Monday, February 04, 2008
Right, I owe some of you a quick run-through of the trip. I wouldn't say it was a fantastic holiday, but it had its own rewards as well. Like what I tell people who ask me how different it is from the last time I've visited the place, how much change do you expect in 1, 5 or even 10 years in a place that had it's main attractions built thousands of years ago? Indeed, I skipped all the silly usual must-sees like the Forbidden Palace, Temple of the sun etc. Most uncharacteristically, it was shopping, shopping and more shopping. Oh, and we did a 2-day trip by train to Tian Jin which was, IMO, a more pleasant and interesting place. Enough talk - photos!
Found a nice alley that sold the funkiest foods. Fried scorpions, cicadas, silkworms, starfish, eels, salamanders. Of course, we just had to try them all! Except the salamanders. I simply couldn't stomach them. Best-tasting = scorpions. Yuckiest had to be a tie between the cicadas and starfish.
Went skiing in Miyun. I fell magnificently - twice. And Yx turned out to be a professional skier. Yes, I never knew that, after all these years. I hated the cable car ride to the top of that hill though, and the trip down was even worse. Muahahahaha.
Lovely tree - some Dragon Claw Tree or something.
And of course, we nicked a cone from this ancient pine at the 13 Ming Tombs.
A beautiful evening with ice carvings in Long Qing Xia, although we did freeze our asses off. Oooh, and Yx set off her first firecrackers and fireworks! The fireworks was really nice, and pretty funny too - the attendant gave her his cigarette to light the box, but straight after lighting it she fled screaming- with his cigarette.
My only solace in the city was this lovely small place called Mississippi pub, which had cheap booze and decent western food. It felt so homely in all that cold!
A nice visit to the zoo. Giant pandas! =D They were seriously cute. Most of the animals were sleeping though, just like the last time when we went to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago in the dead of winter.
Bottled Fighting Fish. Hmmm ...
Moorish Idols at the aquarium
Now this was really sad. We went by underpass to a shopping place near the zoo, and found this lady selling puppies and bunnies. The poor things were all huddled together in the cold! And the puppies sold for 40 RMB, the bunnies for 18 RMB - that works out to be $8 and $3 respectively, before bargaining.
We decided to be adventurous and try this Saliva Chicken in a dingy restaurant, which turned out to be tasty.
Had a stamp seal made in Beihai Park.
Now to Tian Jin, which was 1 hour by train from Beijing. It's predominantly a port city much like Singapore, but China-style. It had a nice scattering of foreign-built structures and colonial-style buildings though, which was interesting.
Very nice CNY festivities everywhere (stark contrast to Beijing and Singapore)
Tian Jin is famous for her Gou Bu Li baos, so Yx and I braved a 15-minute stroll in -8C weather at night to find this posh palace-like place that sold baos. They turned out to be REALLY yummy.
(I obviously stole one bao before taking this photo ...)
Went to this rather boring aircraft carrier thingy, but the view of a frozen sea was really new to me.
Giant Hei Bi (dried prawns)
And finally - Brownie's present!
Wenky
11:47 PM
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