Speaking only a handful of phrases in Chinese makes buying food a bit of a challenge. Sometimes you cannot tell if what you're looking at is chicken, fish or pork (the other white meat). While we've been able to find a few restaurants with English menus, and they are certainly more popular in touristy areas, most of the time we are resorted to pointing and saying "chicken?" to see if that is what we're ordering.
Several restaurants in the mall across the street from our apartment have wax food replicas displayed in a window at the entrance. Still, we find ourselves pointing to order. Noodle and Rice dishes are popular, along with soups, and most times we drink tea or water with our meal. There are a wide variety of teas served but we see Jasmine, Oolong, Green, Black and Chrysanthemum quite often. Oh, and if you order water at a restaurant, make sure to tell them "ice water" else you get a cup of warm, not room temperature but warm water!
Prices at restaurants vary of course but we've been able to eat most meals for well under ten dollars, many times only three or four dollars. Import beers are more expensive than their domestic brands: Yanjing and Tsingtao, which are anywhere between 1 dollar and 4 dollars depending on the establishment.
Peking Duck
Beijing's most famous dish, Peking Duck, is all of what they say it is and then some. I've had the pleasure of eating twice since I've been here and we're planning to go again this weekend. Let me explain what I know of how its served.
First, the duck is cooked hanging in an open oven and different restaurants pride themselves on what kind of wood they use as that impacts the flavor considerably. Nicer restaurants will serve you a plate of the skins that capture most of this flavor as a way to showcase the quality of their duck recipe.
As an appetizer, there are wide varieties but it is common to eat duck heart, liver or feet. I had the pleasure of trying the duck feet marinated in some sort of mustard sauce, all I could taste was mustard but the texture... well you can imagine.
The duck is carved and served on a few small plates in slices. Now here's the best part: you take a thin flower dumpling shell, some veggies and onions, pieces of duck and some plum sauce and roll it up in a sort of mini burrito.
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I'm playing a bit of catch-up as usual with this but there are more posts coming about our weekend trip to the wall.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Week 1 in Beijing
Following a week of living in Beijing, we have some general observations...
First of all, there are a lot of people in Beijing. The population figures don't really hit you until you're walking around can see the 14 million who call Beijing home. Within the city, many people walk or ride some sort of bicycle to get around and bike lanes are well utilized even by the occasional taxi.
Public transportation is certainly the preferred method for most commuters. The subways, taxis and busses are all fully populated at most times of the day, especially the subways. The cost is a flat rate, 2 yuan ($0.29) no matter the length of the ride. People pack the subways during rush hour to the point where there is no need to grab a bar or handle to brace oneself, personal space does not exist on the morning commute. Taxis are a minimum 10 yuan ($1.43) and a 20 minute ride costs around 40 yuan. While many Chinese use the city busses, if you don't speak Chinese, it can be very challenging to know when to get off or even read the route signs.
We travel to the Distribution Center by company shuttle. We see several similar shuttles on the way to work in the morning, it would seem that many companies use this method to transport employees from the city center out to the business districts. Havi sends two shuttles, one each to the east and west, each taking about 75-90 minutes to complete their route. Our stop is the first in the morning and the last in the evening.
Once we arrive at the DC we are more or less on our own. The work day lasts from 9am until 5:45pm with a short lunch break in the middle. It seems that few of the employees take much more than a half hour to eat their lunch and then they diligently return to work. All of the Havi DC employees we have talked to have been eager to help and very hospitable. The DC is out in the business district where many new buildings are being constructed but there are few restaurants, save for a 10 minute walk to Subway. Considering that the boxed lunch provided at the office leaves something to be desired, we have had our share of BMTs.
Next Installment: Grocery & Dining
First of all, there are a lot of people in Beijing. The population figures don't really hit you until you're walking around can see the 14 million who call Beijing home. Within the city, many people walk or ride some sort of bicycle to get around and bike lanes are well utilized even by the occasional taxi.
Public transportation is certainly the preferred method for most commuters. The subways, taxis and busses are all fully populated at most times of the day, especially the subways. The cost is a flat rate, 2 yuan ($0.29) no matter the length of the ride. People pack the subways during rush hour to the point where there is no need to grab a bar or handle to brace oneself, personal space does not exist on the morning commute. Taxis are a minimum 10 yuan ($1.43) and a 20 minute ride costs around 40 yuan. While many Chinese use the city busses, if you don't speak Chinese, it can be very challenging to know when to get off or even read the route signs.
We travel to the Distribution Center by company shuttle. We see several similar shuttles on the way to work in the morning, it would seem that many companies use this method to transport employees from the city center out to the business districts. Havi sends two shuttles, one each to the east and west, each taking about 75-90 minutes to complete their route. Our stop is the first in the morning and the last in the evening.
Once we arrive at the DC we are more or less on our own. The work day lasts from 9am until 5:45pm with a short lunch break in the middle. It seems that few of the employees take much more than a half hour to eat their lunch and then they diligently return to work. All of the Havi DC employees we have talked to have been eager to help and very hospitable. The DC is out in the business district where many new buildings are being constructed but there are few restaurants, save for a 10 minute walk to Subway. Considering that the boxed lunch provided at the office leaves something to be desired, we have had our share of BMTs.
Next Installment: Grocery & Dining
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