the travel reports from the Canadian government). We had gotten so much done so quickly in Shanghai that we actually took a break for a few hours before checking out Xintiandi (新天地）。 Meaning "New Earth and Sky", it's an upscale, up market newly constructed area. It was a bit too reminiscent of our own countries for us, and also too pricey. We quickly decided to go to McDonald's for a cheap reprieve from expensive food (this was probably the only time in my life I've ever suggested taking a taxi to McDonald's!).
Our last day in Shanghai was pretty subdued, having exhausted both our to-do list for the city, and ourselves. We spent the morning at the Shanghai Museum, which was both excellent (really, a must-see to get a taste of the history and culture of the country) and, inexplicably, free. This was followed by the Communist Party museum, and the purchase of a new memory card for my Camera, before heading to the airport.
Shanghai has two airports, and the one we flew out of, Hongqiao, is probably more used for domestic purposes. Within 15 minutes of arriving by cab, we had our bags checked, our tickets in hand, and were through security to KFC for dinner (where, unlike at home, the prices were the same in the airport as everywhere else), a sort of efficiency one doesn't find at many airports. The airport even provided free newspapers and internet, both of which usually cost money at home. Flying a Chinese airline was also interesting- many Hong Kong friends had told me to prepare for terrible service, and when the plane started boarding half an hour late, I felt they might be right. However, in comparison to what I'm used to in North America, they were actually quite wrong-we were given another free newspaper, served a meal, offered many drink re-fills, offered pillows and blankets (all of which a short flight like that wouldn't entail in Canada), and, despite our half hour delay taking off, arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule in Beijing.
Edit: I almost forgot to mention, one of these days in Shanghai was the first time I understood a pun in Chinese (I've read that they're pretty prevalent)! Since puns can't really be translated, I won't try, but for those who understand, I saw this ad, for a restaurant, written on the back of a cab: 57-57-5777 我吃我吃我吃吃吃。
Well, I thought it was good, anyway.
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