RANDY P, Where's your China thread?

[Rick Lee]

Did I miss it? Let's see the photos and read the stories.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Probably censored by our pals in the Chinese government.

[RANDY P]

Sorry dude! I got caught up with a bunch of stuff I promise ya I'll have it up shortly!

We gotta talk about this..It was fun.

rjp

[Moneyguy1]

What SHOULD we do with Red China?

Use a nice blue or yellow tablecloth.

[RANDY P]

On 10/25, I did a trip to China that was basically a long trip by Plane, Train, Bus, cruise ship, and by boat. I was in a group of about 30 people, arriving in Beijing, then by train to Xian, plane to Chongquing, then down the Yangtze, and then another plane to Shanghai. The whole trip was 12 days counting flying in and out from CA. The package was with gate1travel.com who did an excellent job with our planning and their guide was top notch.

Arrival - got into Beijing after the 12 hour flight, -

and once through customs on the way to the tour bus - standing outside, taking in what would seem familiar. Being slightly disoriented from the flight, listening to "Bridge Over Troubled Water" played by flute over the loudspeakers as I boarded the bus. This picture was taken at 5PM local time, outside it was almost 65 degrees - one thing that was soon to become a common theme was smog - there is a lot of it there



1st full day out was a trip to Tiananmen square followed by a trip to the Summer palace. On the bus ride over, Duan the tour guide gave us Americans a "lets get a few things straight speech"

Tour guide Duan is a 35 Y/O Chinese citizen that grew up in Beijing and went to college in the USA as a guest of a major Bank. His parents were Party officials. It was interesting to hear his perspective on the student uprising.

Duan with Jeanne Sr.






He claims he was there when the military came down to quell the uprising and the one picture that shocked the world




didn't even occur there, on that day or ever. he insists that his country was the target of an international smear campaign to make China look bad.

On the way over:



I was still taken aback by all the smog there - this was 10AM when the last pic was taken.

On the way in to the city - a few things were becoming apparent besides the smog - Chairman Mao everywhere along with huge crowds








more to follow

[RANDY P]

continued




Once inside

[RANDY P]

Some items on display in the forums





statues





We then boarded the bus and went to a local restaurant to eat what was one of many meals of food (chinese, of course) and what was another reoccuring theme- Kung Pao Chicken. We ate that 6 days out of 11, and one day it was served 2x.

On dining in China - IMHO the food isn't nearly as good as what you can get here in the USA. I do not say that because of what they served, but the quality is a lot different that what we're used to in the USA. Beef had a gamey taste due to different processing procedures, things didn't look as good as what you would expect.

Food was served heavily sauced, salty and cooked in heavy grease and there is something to be said about the service- things were served in different orders and was rushed out to the tables - sometimes appetizers and main courses arriving backwards. They also charge you on the spot for any drinks (Pepsi, for instance) on the spot- like you're ordering at the poker table. Truth be told after a few days of local eating I actually took a break and fasted.

If you are sensitive to heavy food, be prepared to skip lots of meals.

Next, the summer palace.

[RANDY P]

pics from the Summer palace









Boarding a boat around the palace



continued

[RANDY P]

Here are some different pics of anything around Beijing and just assorted weird stuff.

If I remember right this is a new Olympic training center



China hates Poodles (my Standard was offended) at a local park



the larger sign



China is the last place I thought I see this:



They install exterior AC units on all the buildings




Olympics building



4 star bathroom



One more of tiananmen square


Spanish conquistador relics coming to town


I have over 3,000 pictures over another 10 days, more tommorow night...

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

We then boarded the bus and went to a local restaurant to eat what was one of many meals of food (chinese, of course) and what was another reoccuring theme- Kung Pao Chicken. We ate that 6 days out of 11, and one day it was served 2x.

On dining in China - IMHO the food isn't nearly as good as what you can get here in the USA. I do not say that because of what they served, but the quality is a lot different that what we're used to in the USA. Beef had a gamey taste due to different processing procedures, things didn't look as good as what you would expect.

Food was served heavily sauced, salty and cooked in heavy grease and there is something to be said about the service- things were served in different orders and was rushed out to the tables - sometimes appetizers and main courses arriving backwards. They also charge you on the spot for any drinks (Pepsi, for instance) on the spot- like you're ordering at the poker table. Truth be told after a few days of local eating I actually took a break and fasted.

If you are sensitive to heavy food, be prepared to skip lots of meals.

Randy,

This is what really struck me the first time I was in China. People in America love Chinese food and I am one of the worst, able to eat it 5-6 times a week.

You go to China and order "sweet and sour" chicken and kids, it aint gonna be what you get in America! Chop up part of a chicken, who knows nor cares which part and start cooking it, bones, skin, everything... it all goes in the pot and onto your plate.

You then pick up the chopsticks and if what you pop in your mouth is not what you wanted you spit it on the ground, or at least thats the way the locals did where we were! Its a whole different world.

Years ago my wife (now ex) went to Hong Kong for a weeks time off. She was guided by an old friend of ours who lived there for 35 years and speaks the language fluently. My wife and friend went to the "hole in the wall" restaurant there and sat down. Asked for a menu and there was none, just tell us what you would like. My wife asked what all they had and the waitress said "come with me, I can show you" and proceeded to take her in the kitchen.

Ladies and Gentlemen... my wife walked in the door to the kitchen only to find cages full of cats, dogs and monkeys along with a chicken or 30. This was pointed out to her as "pick whichever one you want, its yours after we kill and gut it"... My wife became became ill and left the place, not eating meat the rest of the trip! She would not eat Chinese for years after this!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

... Beef had a gamey taste due to different processing procedures, things didn't look as good as what you would expect.
...

I'm trying hard not to be insensitive, stereotypical or to sound bigotted in making this comment but in light of Joe's story...how do you know this beef was in fact beef?

