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.

Fantastic Foods of China

China has over 5000 years to perfect its cuisine. It is no wonder it is one of the most popular cuisine in the world. Food is very important to the Chinese people. All important occasions are celebrated with food. People socialize over food and business deals are made over a good dinner. The Chinese pay a lot of attention to what they eat and love dishes that has a meaning or a great story to go along with it. They believe whatever animal part you eat will benefit that particular part of your body. It is no wonder that restaurants that serve animal penis became very popular in recent years, more popular than Viagra.

China is a large country and its food is very different from south to north, not to mention, its 56 different ethnics all have their unique take on food. Chinese cuisine is divided into 10 types according to regions: Beijing (京), Shanghai (沪), Anhui (徽), Cantonese (粤), Fujian (闽), Hunan (湘), Jiangsu (苏), Shandong (鲁), Sichuan (川) and Zhejiang (浙). General rule of thumb is cuisine from northern regions is usually spicier and saltier dishes accompanied with lots of noodles and cuisine from Southern regions is usually lighter and sweeter dishes that are preferred to be eaten with rice. Although I was born and raised as a Southern girl, I have taste buds for the northern dishes which I find much more flavourful.

Making a (very) short list of must try dishes in China is very difficult for me since there are so many great dishes!

1. Peking Duck 烤鸭 (Beijing) - probably the most famous Chinese dish, the Peking duck is usually served at table side with the chef thinly slicing the duck skin off a whole roast duck onto a plate. Then the skin wrapped in a thin rice pancake, hosin sauce, cucumber and green onion slice is eaten.

2. Steamed Soup Bun 小笼包 (Shanghai) - this miniature steamed pork bun is famous for the very mouth-watering soup inside. There is definitely a technique to how to eat these little guys. The trick is to place bun in a soup spoon first, nibble a small opening on the bun and suck the soup out first before popping the entire bun in your month.

3. Hot pot 火锅 (Chongqing) - It is noted for its peppery and hot taste, scalding yet fresh and tender. This is the quintessential Chinese social meal which people gather around a small pot filled with flavorful and nutritious soup base. Thin sliced raw variety meat, fish, various bean curd products and all kinds of vegetables are boiled in the soup base. You then dip them in a little bowl of special sauce. Be careful since the spicy soup base is burning hot.

4. Hairy Legged Crab 大闸蟹 (Shanghai) - If you love seafood, this is a must try! Ironic, this crab with the scary name is a fresh water creature. When it is steamed and dipped in soy sauce, you will find a flavour explosion in your mouth.

5. Candied Haw Berries 冰糖葫芦 (Beijing) - Any dessert that involves the word candy is an instant favourite of mine. The berries are dipped in molten sugar which is left to harden in the cold and sold on a stick. You can also find variations with oranges, grapes, strawberries, and bananas, or dipped in crumbled peanuts as well as sugar.

6. Salted Duck 盐水鸭 (Nanjing) - This delicious and tender duck dish is rich in flavour yet not greasy.

7. Broiled Chili Fish 水煮鱼 (Sichuan) - the fish is broiled and presented in a mini wok, completely covered in liquid with floating chillies. There are tons of napa cabbage, Chinese celery, mushrooms and lily.

8. Cross-Bridge Rice Noodles 过桥米线 (Lijiang) - a plate of thinly sliced raw meat (chicken, pork and fish), vegetables (beansprouts, chives and beancurd slices) and noodles are first served. Then mix and stir the raw ingredients into a bowl of hot piping soup. The noodle soup dish can be eaten once the meat is cooked and trust me the meat will cook in the hot soup.

9. Cumin Lamb Skewer 羊肉串 (Xijiang) - lamb meat is cut into very small bite size, grilled to perfection, slight charred and crispy on the outside seasoned with cumin and chili.

When in China, one just need to be very opened minded and not pass up any opportunity to taste everything.

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.)