Food

Beijing was formerly called Peking, right?
So... Peking Duck was uppermost on Lily's mind... as can be seen in this pic :-))

(Not a big Duck fan myself, but it was very fine, Lily was impressed & no complaints about price...RMB86 (NZD16) for this + mushrooms & vegetables + a large beer! The remainder of the (half) Duck arrives in a large tureen of soup.)

The Good News is that lots of restaurants have menus with lovely photos & English translations.
Not only that, the food that comes out usually resembles the photographs exactly!

The Bad News is that the English translations can be confusing..... although can be entertaining,...
eg. the best we've come across so far are.....

- The Flat Piece of Stone Burns the Fresh Juice Squid Tube
- Salamanders Unexploded Geese Post (any guesses???)
- Iced Glutinous Fice Wins (a refreshing cold drink resembling home brewed ginger beer)
- Mushroom Casserole is Brought Along (which we figured was a Mushroom casserole but with Broad, Long noodles :-) )

Our prize is presently awarded to this one...
- US Pole Despot Snake (yup, reptilian dish, this one)

And a close second...
- Ruthless Cook Abysmal Sea Lithopsporic Belly (I've NO idea!)

He he.

Today we knocked off the BIGGIE...

The Terracotta Buried Army of Qin Shihuang, who is regarded as the first Emperor of China, c.250BC.
Yup, it is impressive, regardless of high expectations.

[Sidebar:.... What wasn't so impressive was the 'tour' that we took which, of course, involved the inevitable channelling of the participants through factory shops...although the Silk Factory was in fact fascinating... ah no, we didn't buy any silk quilts. It does appear however that the Terracotta Army site would be difficult to get out to & around the multiple sites by oneself.]

FOOD in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, is somewhat challenging for the delicate Cantonese palate...
There appears to be a significant (chinese) Muslim population in Xi'an.
Grain, dumplings, baked cakes, sweets, ...noodles are perhaps more popular than rice.

Here's me looking stunned by a peppery casserole of flat noodles, mushrooms, tofu, vegetables & pigeon eggs... only RMB17

And Lily on a bus making a mess of a type of cake from the Muslim Quarter, wrapped in an almost impenetrable, powdery white, fine fibre. Ha ha...

Guangzhou is also about FOOD.

Here we have...

1) Water Cress soup, flavoured with '100yr old' preserved egg diced up.
2) Steamed or poached/blanched Oysters, dressed with oil, ginger, garlic, spring onions (I don't believe I've had better Oysters) ;-)
3) A 1.1kg fresh water fish, selected live, steamed & dressed with oil. (If you fancy a bit more exotic than fish, you can choose from many shellfish, prawn, crabs, or.... frogs... all presented live for you.)

Around RMB130 for 2. (Poor shot of Lil sorry, but she's too busy anyway eating more than her share of Oysters.)

(Shaanxi food next, we're heading way up to Xi'an)...... Owen