Seeing China isn't on my short list of places I feel I MUST see, but I admit I would like to see it. Problem is, I'd probably starve to death as I am kind of a picky eater.

[The Gaijin]

Also, what we know as "Chinese food" is based on the food from the south. The food in the north is apparently heavier and oilier.

As for beef, besides specialty grass fed beef and old milking cows turned into hamburger - our beef is from feedlots and fed on lots of corn and soy. Quite different from the rest of the world..

[Rick Lee]

Oh Randy, you missed out. I never had a piece of western food in China and never had a meal I didn't love. I never saw any food in China that anyone here would recognize as Chinese food, other than Peking Duck. Like the Chinese tour groups that come here, I suspect the western groups that go there are all sent to restaurants with special package deals in place that are dirt cheap and pay the tour guide a cut. Sorry to hijack, but here are a few photos of the kinds of meals I had. Most expensive one was maybe $12 for two people, gallons of beer and more food than we could ever finish.

[Rick Lee]

BTW, you cannot have a serious conversation with a real Chicom about Tiananmen Sq. They have all drunk the Kool Aid and just repeat the gov't. version like a Memorex cassette. Even plenty of the Mainlanders who live here will recite it for you and really believe it. My wife is one of them, though she was way too young at the time to know what was going on. Only one girl I know there actually has a western perspective of it and her English is as good as mine and she's probably read every book I've ever read - AND - she had never been outside of China before. Those are rare types.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

BTW, you cannot have a serious conversation with a real Chicom about Tiananmen Sq.

My daughter-in-law (resident wife of the son-in-law who won't move out) is another one. Beijingers just know to stay away from the Square on the anniversary because the police get very touchy. One very hot summer as a teenager, she decided to see if an egg would fry on the pavement of the square. Of course, she was arrested & it took her father's intervention to make it go away. He is mid-high gov't so it was forgotten.

On tours, you are taken to gov't-run restaurants near the attractions & the inevitable over-priced factory stores. You have to venture out on your own for real food. We had some wonderful meals. Beijing duck for 4 cost $25 - in the right restaurant. In tourist restaurants, it would be 4X the price.

Ian

[Rick Lee]

$25 for Peking Duck?!?! We didn't even pay that much. There are plenty of super restaurants in Beijing, but you need a local to help you find them. My buddy and I just hired an English-speaking student we found on China Daily. She had her state tour guide cert., so we even got discounts on museum admission fees with her. She took us to some great restaurants, foot massage places, a visit to her home to meet her family and then arranged for her uncle to drive us to the Great Wall at Mutianyu one day and then back to the airport. Below is the meal we had on the way back from Mutianyu. We stumblmed upon this hole in the wall a good hour or so outisde of Beijing. It was one of the best meals I've ever had, ran $13 total for the three of us and we couldn't come close to finishing it. God, it was so good.

[Rick Lee]

Here's dinner in one of Beijing's famed Hutongs.



Beijing, as much as I really didn't care for the place compared to other cities there, has some very cool, beautiful alleyways called hutongs. Lots of them are right off the main roads like Wanfujingdajie. But we saw no westerners in any of them. They all seemed to stay on the main drags. We went hunting for real hidden places and got lucky every time. I think this meal was around $8 total for all three of us.

BTW, I think the vast majority of police in Beijing are plain clothes. You still a lot of uniformed ones, but the plain clothes goons are ubiquitous. In Tiananmen Sq. you see thos tiny minivans everywhere. Rest assured, if someone steps out of line, goons appear out of thin air and take the troublemaker into one of those little minivans. Very fast and effective. But honestly, one of the things I like about China authoritarian style is that everyone knows the rules and knows if they get out of line, they get their skull thumped.

[imcarthur]

As Rick points out, go it alone if you can. We had family to take us around & to book things locally. A trip to Xi'an - flights to/from Shijiazhuang & Beijing, 5 star hotel for 2 nights, van + driver + guide for 2 days, and admissions to everything was only $600.

Randy: Did you try Moutai?

In the hutong, a 10 minute walk south from Tiananmen:





Ian

[Rick Lee]

Randy, did you get to go around Chongqing a bit? I had a hard time with people there, as they all seemed out to rob me or were kind of rude. But it was a very interesting place. Because it's as hilly as San Fran., I saw only one bicycle in the whole place. Women were just unreal hot, food was great and the place had a super vibe. Train stations in China tend to be rough areas and the two times I tried to get a taxi at the one in CQ, I had a very hard time. Second time I finally gave up and took a motorcycle taxi - no helmet - and I was wearing shorts and a golf shirt. That was late at night and the ride was pure adrenaline, wrong way around traffic circles, over potholes, through unlit tunnels, just nuts. I took a bus there from Chengdu and luckily sat next to a hot girl from Guangzhou who was going to CQ with her other hot friend. We all ended up hanging out for a few days there, hitting the bars, getting hot pot and foot massages. I had also lined up an English-speaking student guide through China Daily in Chongqing. But she turned out to be only 19 and still living with her folks. So she couldn't stay out past 8pm with me. Good thing I met those girls on the bus, as we met up whenever my guide wasn't available. Communication was not real easy, but it wasn't like we needed to have deep political conversations like here on PPOT.

[RANDY P]

Rick - we spent a half day at Chongquing walking around on the wall -

I suspect the food was a half-hearted attempt at American style - however I did have the best Peking Duck there- it was fire cooked over applewood and sliced thin and served with panakes. I didn't get a pic. It wasn't bad, just heavy

immcarthur - I didn't try Moutai- what is it? Also, I think I went thru that Hutong- my tour guide grew up there and supposedly did Jet Li.

I'll have some more pics up tonight once I sort thru them all