Lijiang: Cobblestones, Yaks and Mountains

We arrived in Lijiang -- a small mountain town in the Yunan Province -- by plane, and it's a world apart from Beijing and X'ian. Driving in from the airport we were greeted by an amazingly clear sky full of stars and clean, crisp air (almost COLD). As well, even though the small, cobblestone streets of Lijiang are crowded with pedestrians there is nary a car in sight (in the Old Town part, anyway).

Lijiang is definitely a wandering city, since the small, winding alleys of Old Town are the perfect recipe for getting lost. When we weren't asking locals for directions and seemingly getting led in circles, we also took an excursion out to the base of Jade Dragon Mountain with Peter and Jenny (who also happened to be here -- via Shanghai).

My little point and shoot camera hardly did the mountainside justice, but I was able to capture a few good shots of the yaks in the appropriately named Yak Meadow (after a local farmer lured them closer to us with an apple) and one of the farmer's family.

X'ian Highlights

We were lucky enough to have local friends who showed us all around X'ian -- including the famous terracotta warriors. It was a whirlwind tour since we were only there for 2.5 days, but here are just a few photo highlights. (old city wall at night and the terracotta warriors below.)

The army was created to accompany an emperor into the afterlife and consists of over 7,000 warriors (plus various horses, carriages, etc). Apparently he was expecting quite a battle. Each terracotta warrior in the army is slightly larger than life size and reportedly eaxh one is unique with different clothes, hairstyles, body types, etc. It really is amazing what one can do with slave labor!

Goodbye Beijing!

We packed up and left Beijing (headed to X'ian) by an overnight train last night.

Crowded and bustling does not even begin to describe the station (see photo below of the line of passengers boarding our train) -- but once we got through the initial ticket check it was nearly magical. The train was waiting in a cavernous and misty station, with a porter stationed at every car (hat and all). It felt straight out of an old Hollywood movie, a'la Casablanca.




This, unfortunately, was where the magic ended, as Guillermo and I had only been able to procure a hard seat and not a sleeper ticket. So, we spent the next 12+ hours trying to get some sleep in super straight back chairs (which reminded me of the pews in church -- even if they were upholstered). The fact that our fellow passengers regularly ignored the non-smoking signs, the car lights never dimmed and at least one guy near our seat did not know how to use his inside voice, only made it harder to get some sleep.


We finally made it to X'ian, where my former office mate, Song, met us at the train station and took us to a few sights before she had to run off to an afternoon class. G-mo and I thankfully returned to our hostel and took a long, long nap.

The adventure has begun!

Public Spaces

One of my favorite parts of my life in Beijing has been being able to spend more leisurely time in public spaces -- local parks, squares, markets and streets -- rather than rushing to and from tourist sights. I love how vibrant many of these places are and marvel at the wide variety of activities I've seen in these spaces. I think I have listed several of these in previous posts, but I also wanted to share a couple more in detail.

Impromptu Singing / Music at Tiantan Park (Temple of Heaven)
Signing and music in U.S. parks, in my experience, is generally limited to 1) the BBQ variety (familial renditions of "Happy Birthday" or music blasting from car windows/boomboxes) or 2) the musician trying to make a few extra bucks. However, on my visit to Tiantan Park a few weekends ago, there were people gathering together all over the park to sign, play music and dance together -- apparently just for fun. I took a few videos, but the one below is by far my favorite. There were easily 40+ people gathered and signing songs together. Later, my friend He Wei Dong said they were famous old patriotic songs about China. Link to YouTube video here:



Park Equipment
Nearly all the small neighborhood parks that I have run across have these ingenious exercise equipment which requires only your own weight or movement to operate. The pieces are brightly colored and seem to double as exercise equipment for adults and seniors as well as play equipment for young children. (Just a few photos below of Guillermo modeling some of the equipment)



I totally love these pieces, and was thinking that these would be great in the States as a way to combat our growing obesity crisis -- and it looks like there is a least one park in Los Angeles that just installed similar equipment -- yay!

