I arrived at my fren’s place after midnight and slept hard. The first real meal in Beijing was to be the following day’s dinner at the LAN Restaurant, the latest eatery designed by Phillipe Starck in the Chaoyang District.
LAN is part of the South Beauty (Qiao Jiang Nan) chain based out of Beijing that is spreading all over the country and going international very soon. On my last visit to Beijing, I dined at South Beauty for the first time and found the food and atmosphere very swish. I like!
Anyhoo, I didn’t take too many pix here because A: I was really hungry and B: Apparently restaurants here are paranoid of people taking pix inside just in case competition wants to copy them. WTF? The pix are going to be the same as the website which is accessible to anyone, even the competition. So what’s the harm? There ARE some people who actually got to take pix. See here.
Quite possibly the best chicken I’ve ever had in a Chinese restaurant...
Liquid tofu that turns solid after you stir it up. My fren’s attempt at getting me to eat healthy!
Mmmm. Strawberry tart-like dessert. Yum!
One place at LAN that i’ve NOT seen posted on the net so far is their widely acclaimed bathrooms. So here, gentle reader, is how the can looks like at LAN. The LAN can.
The LAN can, AKA the throne. It’s square with lots of disco mirrors. Why is there a comfy seat for a co-pilot?
This is where you wash your hands. Duh.
A fun place to eat and the bar was nice too. Gotta come back here in October!
Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven is really a complex of temples and parks that’s smack dab in the middle of Beijing.
Dun look that impressive, does it? Looks kinda old from a distance…
Well, not really the middle of Beijing. The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square are in the middle. The Temple of Heaven is more like 4 o’clock from there. I’ve never really made it a point to visit parks during my previous visits to Beijing because I would be visiting in late November. I got asked “why are you coming out here in late November?” on each of my previous Beijing visits. Being from northern California and a weather wimp, bone chilling cold weather dun usually agree with me. One visit, I caught a head cold in Tiananmen Square. Weather wimp. Anyhoo…
Up close, it looks much more impressive. The obligatory postcard shot.
The weather this trip was nice so I went for a visit. When you first get there, you have to pay admission. There are two prices. Pay the more expensive of the two and you get a combo ticket that gets you in to see the various temples that make up the Temple of Heaven complex. A good deal. And very impressive because it was recently restored and reopened last year.
There’s the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿), the building that everyone associates with the Temple of Heaven. No nails used in its construction.
Inside the Hall for Prayer for Good Harvests
There’s the House of Heavenly Lord (皇穹宇), where the altars were stored when they were not being used. It’s stubby!
Then there’s the Earthly Mount (圜丘坛), which is a flat empty platform that the middle of was supposed to be the exact center of China, which used to think of itself as the center of the world. Not as impressive of a photo so none here.
A closeup of the sign on the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests
Glad I made the visit. So check the Temple of Heaven off my list. There’s still a lot in BJ I’ve not seen yet. That’ll have to wait until October…
Slow food and connecting flights
I flew over on SQ37, the nonstop from LAX-SIN. Now I’m flying back to SFO.
I’ve arranged my connecting flights at Narita so I get three hours on the ground here. There’s no real rush to get back. No rush to be crammed aboard a plane that resembles a Muni basi more than a transpacific airliner.
Cuz sometimes it’s good to slow down and take a breather. You don’t ALWAYS have to be in a rush. Then you can enjoy the lunch of champions: soba noodles, a warm smile and a beer at the ANA Lounge near Gate 45, 2nd floor.
Peking (Beijing?) Duck at Da Dong
Got a confession to make. I’ve been to Beijing a few times over the past 7 years (has it been really that long?) but I’ve never had Peking Duck in Beijing. Ever. Until now.
I’ve had lots of other traditional Beijing food such as dumplings, different kinds of soups, pork and snack food. I’ve had very VERY good Szechwan food (LAN Club/South Beauty anyone?) and street food. But I’ve never done the duck thing. Why? Maybe it’s the intimidation factor. After all, Beijing is primarily a Puthongua speaking city; english, at least in the hole in the wall restaurants (where the good food usually is), doesn’t exist.
But there are more places to get Peking Duck besides Li Qun, right? Tonight, this sad state of affairs ended with my first real Peking (Beijing?) Duck dinner at the glamourous and very swish Da Dong restaurant in the Chaoyang district. My fren and I tagged along with two of her other frens, one who was playing tour guide for two more frens from the UK. Got that? And since my fren was playing host to another visitor to Beijing (moi), it seemed a meal planned by providence.
Erica, Helen and Phoebe my glamorous hostess!
Since half our party spent much of the day trekking around the Summer Palace after surviving the previous evening at Suzie Wong’s, they were hungry! The trick at Da Dong is to order the duck as soon as you hit the table because they prepare the ducks to order and it takes close to an hour. We ordered a full, protein heavy menu. The pix are not the best quality because I was snapping on the sly. Seems that in general, restaurants here in Beijing are extremely camera shy. “Competitive reasons”. First time I’ve heard that one…
Chicken soup served in a hollowed out orange. Zesty!
Prawns (not the mayo ones)
Sauted diced duck in bird’s nest with little pastry stuffed ducklings on the side
There was also some green stuff that was ordered and devoured, because it was quite good. However, everyone was waiting for the duck to arrive. And both arrived at the same time, accompanied with two chefs and one waitress. The chefs displayed the ducks before they cut them down into four plates of duck ready to be garnished, wrapped and devoured.
The end result. One of four.
The ducks disappeared very quickly. Burp. Lean, crispy skin and juicy. Kick-ass!
Then there’s this fruit plate and almond jello dessert. BURP
We ate like the Imperial Courts of old. Ate well. Considering the quality of the food and the quantity we consumed, the bill was very reasonable.
