Rob the Fiddler

Tonight I went to the Yaxiu market.  It this point im not probibly going to buy anything. Im not too impressed by the clothing and the watches are not all that good. There are a few more locals at this market it seems, but for the most part its all same stuff.  One lady started her pitch for a watch (Rolex) at 550 Yuan.  Her “no scratch” test on the face with a plastic tool was unimpressive. Still, it was actually a better place than the silk market.  I was interested in a green laser
that was REALLY powerful.  Ill bet its probibly illegal in the states. Seemed kinda dangerous.

When I got to the center, a lady approached me with a secret stash of something. “Socks?”

Hmmm. Five feet later another lady came up to me with the same product. “Socks!!! Good ones! Cheap”.

Again, it was getting late so I ran up to the food court to get some grub before closing time. More Korean stone pot. Its like thats the hamburger of the east. This pepper beef thing looked pretty good, but it was hard to tell what it really was since the display was plastic. The vendor insisted that it was very good…then he looked at the display in a very surprised manner. There was some yelling in the back and forth until a fake plastic egg (sunny side up) was tossed to the front and slapped on the display.  That clenched the deal!

All the beef out here has been processed a strange way though. Its all very tender, but Jeffery says its been treated a bit with baking soda to soften it up. I dont suppose it could hurt me to eat it a few times…but Ill start to avoid beef. Actually, you dont see a lot of beef around here. At least the ribeyes, sirloins, roasts and prime stuff. Organ meats, tendons and this processed skirt is plentiful. Im sure its all availible…just higher end.

Oh…and I saw that dish I ordered before. It was pig liver, not beef liver. Upon leaving the store I was attacked by more ladies selling socks.

Went out again by myself to check out the Silk Street. We dont really have a lot of time after the cab ride home from work. By the time I get to the hotel, its 6:30.  Shops close at 9, so I generally have 90 minutes to explore and eat.

I didnt really plan on buying anything. I just wanted to look around. I walked to the subway. Its about 20 mins walk from the hotel, and from there its 2 RMB (30 cents) to get anywhere. The subway is fast, clean and cheap.  At rush hour its probibly a headache though.

The market is interesting. All about the hard sell.Prepare yourself for some in-your-face tactics. They yell at ya, grab ya and silk scarves are thrown in your face to get your attention.

China is supposedly cracking down on knock-offs.  Big name fakes are not blatently displayed, but its all there. I suppose it legal to sell overstock, one-offs and defects. Why not.  Most appears to be just that. Thats the same approach as Marshalls and Ross right?  Still, I looked at a several “Rolex”s and “Polo” shirts. The opening price for a fake Rolex was 550 RMB (like 80 bucks). It was not a good watch…even for 10 bucks.  Factory seconds at the Fossil outlet in McKinney are a better deal. All the watches were poor.  The Mao one was kitchy, but no…no watches for me.

I was offered some sweet Air Jordons at 15 bucks starting price. I doubt they would accomidate my flat feet.

Your best bets though are with the tailors.  There is tons of silk and wool. They will stitch up a suit right there…and there were plenty of folks lined up for it. Im still thinking maybe its time for a new suit.

Afterwards, I fell prey to one of the scam artists I read about on the web.  Basically, it was the tea scam.  We had also been approached by the art student scam before, but we blew them off easier.

This girl started walking with me and engaged in small talk.  Her English was very good and she knew a thing or two about Texas. “Yippie get along little doggies”.  Well…close…good effort at least. The scam is that they get you to sit and talk with them over tea. They are in it with the vendors and you end up with a large bill.  Even worse, its large enough that you might use a credit card which could just end up badly.

As I was walking, she kept on asking to stop for coffee.  I kept on instisting that I only wanted to walk around and see stuff. I was neither hungry nor thirsty.  I tried to duck into shop to avoid her. Turns out it was a tea shop. She then did a half-assed translation of the teas and wanted to sit down for tea.

