A Few Impressions of Beijing
November 2008
The Temple of Heaven
In the vast park around the temple people gather for ballroom dancing...
...or domino and card games...
...or gymnastic dances.
In the Forbidden City and its hidden courtyards
Walking along the Great Wall...
...and the Spirit Way with white marble animal statues on either side, leading towards the Ming Tombs.
The Summer Palace, surrounded by a magnificent Chinese garden, including an impressive man-made lake
Beijing by Night
On our first evening we headed to the Hou Hai Lake, which is sourrounded by many bars and restaurants. We had been recommended the restaurant "South Silk Road", specialised on cuisine from the Yunnan province in southern China, bordering with Thailand. The restaurant is currently very popular, so we had to queue, but the wait was worth while. The food was very tasty - and very spicy, too (a bit on the spicy side for Simon, but I love it this way!). I particularly enjoyed the fried pork with mushrooms (apparently the region is famous for wild mushrooms), which was abundandly seasoned with ginger and (so I assume) Chinese pepper.
After dinner we took a refreshing walk to the other side of the lake, where (between some rather tacky ones) we found a cosy little bar for cocktails.
On the second evening we opted for dinner at the night street stalls in the side lanes of Wangfujing Street, Beijing's major shopping area. We first stumbled into a smaller market and were somewhat disappointed by the modest variety,...
...but as we went on a few more streets we found the really big one, with plenty of exciting dishes. We didn't try any of the insect skewers (insects are supposed to be close to incipid, and I'd rather eat for the taste than for the thrill) or the innards (I have tried stomach before and know I don't like the texture), but we had a good selection of other things which may not have been as thrilling in ingredients, but all the more so in spices and seasoning. The highlights were some ginger-spiced lobster-filled dumplings, and a wrap of very richly flavoured (and again, spicy) beef stir-fry (in the front of the picture).
