Last post from Beijing
Today we went to the Temple of Heaven. Jon and Cici figured we could do either that or the Summer Palace right and Linshan wants to take me to the latter next trip. So we spend most of the day superficially looking at the restored Temple complex.
China is the one country directly under Heaven. The disk below is the place where the center of the World is. It's good luck to stand there and I did so in "bear." Later John and I played by the Temple gates. The grounds are a large park and all sorts of things go on there.
For lunch, we found this little place near the Hoa Quan Market, a giant tourist trap that sells everything. It was a little hole in the wall with a basic menu. So we had dumplings, rice noodles with pork, fried rice, twice cooked pork, and fried green beans with red pepper. We then wandered through the market where I found a small knife for cutting up the persimmons someone gave me yesterday. They had the video i pods that the boys wanted but Cici would not let me buy one, saying they all failed in 2-4 months. Despite all the stuff there, no demons were found for Ben.
We walked back to hotel and Jon chatted with me while Cici watched TV. When Linshan joined us, Jon took us down dark alley ways to a restaurant run by the Provincial Government of Sichuan. We finally found something that overloaded my taste buds. The dishes were so hot the only flavors I could taste where the peppercorns and the heat. Dinner below from front to Linshan was a mixed "parts" stew with various organ meats and fried duck blood pudding, bullfrogs in hot pepper oil, and orange beef. The latter is totally unlike the American version - the beef is almost jerky like, the preserved oranges intenses, and the red peppers very hot. It's not at all sweet and the meat isn't breaded.
After a tearful goodbye, I headed back to the hotel to back up. I leave a good friend here and a new little sister along with the wonderful staff of our Chinese office so as glad as I am to be headed home, there is some sadness. We promised that if I go to the show next year in Shanghai I'll come up and visit.
My flight leaves early in the day and so there will be no more posts until I get home.
China is the one country directly under Heaven. The disk below is the place where the center of the World is. It's good luck to stand there and I did so in "bear." Later John and I played by the Temple gates. The grounds are a large park and all sorts of things go on there.
For lunch, we found this little place near the Hoa Quan Market, a giant tourist trap that sells everything. It was a little hole in the wall with a basic menu. So we had dumplings, rice noodles with pork, fried rice, twice cooked pork, and fried green beans with red pepper. We then wandered through the market where I found a small knife for cutting up the persimmons someone gave me yesterday. They had the video i pods that the boys wanted but Cici would not let me buy one, saying they all failed in 2-4 months. Despite all the stuff there, no demons were found for Ben.
We walked back to hotel and Jon chatted with me while Cici watched TV. When Linshan joined us, Jon took us down dark alley ways to a restaurant run by the Provincial Government of Sichuan. We finally found something that overloaded my taste buds. The dishes were so hot the only flavors I could taste where the peppercorns and the heat. Dinner below from front to Linshan was a mixed "parts" stew with various organ meats and fried duck blood pudding, bullfrogs in hot pepper oil, and orange beef. The latter is totally unlike the American version - the beef is almost jerky like, the preserved oranges intenses, and the red peppers very hot. It's not at all sweet and the meat isn't breaded.
After a tearful goodbye, I headed back to the hotel to back up. I leave a good friend here and a new little sister along with the wonderful staff of our Chinese office so as glad as I am to be headed home, there is some sadness. We promised that if I go to the show next year in Shanghai I'll come up and visit.
My flight leaves early in the day and so there will be no more posts until I get home.
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