April 04, 2004
Day 2: Beijing - the Continuing Story...
Today we spent hours at the Panjiayuan Markets (aka Dirt Markets). We went, ahem, a little crazy buying gifts and bargaining. China is just so damn cheap. After a couple of hours, my head was thumping with the sensory overload, but I couldn't stop. just one more row just one more oh look at that over there no i've nearly finished i just want to see ONE MORE ROW OH MY GOD LOOK AT THOSE GORGEOUS RINGS JUST ONE MORE HELP ME OH. GOD. HELP. ME...
Jade seller
Outside the markets, we succumbed to the nagging of a rickshaw driver and with our exceptional communication skills, asked him with hand gestures and dodgy Chinese (damn those tones) that we wanted him to take us somewhere we could eat dim-sum for lunch. He nodded furiously and we were off! We travelled for about 15 minutes before he deposited us. Outside KFC.
Not exactly what we were after. We thanked the rickshaw driver, gave him his 30 yuan and started walking west, hoping to stumble upon something...
We stopped outside "The Steak House". Done the Chinese way. We were given a big paper checklist of different meats and grills (all in Chinese characters) and waiters came around with their skewers of roast beef, pork, chicken, liver and spicy mutton. On our table was a big wooden pepper-grinder-like thing with red at one end and green at the other. If we wanted the waiter to bring us meat, we flipped the grinder so green was up. If we wanted to stop, then red. We ate a shit load of meat. By the time we left, my stomach was but a chunk of mutton...
Kinki's Daily Dose... Food
When I was a girl... Chinese food was always that bland but satisfying local take-out that was healthier than Maccas. Sweet and Sour Pork, Lemon Chicken and Beef in Black Bean sauce were de rigeur. I never realised just how much variety there was in Chinese cooking (depending on the region) and how tasty the real thing is. Damn my plebian upbringing.
Last night we had a Sichuan dish, "Chicken Chilli" which was diced chicken fried in about 100 spicy chillies piled high on the plate. We were farting fire all night but couldn't have been happier about it.
Master craftsmen
Tonight we headed to Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant for Beijing Duck - duckmeat, fat and skin, served with little pancakes, XO sauce, scallions and a mug of beer. It was. Divine. I never thought I'd be eating baked fat with such relish. Unfortunately it repeated on us that evening, coming out the same way it went in, but after half a duck' of lard, what did we expect?
One of the more unusual fare on offer we found at the Wangfujing Xiaochijie Market. Scorpion, cicada and bug (probably not cockroach?) kebabs. Yummmm. I'll have three, thanks.
Kinki's China Tip for the Day
If you have even a slight shopaholic problem, don't go to the Panjiayuan Markets. It will kill you.
Stay tuned for the next installment, Day 3: "The Great Wall at Huahuang"
