Holidays (but you'll find it's mainly about food)

I have just returned to work after a two week break during which I met up with Reggie and travelled to Beijing and Xian.

Beijing

Beijing was very cold but it was dry (ie. no rain/snow) and the skies were generally clear and blue. This was a very pleasant change from Chongqing which is always grey, overcast and wet.

A list of things we did in Beijing:

(a) Walked. A lot.
We walked around a lot just exploring which was quite nice in the daytime but became much colder once the sun went down.

(b) Ate. A lot.
I took the opportunity while in Beijing to eat a variety of different foods. Beijing is much more international than Chongqing where the options are largely limited to Chinese cuisine (there are a few nice Japanese and Korean restaurants, and one Thai). I really enjoyed a meal of Indian which just isn’t available in Chongqing. We ate at a couple of fancy Chinese restaurants sampling different regional varieties of Chinese food and we also ate a lot of jiaozi (dumplings)… a Beijing specialty.

(c) Shopped. A lot.
We both stocked up on dvds and cds and Reggie managed to purchase a number of crappy souvenirs at the markets to bring home to friends. I bought some new sneakers which was a necessity as in Chongqing I can’t buy shoes that fit me.

At one stage these three activities blended in a beautiful union as we were wandering around the city. We happened to stumble upon a small corner store which we entered in the hope of buying some water. Once inside we discovered that the very unassuming shopfront was a façade hiding a well-stocked WESTERN SUPERMARKET!!! They sold a huge variety of cheeses, dips (yes, dip!), imported chocolate biscuits such as Tim Tams, Mint Slices etc, breakfast cereals etc etc etc. It was just about the highlight of my day and I would have bought up big if it weren’t for that pesky 20kg luggage limit. I restricted my purchases to a box of Weetbix (exotic!) which I am planning to ration out over the next three months.

A list of things we DIDN’T do in Beijing:

(a) Visit the Great Wall.
I am pretty sure my mum will kill me when she hears about this. Reggie bought a “I Climbed The Great Wall” t-shirt in the hope of fooling her.

Xian

Next it was on to Xian where it was snowing as our plane landed. It didn’t snow again but that’s not to say the weather improved much – it was colder than Beijing and not very pleasant. After checking in to our hotel and running the gauntlet of little urchins begging for change outside our hotel, Reggie and I had some fried dumplings for breakfast (yeh!) before meeting up with some of my AYAD friends.

Of course the main attraction in Xian is the Terracotta Warriors and despite being the worst tourists in the world (collectively, all of us) we managed to organize ourselves a driver and head out there to see the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. I want to know just how many ‘eighth wonders’ are there exactly?

We decided to hire our own driver so that we could just go out to the warriors (about 45 mins out of the city centre) and not have to stop at every second plastic jade stand or ‘counterfeit warrior’ shop on the way (yes, there were really shops selling ‘counterfeit’ warriors) or other dodgy tourist attractions like the old Neolithic village etc etc. Been there, done that etc. When we got out to the warriors we deflected all offers of an English guide to show us around, instead going it alone. I am pretty sure that as we knocked back one especially pleadingly persistent guide she was muttering ‘stupid bloody tourists’ under her breath.

That evening was New Years Eve and given the length of this post already I will save that story for another time. Suffice to say the whole next day was spent in bed recovering. We did get up at 7(pm) for dinner at the ‘famous’ Dumpling Restaurant where we were served a series of beautifully crafted jiaozi. They were little pieces of art shaped in many cases to describe what was in them ie. one of the sweet dumplings looked exactly like a walnut and others were shaped like pigs, rabbits and various vegetables. I wish I’d had the presence of mind to take a photo.

Xian is home to a large Muslim population and has a Muslim Quarter in the city centre. This is perhaps the most interesting part of town, where the streets are lined with stalls selling all types of colourful dried fruits, spices and sweets, vendors barbequing fish and lamb skewers marinated in delicious middle eastern spices and bustling markets selling a variety of things ranging from unique crafts to tacky souvenirs. The Muslim influence in the area is probably most evident in the food, with a real difference from ‘typical’ Chinese food in the flavours. I felt as though I didn’t spend enough time in this area and certainly didn’t get to sample enough of the food!