Dang!  I was trying to be polite and just blowing somebody off does not come easily to me. Its just not in my nature. When it became obvious that I was not interested she flat out asked for 20 RMB so SHE could have coffee by herself.  This was after at least 10 minutes of me trying to shake her.  Any normal soul woulda considered that a cheap price to buy their freedom (like 3 bucks!).  For me, well, asking for money is where I cross the line for politely dodging the issue.  I still am never mean.  I will always acknowledge a panhander rather than treat them as invisible. I have no problem looking them in the face, acknowledging their existence as a person, and simply saying no.

I just stopped and asked her what direction she was walking because whichever direction it was, I was going to walk the opposite direction.  I said OPPOSITE loudly too because Americans think that saying things loudly rather than slowly makes people understand you better.  Opps. Ok, I almost lost my cool. Deep breath!!!

She chose South, which worked out pretty well because I north was a mall that was just stupid big.  It had this big overhead pavillon like the screens in downtown Vegas, only BIGGER.

I just sat down and watched the screen for a few minutes while drinking this kinda nasty “sports drink” that caught my eye.
The next night I thought I would check out the Sanlitun district.  I didnt really want to stop at any bars. Besides, by this time, I had heard all kinds of horror stories about fake booze.  In China, there are a  few beers that are cheap and this horrible rice stuff.  I tried a nice sip (like 1/10 of a shot) when Jefferys friends took us out. It was obvious that what they had was high dollar. It still pretty rough. Anything else is western, expensive and probibly fake.  I stuck to some beer with dinner and Diet Coke (coke lite).

The cab dropped me off by the Kempanski building.  In that mall is a German place where all the staff dress up. Fun to see natives in German costumes.

Walking around, I saw a cafe that sold coffee and Birthday cake.  Thats what the sign said. Coffee, Birthday cake.  Pretty sweet if all they sell is that.  Do they id you or what? The picture didnt come out so good.

Sanlitun felt more comfortable to me. There were not at many barkers hounding you to check out their bar.  Still the same number of lone guitar playing crooners and the occasional kareoke singer.  If your an American looking for a good place after 9pm, this seems as good as any. Lots of Expats running around. Its the embassy district. Some embassies are guarded better than others. The German one had big fences and the Chinese guards were very attentive. The Canadian embassy was huge.  Togo looked a little more laid back.

One guy did follow me for a few blocks trying to get me to go to his bar in HouHai.

Him: “You want booze? Beer? Jack Daniels?”
Me: “No”
Him: “You want Lady bar?”
Me: “No”
Him: “China girl much different. You like?  Cheap Beer!!! Cold. Americans like cold beer”
Me: [ Ok, smart pitch with the cold angle. Its been two weeks since Ive had an ice cube...but..] NO!
Him: “You want a cookie?”
Me: ….[huh?]…umm…[wait..thats probibly bad]…NO!

We reached the end of the street. He gave up and I turned the corner to another Mega mall easily twice the size of the galleria.

Some you tube videos are here taken by other people.

So Ive mentioned before that Im here in China on business to train the folks that are taking over my project.  If your not up on your Nortel News, its part of their plan to transition jobs to lower cost centers.  They are not cutting jobs….just moving them. The end result for me is the same. After a free trip to China, its time to dust off my resume.

Previously, the Nortel site in Beijing was located pretty centrally next to the Wangfujing shopping district.  For whatever reason, they moved to a new area just Northeast called the WanJing Technical Park.  The complex is nice, and it has many of the telecom players. Motorola, Ericsson, Sony-Ericsson, Agilent Systems, Alcatel-Lucent. And there is space for more buildings Im sure.

Its strange to look out the window of a high tech building and see folks cleaning the streets with wicker brooms and lugging goods on the back of bikes.  Inside its really nice. They have cubilcle like offices too, but the walls are only 4 feet high so there is less privacy….and perhaps more productivity.

They have this strange indoor conference rooms too.  Not many.  But they look neat.

Work starts at 9 because this is when the majority of the shuttles roll in. Most people take shuttles from various pick up points across the city.  Its not like you can just move to a closer apartment in Beijing. Just getting an address is an ordeal. Its easier to take a 1+ hour shuttle ride every day. There is a subway system, but there is not a stop too close to WanJing.

