Sunday, March 9, 2008

Beijing

I'm in Beijing for work this week. The jet lag is kind of rough the first few days, and I haven't felt hungry until dinner this evening. Nevertheless, the food is great. All of it. It's hard to have a bad meal here. Even weird food is good, although I've not eaten anything weird this time.

The Chinese say that they will eat anything with four legs but the table. It is true. The menus are astonishing. I've been eating tasty dishes like fried eggplant in garlic, chili sauce and chicken with lemon, and Peking duck, and pan roasted green beans. I've eaten pork buns, shrimp dumplings with pumpkin, and mushroom soup with bok choy. The best cup of tea I've had in ages was lemon and lavender tea that turned a gorgeous shade of pale pink. I've had Chinese dishes and Halal dishes for breakfast. Now I'm on to museli because the others are too oily to eat at the crack of dawn.

There are some downsides to China like the huge airport sign that said beware of cholera. Uhhh, yeah, don't drink the water or ice cubes or eat any fruit you didn't peel yourself, or use tap for brushing teeth etc.

The air polution is nothing short of scandalous.

The government also censors blogs. I can post, but I cannot actually read my own blog. Go figure!

2 comments:

Joe said...

I guess you don't need me to post for you. :)

Have fun!

Marsosudiro said...

This whole "being in a communist country" thing is mindblowing to me. I hope you'll blog about your China trips, sometime.

In other Beijing things: I found out from a parents' neighbor (in Hillsborough) that the trip flight from DC to Beijing (where her parents live) is just EIGHT HOURS over the North Pole.

Holy crap that's a fast trip to the other side of the world!!!

Re: food -- one of my non-Chinese-speaking Australian friends occasionally visits China with a Chinese friend. Said Chinese friend threatens the Australian friend to not ever be a pain in the ass travel mate, "or else I'm ordering you a big plate of dog."