Sunday, August 8, 2010

Sunday in Bejing




For you information, due to censorship, we are not currently able to directly access our blog (we are emailing to Berkeley who is posting for us--thank you, Berkeley). We have received one comment via the blog site so you may be able to comment and us get it but to be sure, you can always email us at jnalindauer@gmail.com.
Andy started the day with his morning constitutional. The Catholic Church was just beginning services when he walked by. Like in America, late worshippers were rushing to the door. It serves as a church, exercise location, dog walking site and who know what else--certainly multi-denominational.
We were collected about 11am by Lu Chao's family to have lunch--Peking Duck. We went to QuanJude which has been serving roasted duck for almost 150 years. The restaurant was lovely and the service excellent. It is located in Science Park, home to Google China and several other compu-tech offices. The food was delicious--our duck came with a 'certificate'--the ducks used are like veal; grown only to be used as food and caged so they get extra fat. After cooking, the skin is peeled off and served separately. It is very tasty but high in fat. The meat is then sliced into 120 pieces--dark, moist and yummy. It is to be eaten one of two ways: a 'crepe' or lettuce leaf is selected and used like an tortilla; the meat is then dipped into a special brown sauce and thin strips of green onion and cucumber are added to what will become a duck roll-up. We added a garlicky green vegetable, Chinese salad (brown vinegar no oil dressing), udon noodles and even dessert to our meal.
We had to go for a long walk just to work off some of the calories we consumed. We went to a very large park (opened to the public in 1925) called Beihai Park. The lake is long and skinny and boating is a popular activity. The first lake upon entry is covered with lotus. Only selected drivers are allowed to paddle thru the lotus area. You then move to the main lake. Beware! The children are allowed to drive--you do not know fear until you have a 2+ year old driving a boat. Fortunately they move slowly!!
We arrived back safely to the hotel after another exciting and enlightening day in Beijing.
Monday we will spend time getting ready to depart; we fly to Hangzhou early (have to leave for the airport about 5am since it will take about 45 min to get there and our flight is at 7.30--the gate closes 45 minutes before departure!!). We will hook up with Liu Chang somewhere in Hangzhou! In between we are on our own--keeping the phrase finder book handy!!!
More later . . .

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