Lunches seemed at first to be subsidized because a huge helping from the cafeteria is 14 RMB ( 2 bucks). They have many selections. Pretty decent stuff.  Then again, I have seen other meals around the city for less….but as Im trying to avoid stomach issues, I have not taken too many chances.  A meal at a food court in a mall is typically 20-25. Twice as much. A Starbucks espresso is 25 too….just the espressso!

After lunch, its not uncommon to see folks taking a nap at their desk before 1pm. There are a lot of pillows. At 5:30, it all wraps up as the shuttles leave.

They team taking over the project are all pretty smart. Im not worried about them. I put a lot of work into the training and they seemed to absorb the material pretty well.

One of the strange things is that EVERYBODY is young here. Not just Nortel, but all over. Jeffery says that its easy to just fire somebody that seems to be getting old.  There are tons of fresh graduates every year and the competition is fierce.  All service industy jobs are driven by young faces in the city.  Older people that dont have a business for themselves seem to be outta luck. Glad I dont have to look for a job out here.  Then again, if I did, it would more likely be as an English teacher.

This weekend, we were shown around Beijing by some family friends of Jeffery. I enjoyed the sites and tastes they offered and am in debt for the hospitality. Friday night they picked us up right after work and took us to dinner. I’m still not sure if they are part owners, or have and interest or what, but we were treated very well and had a meal that apparently you just don’t come by everyday.

The restaurants specialty was Donkey! And just like the duck night, they treated us to the whole animal.

We started with a cold cut of donkey. It tasted similar to beef. Not gamey as I had feared. The dipping sauce was excellent.

Next was a gelatinous dish made from the skin. Apparently donkey skin is very good for your health and is a valued part of the animal. In fact, just about everything you can eat in China has a purpose or value or some kind of benefit. These are a people that are in touch with what they eat.

A pot of Donkey Soup was served next. I’m getting spoiled with real soup. The only other time I get real soup made from bones is when my girlfriend makes it. The simple stock that was not salty complemented the meal.

Next we fired up a big bowl of stew. The meat was tender and mixed with carrots, root vegetables, mushrooms and many other things. Not very hot spicy, but seasoned nicely. Seriously, it would taste great to any American too.

Then the waiter brought in the plate of meats that I feared. Weird stuff. I had a feeling that when we were told we were eating the whole donkey that I would see this. Guess what cross section of the donkey this is from?

Yep Donkey dong.

Pretty chewy…again, the dipping sauce is key. Kidney was good, so I had a few pieces. Liver was ten times better then that dish I accidentally ordered…but I didn’t have too much of it.

Finally a salad and donkey dumplings with a vinegar dipping sauce. An amazing dinner. Its going to be hard to top that one off.

Saturday, we went to the Badaling Great Wall. There are several sections of the wall all over the mountains around Beijing. Stretches of it go on for as far as the eye can see. As it was raining in the morning, the air was actually pretty clear. It was nice to just be able to drive to the wall as opposed to have to deal with a tour bus and all that junk. This was the way to go. Again, I am in debt to Jeff’s friends for taking us.

When we finished, we stopped in store for tea. The really expensive kind. It was served on a special table made from a tree root and we had a personal server that kept everybody’s cup topped off. I had the green tea but tried the (expensive) black kind. Very earthy tasting. Its getting more difficult to accept teabags.

After tea we drove back to town (still like 45 mins away) to the Ming Tombsite.

Before heading in though, we had lunch. More food. This time the featured dish was a fish egg thing with green bean noodles. The roe was cooked in a pepper oil. It was hard to explain, but tasted excellent. Additionally, we had a kinda kung pao shrimp and bitter melon/taro root/pumpkin salad.

The ming tombs were interesting too. A bit touristy it would seem. I still cant get my head around how powerful the title of Emperor really was. A most excellent time indeed.

For the last two nights, I decided I needed go about exploring Beijing on my own.  Its been really nice having Jeffery around (a Shanghi native) to communicate and explain things. His experienced pallate has made for some of the most excellent food selections, despite the fact every place we have eaten at was choosen at random. There is a certain skill to guessing whats the best thing on the menu. Ill give him that.

