Project Peking Duck

My expectation of Beijing was that old image of the crazily manic streets filled with cars, motorbikes, hundreds of bicycles, pedestrians and lined with old ugly run down apartment buildings. How wrong I was. Perhaps having the 2008 Olympics made all the difference, I will never know. Regardless, I was impressed and thoroughly relished our short time in Beijing. The city felt new, clean, spacey and bright.

We arrived at Beijing train station a little unprepared and bewildered. Gideon (no pointing fingers) thought we could walk to the hotel so we were looking to buy a map. Outside the station was chaotic. People everywhere. None of the vendors had English maps and all the information booths were closed. We were surprised, but later discovered the Paralympics didn’t start for almost a week yet. Extremely frustrated with our heavy packs, we finally found a map at a hostel and discovered the hotel was a fair walk. So we caught a taxi. Annoyingly the address we had for the hotel was an English translation of the street name which of course the taxi driver did not understand and my limited Chinese could not explain. In the end we rang the hotel and all frustration was quickly forgotten.

Knowing that we would have been traveling full-on for a month, Gideon had booked us a very swish hotel for our stay in Beijing. With a 3-for-2 night deal, we splurged out on a room at the 5* Westin. I think the hotel alone would have made our trip to Beijing a great one. The room was amazing. A huge king sized bed, ‘rainforest’ shower, complimentary bathologist, slippers set out for us at bed time, free wifi, immense breakfast in bed, an extremely helpful concierge, etc. etc. We were so impressed we didn’t leave the hotel for the rest of the day!

The following day the hotel organized a car for us to go see the Great Wall. The driver only spoke a smattering of English, although he did use “Oh my Gaaawwd!” a few times on passing a couple of inexplicable car accidents. It gave me another chance to practice my Chinese. While I was surprised at how much Chinese I have remembered from 10 years ago, I am also aware just how bad my Chinese is too! The plan was to go see The Wall and the Ming Tombs, then be back in time for dinner. On the way there, the driver asked me something about buying some things (I couldn’t understand what) for friends back home and whether we wanted to make a stop. I shrugged and said yes!

Unsure what to expect, we were somewhat suspicious when a young lady met us at the front of the building and started explaining how traditional copper and enamel potter was handmade on site, taking us through the work shops. We were then taken to a massive sales room, explained the significance of different items and then told we could then purchase some samples (of course!!). I can honestly say we were completely sucked in and ended up spending a lot of money there. I wondered whether the driver made a commission??

Chang Cheng – The Great Wall of China
WOW. WOW…. WOW! My jaw is still hanging open. It is completely understandable why this is one of the Ancient Wonders of the World. We were taken to MuTianYu a small reconstructed section of The Wall that was a little less crowded and sleeper than Badaling where a lot of other tourists were taken. Incomprehensively high, thick and long, The Wall was nestled in a beautifully green and mountainous area, both impressive and stunning, I couldn’t stop taking photos. We contemplated that by the time the enemy crossed the surrounding mountains, there would be no way that they could scale and penetrate it.

My main mission while in Beijing was to get myself some authentic Peking Duck. Going on recommendations in both the Lonely Planet and our Russian Experience information I made a semi Chinese-English booking at LiQun Roast Duck Restaurant. Then after reading that the restaurant, while good, is usually full of foreigners, we decided to cancel the booking and ask for a recommendation from the Concierge. Good thinking Gideon! We were sent off to DaDong Roast Duck Restaurant, apparently famous in Beijing. They didn’t take reservations so we sat at the bar to wait, where we had a view of the 5 or 6 chefs working away in an area dedicated to duck roasting. Near by, on the wall, there were framed messages from important people such as the Spanish and NZ ambassadors. Also a good indicator, a large proportion of the clientele looked like locals, always a good sign. We felt in good company.

I’m not sure how authentic our experience was, but it was definitely an experience. The menu was about A3 size and an inch thick with exquisite pictures of all of the dishes. It seemed to combine traditional Chinese ingredients and ideas with a more modern, European presentation. After some language difficulties, as per usual we ordered way too much. Everything was delicious. The Peking Duck was an experience unto itself. Our waitress showed us three different ways to eat the duck. There was the say I’m familiar with, in a pancake with cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce, in some light bread pockets with garlic sauce (and other stuff) and also simply dipped in sugar (who would have thought?). To be honest, I have had better, but overall the meal was a culinary sensation!

On our last day in Beijing we hada sleep in and then headed off to explore the grandeur and opulence of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. After a very long day of sightseeing with only a shared ice cream and some drinks, I was feeling pretty tired and somewhat narky (Gideon can vouch). I started to perk up at the though of food as we had planned to head to Beijing’s famous food market where all sorts of strange delicacies can be sampled at the hawker stores. The book at the hotel said it was located at the end of the big shopping street Wangfumen Dajie. After half an hour of looking at the end of the street we couldn’t find it. By now I was pissed off to the point of not wanting to eat anymore. We headed south towards the main shopping mall area and still couldn’t find it so we gave up and resorted to McDonalds instead. On a full stomach I was much happier although disappointed about the market. We walked back towards the nearest main road to hail a taxi, only to find the food market. It turns out we had missed it earlier due to buses blocking our view as we crossed the road earlier. Oh well! Unfortunately we were both full and had to be at a show to see the National Chinese Acrobats (mind boggling feats of juggling umbrellas with feet, balancing on a piece of wood atop 5 stacked rolling cylinders or 12 girls on a moving bicycle) shortly, but we did manage to fit in some fried seahorse!