And, one last note on equipment. Ping pong is huge here, and therefore in addition to basketball hoops and soccer goals, it is also quite common to see ping pong tables installed in parks (see photo at the top of the post -- apparently these tables can also double as a small climbing toy for children too).

For the Foodies (1): Roujiamo

I know there are some foodies are out there, so I will try to highlight the best and/or most memorable food I had in Beijing in the next few posts. Of course the crispy-skinned and incredibly rich Beijing/Peking duck was scrumptious (I love nearlyall foods that involve their own bread product for burrito type wrapping), but here are some of my other favorites.

Oh, roujiamo. How I love thee. It’s a simple dish. Chunks of slow cooked pork that is falling-apart-tender mixed with chopped spicy green peppers and fresh cilantro and then tucked inside a small round, flat loaf of leavened bread that is still warm from the skillet and oven. It’s somewhat like a taco (see note below) and somewhat like a sandwich – two of my favorite food groups.

There is also a breakfast version, which uses the same tasty bread but includes slices of ham and a fried egg instead of the pork mixture.




This one gets top billing for a handful of reasons.

1) It’s street food. Of course, street food gets points for value (read: cheap), but I love the thrill of finding deliciously simple food on the streets, in moving vehicles (yay, taco trucks!) or in hole in the wall restaurants. (Price 3Y for the pork, and 2.5 for the breakfast – less than $.50)

2) Service with a smile. The vendor near our office was always excited to see us –- perhaps because we had lunch there about 3 times a week. (Shown in photo)



3) Mexican food stand-in. As many of you know I ate as much Mexican food as I could before leaving on my trip, because I knew that it would be hard to come by in China. I do still miss it, but roujiamo does seem to make me miss it less.

For the Foodies (2): Dai Food

Dai refers to an ethnic minority in located in the Yunan province in the southwest of China, and their food has a distinctive set of flavors (many are spicy and vinegary) and many ingredients, such as bamboo and pineapple, reflect their more tropical region.

There were several Dai food restaurants close to our apartment, and we ended up frequenting one more than the others. Here are a few of our favorite dishes:

1) Fried potato balls. Small balls of mashed potatoes fried and then served with a light and savory sesame vinegar sauce for dipping. (Guillermo was an especially big fan of these. See photos!)
2) Pineapple rice. Sweet and super sticky white rice with bits of pineapple mixed in and served in a pineapple!
3) Eggplant. Now normally I can take it or leave it, but this one is covered in a sauce consisting primarily of ground beef and other tasty spices. A little spicy, but not too strong.

For the Foodies (3): Chicken on a stick

This one falls again into the hole-in-the-wall category, and without the help of my Chinese friends I never would have found this place. Wong Wei arranged the whole culinary adventure – researching the place on the Chinese version of Chowhound and making the reservations nearly a week in advance. All I knew before going was that we were going to have some famous Beijing fried chicken (and it was not KFC, which is everywhere here!).

The restaurant tucked away on a narrow hutong and was tiny and unassuming – big fire barbeque pits lined the entry courtyard and the three dining rooms were furnished with simple wooden tables and low-slung stools.

There were 2 main food items on the menu: chicken wings on a stick and bread, also on a stick. The chicken came in three flavors: not spicy, medium spicy (one side covered in red pepper flakes) or super spicy (both sides covered). Each tier of chicken started with the same base marinade, which featured Sichuan peppers. I tried all three, though I have to confess I was only able to eat one of the super spicy ones – my lips were on fire!

The bread was delicious as well – still steaming from the fire, crusty and crisp and a touch oily on the outside and super soft and warm on the inside. I also noticed that the women making the bread would flavor the bread by whacking it with some of the chicken skewers. Yum.

Photos of the chicken platters – served in seemingly unending heaps – and the aftermath. Note that Peter’s pile of chicken bones is not quite as expertly cleaned as He Wei Dong’s, one of the Chinese interns.