Still, I HAD to get away and do some exploring for myself. Im sure he felt the same way too. You have to realize that he a pessimist’s pessimist. Everybody at work teases him for this. (and he knows it!) Some folks are half empty types, he worries about the glass breaking. If you correct him that your glass is plastic…well…even worse. Plastic has been known to cause cancer blah blah blah….you get my point.

When I heard him talk, I kept on hearing the same word over and over again. It sounded like “Mayo Mayo”. Turns out that was Méiyou, Chinese for “No”. It would come to nobodys surprise that THIS was the first word I picked up from him.

First off, I went to the supermarket close to the hotel. This market is in the basement of a large building. The experience was better than the first time I hit central market. Everything was strange and new. The fruits and veggies we exotic. The meat section was eye opening. The smells were wonderful. I think its just the Asian markets  in the US that are stinky because this market was awesome!

I bought a few things based solely on the packaging.

Qoo, an apple flavored drink featuring a perpetually frustrated cartoon character is probibly the best tasting “non-apple juice” apple juice flavored drink I have ever had. It was a let down to find out it was a Coke product. 

Pocari Sweat was exactly what I imagined a “salt and Glucose” drink would taste like. The name reminded me WAY to much of Steve Polcari though. A Dallas musician.  Kinda unfortunate name.

The best stuff was pineapple flavored beer. Its .8%, so its 1/4 the kick of Oklahoma beer. It tasted like pineapple soda.   

The problem Beijing is that the majority of the town closes up at 9pm on the dot. After leaving the market it was 8:20, I had to get a leg up. I picked a place that had a menu with pictures. Now I realize that these are not actual pictures, but suggestions….kinda like the posters on the wall at barbershop. I picked a dish with mushrooms (always a safe bet) and one with what looked like beef.

I probibly got beef, but it was most likely liver. Im still not sure. The texture was gritty, but the flavor was good. I ate it, but I dont think Ill be ordering it again.

Thursday I had hoped I could better. I was thinking about checking out the Sanlitun district. This is one of the more popular entertainment districts. A co-worker suggested I instead go to the HouHai area. It was supposed to be more “arty” with singers instead of just bars.

The ride down was interesting. I had a lively conversation with the cab driver using hand signs and vocal gestures.  It went something like this.

Driver: [ holds a mike in the air and sings a few bad notes]  Are you going to Houhai to sing Kareoke?

Me: [shaking head] No

Driver: [Makes a drinking sign followed by a stagging sway to his shoulders] Oh…you are going drinking?

Me: [ Making camera gestures and noodle eating moves]. No, Im just going to take pictures and perhaps have a drink.

Driver: [ Waves hands and sings into an air mike again] Oh, you really must try the singing. Its fun.

Me: Méiyou, Méiyou (Hey…I Jeffs pessimism paid off).

Driver: [Shrugs and sings again] You dont know what your missing.

Me: [Point to throat with tapping sign then I make a violin playing gesture]. Im not really much of a singer. I play violin though.

Driver: [Nods Head] Oh…impressive.

Driver: [Points to wrist]  ???? (At first I thought it was a time thing)

Driver: [Points again to his wrist then my arm hair....then my head and his head and laughs] Your arms are so hairy and head bald while my arms are baby soft and I have a full head of hair. Ha Ha

At this point I was at a loss of words in a situtation that didnt really require any in the first place. But the ride was over, so I paid the fare and set out to see the city.

It was nice to look at, but MAN every three feet had a bar barker asking if I wanted to step into their bar.  The majority of these were just shacks with a sofa.  Many more people stopped me asking if  I looking for a lady bar or who knows what.  My suggestion is to check this place out during the day so you can safely explore the alleys around the lake. The bars themselves do not really look all that exciting. There were lots of people singing with guitars and kareoke, but…well, there was a whole seediness too it that I just creeped me out. Plus I didnt want to drink and lose my edge. It was enough of a rush just being there. I took my pictures and walked a few blocks away to find food.  It was ok, but not as good as stuff I had before.

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When I was kid, if I didnt finish my food, my grandmother would tell to about all those poor starving kids in China to get me to finish what was on my plate.  Maybe things are different in other provinces, but there is no shortage of food in this city.
 
