A Day in Beijing

October 3, 2010  •  Beijing, China, Travel

We left our hotel at 10am this morning and didn’t return until after our Peking duck dinner at post -10pm tonight. For most tourists, that’s too long of a day, but for me, the travel lover, that’s an experience not to be missed!We started our day off by visiting the Olympic village where we walked down the long promenade that passes the water cube and ends up across the lake from the bird nest stadium, which is striking. Fortunately, a storm passed through Beijing yesterday leaving the city clear and crisp.On the way from there to Bei Hai park, we passed what seemed like the most authentic area of Beijing, with local vendors hawking food.We finally stopped into a hotel for a bathroom break, and were enticed by the lunch special, made all the more attractive when they offered our group the 65+ special on lunch pricing. It came to about $11 per person, and that included a beer (And ps we aren’t that old – that’s just their way of negotiating.)!We then made lure way down Wangfujing Street, the main shopping street in Beijing – mostly to just experience it.Like how about this packaging for Red Bull?After that we made our way to the night market, which offers everything from insects to male parts on a stick. Really fascinating to a foodie but gross to others. We photographed everything, but ate nothing ( to the vendors dismay. Instead we set about on the cab trip of a lifetime, trying to find the restaurant our hotel had booked for us.Although the vegetables were wonderfully prepared, we were there, of course, for the Peking duck, a classic dish of this region of China.The skin is nice and crispy, but hardly rendered of all of the fat. You must remember that the Chinese were hungry for a long time and so learned to eat everything. And fat, especially this delicious duck fat, gave them energy. We had a great day – despite the numerous cabs who refused to drive us anywhere! Tomorrow – the Forbidden Cit, Tia’en Men Square and the Summer Palace.

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