Thanksgiving in China

Yes, it's Thanksgiving in China. The Christmas lights are going up and the mall decorations are underway for a festive shopping seasons. Mind you, most people don't really know what Christmas is all about. Tonight Noel and I enjoyed the closest thing we could find to an American Turkey for the holiday. Unfortunately, our KFC meal was less than satisfying.

For us it was just another day at work, but it's hard to forget a holiday that you've celebrated for so many years. I have a feeling that Christmas and New Years Eve will be different this year.

People

Here is an interesting thought; there is something very reassuring to knowing that whenever and wherever you go there are people - lots of people - working, playing, eating, cooking, buying, selling and doing everything else making us an active part of society. Beijing, unlike any other place I have been, is the definition of hyper-active. Last Saturday, after dinner around 11pm, there was an armada of people constructing a new skyscraper. Tonight, at 10pm on Friday, there is a crew of about 100 strong refurbishing the building across the street. You can see the welding almost anytime at night...sparks of a city on the move ;-)


CCTV building under construction - not far from our home

Forbidden city

The forbidden city, once restricted to Chinese royalty and dignitaries, this huge city within a city was absolutely beautiful in autumn. Noel and I explored the main buildings and sights for nearly 3 hours, but only saw about 50% of the entire complex.


The buildings are amazing. It was said that over 1 million people built the city from 1406 to 1420 using only simple tools. Still difficult to see how something so complex could be done back in those days.

Detail on the buildings is second to none. Even inside posts where only a select few could see, were decked out in intricate patterns. We were very fortunate that on the day of our visit, few people and, even better, less pollution was noticeable.



Though difficult to describe, you could really get a sense that this is one of those world cultural heritage sites. Something big and important, a long time ago, was at this massive palace and even now, you still get a feeling of imperial royalty.

Stinky Tofu and $0.40 Beer

So Noel has been very anxious to try some healthy Chinese food (it's more difficult to find that you think). We came across this 'healthy' Taiwanese restaurant called Alexander Creek Park not far from our place.

The restaurant is particularly known for it's stinky tofu (臭豆腐). Now, we knew it would smell, but let me tell you - it smelled not dissimilar to rotting garbage or cow shit. Still, we thought that like strong cheese, maybe it has a unique flavor. Unique it was, Noel couldn't finish one piece and a few hours later, I'm still tasting it.


Even after this adventure, the other dishes were absolutely delicious! If you ever come across it, please do try some spicy lotus root.

Oh, and this is an interesting find. Across from our place is a Russian shop that sells amongst other things lot's of cheap vodka and beer. Thought I found the jackpot when I spotted 3RMB (~$0.40USD) 600ML TsingTao beers. The first two were fine and the last two were flat. I noticed that the bottle tops had minor chips which might have let the combination escape. The following day I saw a ton of crates with empty TsingTao beer bottles next to the store. Recycled or re-bottled? I don't know but all I can tell you that I'm only going to buy bottles with the foil wraps from now on...besides, they're only an extra $0.30.

Qingdao - Tsingtao Beer Festival

Ni hao! I don't know why Pete didn't mention our little expedition over the Golden Week, but if you've been looking at our slide show you may be asking the following questions:

Why is there a beach in Beijing?

Why does it look like Oktoberfest?

Why do Pete and Noel have a giant beer tent full of Chinese friends?

Well the answers are as follows:

It's not Beijing, it's Qingdao (home of Tsingtao Chinese beer).

It's the Qingdao beer fest!

Everyone is very friendly in China, especially at beer festivals!!

Qingdao was about an hour's flight from Beijing. We were expecting a seaside city, perhaps the size of Ft. Lauderdale ... instead it turns out to be a 'small' city of 4 million! Also, since it was the holiday week, there had to be at least 6 million there. The buildings in this picture are not the main business district either - that was about twice the size of this area.

Since Qingdao is on the coast, they have a lot of seafood. We ordered up a selection, and got these guys. If anyone has ever seen prawns like this please let us know the proper way to peel them. We did manage to find a way to eat them (after photographing them thoroughly first) - they were delicious.

Oh, and another Qingdao specialty ... beer in bags (we guessed it was about 1.5 lt's worth for about $1).

The festival was HUGE! With many exotic beers from around the world, such as Pabst Blue Ribbon. Of course there was Tsingtao - as well as a good selection of German brands. We ended up in the Hoffbrau House (HB) tent, where we made many new friends!