Temple Fair

It is now officially year of the dragon! The parking lot was littered with last night's fireworks bits in the morning. I wondered if the cars with alarms still had any juice left.



The start of the new year marks the start of temple fairs. Although temple fairs rarely happen at temples anymore, the name nevertheless has stuck. These fairs are full of traditional Beijing snacks, folk art, performances, acrobatics, and useless trinkets and toys.

There are at least 7 or 8 different fairs around Beijing area. We decided to check out Ditan, the biggest one. The entrance fee was 10 RMB (1.7 CAD) per person and opened from 9 to 5PM daily for 1 week after New Year's day. Ditan was packed full of people, shoulder to shoulder. We had to fight our way through to every booth but it definitely felt like new year!

Decorated gore, a folk art craft.




Really not sure what this is suppose to be. We even came across a guy dressed up as this character. Hmmmm....




A sedan ride around the park.




This I found really funny. All the bamboo sticks sticking out of the garage bags were from the thousands of BBQ meat skewers sold at the fair.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Beijing, China

Happy New Year

The loud cracking of fireworks hasn't stopped since this morning. The neighbourhood is in full throttle welcoming the year of the dragon. Our family is celebrating the New Year in Beijing this year. Due to lack of space, we decided to host New Year dinner in a restaurant. I must admit I was a little disappointed. Small part of me was looking for that childhood memory of what New Year should be like.

During the day we cleaned the house. It symbolized a clean "sled" to start the new year. Dinner was great. Fish for a plentiful year, fried pineapple turnover for a sweet year, chicken, braised pork, veggies and of course dumplings! One dish baffled me a bit. Mashed yam set on a potato chip and topped with jam. It was a strange combo, but it tasted light, fluffy, sweet with hint of savory.






When dessert came around, the waitress dropped serious hints that she would like to go home soon and celebrate new year with her family. We felt bad for her and left shortly. As soon as we hit the street we were bombarded with people everywhere setting off even louder and brighter fireworks.

Line of firecrackers just about to be lit.






By the intersection of our neighbourhood, they set up a giant dragon head lantern made out ceramic plates, spoons and cups.






Dragon lantern all lit up at night.






Everyone gathered in front of the TV right around 8 to watch CTV's annual spring festival show. We ate more food like sunflower seeds, peanuts, oranges and candies as we commented on the celebrities that showed up perform, the quality of the sketches, and other random gossip. Minutes before midnight, the neighbourhood became insane. Imagine that the Celebration of Lights wasn't lit up way out in English Bay but rather in the parking lot ten meters away. I felt I could reach out and catch a spark. It sounded like a war zone. Car alarms were going off everywhere. I watched everything like a little kid with my mouth open. People looked like they were having so much fun. I was kicking myself for not buying fireworks too. People didn't stop with the fireworks until close to 2AM.

Fun note, it is tradition that during your zodiac year, you have to wear something red on you all year long. A popular item is red underwear!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Beijing, China

10 Things I Love About China

Photos from my personal collection.

10. Fishing for your own lunch in rural Beijing

9. KFC the Chinese Version.

8. Outdoor Dancing (by the Bund in Shanghai)



7. Star Rated Public Toilets (this one in the Forbidden Palace is rated 4 stars)



6. Not Obeying Funny Chingrish Signs
(`Stop Climbing the Cliff`from Yellow Mountain and `Relic Protected, No Scratch`in the Forbidden Palace)



5. Roadside Fine Dining
(Best meal I ever had! Seafood District in Pudong, Shanghai)



4. Food, Food, Food and Food. All the yummy food!
(on the left are Hairy Legged Crabs and on the right is a Peking Duck Feast)



3. and food you didn`t think is edible.
(Star Fish on the left and scorpion on the right. All deliciously presented in stick format)



2. Tobogganing down the Great Wall



1. China, you are simply beautiful.

Great Wall and Food - Beijing, China

It was an early start and we were back on the train heading to Beijing. Again, it was about a 30hour train ride with another crazy border crossing. We arrived at the Mongolian border at about 730pm and departed for China around 10pm. Around 1030pm we arrived at the China border. Immigration and customs bordered and took our paperwork. We also had temperature scans to see whether we were sick. I actually caught a really bad cold - fortunately no fever. After they got our paperwork, the train is moved into a gaint "garage" where the wheels have to be changed. The train rails are different widths from Mongolia to China - the Chinese being closer together. We stayed on the train as the compartments were lifted up and then replaced on new wheels. The procedure was very efficiently executed but a little unbelievable. The workers had hard hats but no other safety equipment - including no steel toe boots. In fact, one worker sat on his hat while the train was being lowered onto the new wheels and his head! We finished the wheel changing process at about 1130pm and then had a stop from midnight to 1am. We went to bed at that point.

The following day we arrived in Beijing at about 2pm and were greeted by my cousin at the station who hired a van and driver for our 4 days in Beijing. We went to the hotel, showered and waited for the arrival of two new members Sandy and Florent! Dinner was a feast of Peking Duck - very yummy. There was so much food! Another favorite dish and specialty of the restaurant was Pears - fried batter in the shape of pears with red bean filling. So good! After dinner, we headed out to see the 2008 Summer Olympic venues by night - the Bird's Nest and Watercube all lit up in the rain.

The next morning, we started our day at the Temple of Heaven and Earth. The temple is where the emperor gave thanks and prayed to the Heaven. My cousin who calls himself an "Old Beijing", someone who knew everything about Beijing. He doesn't speak any English, so I did the translating. The temple area/park was huge and filled with seniors doing TaiChi and other morning exercises. Walking around the park for 3 + hours worked up an appetite. Lunch was another feast. This time the special dish was ZhaJian noodles (炸酱面). A highlight of this meal was the fried bananas and fried cream puffs. We then headed off to see the Forbidden City - the home of last several Emperors. It was amazing how much space one man needs (plus his many concubines and servants). On route we went through Tiananmen Square, the world's largest square. The square was packed full of people. We were told the square is always crawling with undercover cops. You are under constant surveillance, but probably one of the safest place in the country.

After the Forbidden City, we climbed the Jing Hill (景山) behind it for a full view of the Forbidden City. The hill is also famous for being the spot the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty hung himself in 1644.

Day 2 in Beijing was all about the one of the world's greatest man made accomplishments - the Great Wall of China. The Wall is over 6000KM long and built to keep Mongolian invaders out. The highest and most famous section of the wall is called BaDaLing. However, we decided to venture out to one of the less known locations of the wall called MuTianYu. We spent about 3 hours on the Wall with a lot less tourists, but just as spectacular. It is one of my dreams to hike the Wall for a week and explore the less restored parts via camping. We headed back down by a much faster way - by LUGGING. They have a "luge" or giant slide to the bottom. Great fun but of course no helmets. I think if weren't for time constraint, the group would have went back up the Wall, so we could lug down again.

I tried to show the gang something different every meal. Because we are known for our fantastic and vast varieties of different types of food. So we had to fish for our own lunch! The restaurant hidden in a village near by the Wall was known for its fish dishes. The fish they serve are raised in spring water from the hills. Only Michelle was close to catching anything, so we just asked the waiter to net us a few fish for lunch. The dinning patio of the restaurant was on top of the fish ponds. We watched fish swimming by while we enjoyed eating their cousins.

Upon our return to the city we were ready for a round of massages!

(Part Blog Contribution by Stacey G.)