Saturday night we went out for Beijing (Peking) duck. This is one of the must haves in Beijing. Its about 200 Yuan (19 bucks) for a full duck. Of course, Jeffery (my Chinese co-worker) had to order other stuff too.

He ordered:

• the duck 
• duck feet
• duck intestines
• duck blood soup!!

They cut up the duck for you so that there is a sliver of skin with every piece. This is considered (rightfully so) the best part of the duck. You get stack of crepes that you wrap the duck in with a dab of sauce and stuff with veggies.

You start off with simply a bit of skin. It was GOOD!!!! The duck fat just melts in your mouth. The duck feet were ok. They take out the bones so its just..well…pretty much cartilage with a spicy mustard sauce.
(I like chicken feet better)

Duck!

The duck intestines were chewy. Pretty good, but definately one of those dishes that are best shared amongst several people.  I passed on the duck blood soup.

Duck intestines

Duck blood soup

Duck feet (boneless!)

Ill probibly have to have duck at least once more before I leave.
Nuts:
While visiting the Fragrant hills, I was handed a sample of some kind of roasted pecan by a street vendor. I think it was roasted…I dunno. It was definately a pecan, but it tasted sweet, like brown sugar. The shells tasted sweet to the tongue so I suppose they were boiled in sugar and vanilla. I dunno. Jeffery thought I was crazy for eating something from a street vendor.  Crazy like a nut-eating fox! I got a bag of them to nosh on for the week. So far, no stomach problems.

Szechuan:

Sat night we had Szechuan from a food court in a mall in the WangFuJing district. It was cheap, and incredible.

The first dish was this duck blood/Eel/Tripe combo dish. I had passed on duck blood before the first night, but tonight I had hearty helpings of it. Its basically a blood clot I suppose. Kinda like if you let cream sit in lemon juice??? Soft and chunky. The dish had these pepper corns in it that numbed my mouth so that I
could not feel anything. This is supposed to adapt your taste buds for the heat?

The braised beef was littered with thai chilis…didnt bother me a bit.

The Fish was smoothered in chili oil…no effect.

The eggplant was not hot…but mmmm oh so good.

None of the dishes seemed that hot to me, but they really were hot. (as was confirmed the next day by a part of my body that didnt have the advantage of pre-numbing peppercorns.)

Rolls:

Monday night we took the subway back down to Wangfujing. This time we had a smaller (thank god!) meal of buns. This was apparently a famous place, but Jeffery was not all that impressed. I, on the other hand, was very impressed. We got a combo dish of pork, veggie and something else buns. All were good.

Hot Pot:

Tuesday I wanted to walk to dinner. I just had to. Several times over the past few days, we had passed a venue called “Grandpa Lee’s” It had a pipe smoking grandpa as its icon and looked packed…good enough for me. I suggested we check it out, based entirely on its cool logo.

Turns out it was a “hot pot” place. This is another dish that was recommended as a must eat dish by all. (my bro mike also praised this dish highly). 

I didnt even bother to look at the menu. I let Jeffery order whatever.

Hot pot is basically a big pot in the middle of the table. It has a boiling broth that you dip food in to cook in a manner similar to Fondue. (I had just tried this only a month ago when my girlfriend too me out to Simply Fondue for my birthday dinner)

Its just broth, so if you order veggies, you dinner has the potential of being pretty healthy.

We had:

• Woodear mushrooms
• (some other) mushrooms
• Beef
• Duck intestines (again?)
• Kidney (cut expertly)
• Beef Tripe
• Beef Esophogus
• Seaweed
• Soy Bean sprouts (seriously good!!!)
• Spinach
• Fish Balls
• Fish paste

Esophagus, tripe, kidney and more duck intestines

Beef, tofu noodles, spinach, gross meats and schrooms

Our server demostrates how to dump the fish paste into the hot pot. When it floats, its done.

woodear mushrooms.  (VERY GOOD)

The esophagus really didnt have much of a taste as much as it had the kind of texture that you would expect from something that nature never intended to rupture. I think that what makes Americans squimish is not the flavor or origination of what they eat but the texture.