Best of all, I still had Y130 for the ride to PEK very early tomorrow morning!
PLA Museum
Since I went to the Vietnam Army Museum on my recent visit to Hanoi, I figured it would be a good bookend to visit the PLA’s Museum.
Also, there’s a di tie stop right THERE so why not visit!
Say what you will, the PRC’s leaders love their convertibles…
Unlike the museum in Hanoi that had a lot of photographs and some hardware displayed for context, the PLA museum in some ways, seems more like a display of war booty. When you first walk into the great hall, you see hardware. Lots of hardware.
Inside the building, it seems almost church like.
Naturally, the stuff inside is all PRC made weaponry. Their first V-2 knockoff. Locally made versions of the MIG-19 and MIG-21. Various tracked vehicles. Missile launchers. Heavy machine guns. And even SUVs. And one with a cannon on it. And all of this is just the main hall. On the FIRST floor!
I WANT THIS! It would make driving in San Francisco soooo much more interesting!
A MiG-21, I mean a “made in China” F-7
On either side of the main hall, there’s an outdoor courtyard with, yep, more hardware! This time, most of it is war booty mostly captured during the 1945-49 period. Lots of American armor, tracked vehicles and some aircraft. Also two PRC made patrol boats that wouldn’t fit in the main hall.
This is a P-51D Mustang with a PLAAF roundel on it. Strange.
An F-86 Sabre probably captured during the Taiwan Straits Crisis
If you aren’t already overwhelmed and you make it to the second floor of the main hall, there’s display cases full of pistols, rifles, assault rifles and all sizes of machine guns and bayonets. If it was used on mainland China, chances are that it’s represented here.
Besides the weapon displays, there’s separate exhibits on the third and fourth floors about the PLA’s involvement in the Korean War and of its actions during WWII. Educational.
Not bad for a museum that gets its own subway stop. No cafe on the grounds though. There IS a McDonald’s across the street though.
Seen on the Square
Seeing how I was in Beijing and I had a few hours to kill, I took the di tie to Tiananmen West and walked through the square to Tiananmen East and then headed off to dinner.
As soon as you come out of the station, you can see the new Beijing Opera House AKA National Grand Theatre taking shape.
Quite controversial and round!
It looks like it will roll over and eat the Natural History Museum!
Remember, Tiananmen Square is still the largest public square in the world. It serves as Beijing’s backyard. People fly kites, hang out, smoke, ride bikes here.
Tiananmen is still a good place to fly a kite
A very tall and official looking flagpole…
…guarded by a PLA honor guard.
During the long drawn out “lower the flag” ceremony, demonstrators jumped the line and tried to unfurl banners. They were immediately and roughly wisked away by these PLA troops. Twice. And no, I didn’t get any pix. Are you nuts??
Signage has always been an interest of mine. And Beijing has lots of interesting signs.
I understand most of these signs but…
What does this mean? No farting cars? No backfiring cars?
798 Space
Woke up late and made it out to 798 Space in the Dashanzi arts district in Beijing. It’s an old factory complex that was abandoned a few years back and taken over by artists, galleries and cafes.
Art expresses ideas and feelings. Art can also give you direction.
If you can’t figure out what these mean, best not go inside!
After wandering about for a bit, my fren and I found the Old Factory Bar. They have decent coffee, good music and most importantly, FREE Wi-Fi!
Nice lazy day…
All about Bia Hoi
Where are all these people going, quick quick?
Why they’re heading to Bia Hoi Corner, a part of the Old Quarter where three streets converge and there’s a bia hoi stand on each point.
Now what is bia hoi? Well, it’s a locally produced brew that gets distributed daily to the various bia hoi stands in Hanoi. It’s a local tipple, costing the grand sum of 2000 dong (that’s 12 cents US). That’s right, 12 measly cents! Cinguliar charges that much to receive an SMS! You can find that much in your car underneath the seats. You can find that on the street back home (cuz 12 cents dun buy much). But in Hanoi, it can purchase one cuppa bia hoi!
So how does one try? You approach, grab a chair to sit on and motion for “one”. Whoever’s on duty will pour you one and charge you. If you sit for a while and fit in, you can easily run up a tab of 10,000 dong! 5 beers at 2000 dong each. Break the bank can! It seemed on my visit (twice in one day) that bia hoi stands are the centerpoint of the neighbourhood.
Besides seeing more close calls that any other intersection in Hanoi (maybe they’re thirsty and thinking about getting a drink?), there’s street theatre. 7 times I was approached to buy overpriced bootleg Lonely Planet guides. Twice, I was approached to purchase some fried donuts.
And once, the Hawker Control unit (AKA shakedown squad) came by and made a LOT of people scatter.
The man who owned the stand I was drinking at motioned me to move my bike from in front to the sidewalk across the way. Good customer service! Try finding that in San Francisco where some places seem in cahoots with the parking nazis! In the end, I spent a total of 5 hours that day at the bia hoi stand. The first 3 hours, I stumbled upon it and enjoyed. Then a few hours later, I wound up there AGAIN with a couple of blokes from the hostel. How much did I spend? 26000 dong. That’s a buck sixty four! What a deal!
Joyful Anarchy with Motorbikes
Wealth = mobility and Hanoians luurve their motorbikes! For the last two days in Hanoi, I was one of them. For the sum of US$10/day, I hired a Honda 125cc bike (helmet and gas not included) and puttered around much of the city.
I decided to take the splurge after a day of walking around the old quarter and wanting to see more. Also I was not a big fan of walking or trying to ride the bus. First reaction of most of my frens was “are you insane?” Here’s a short clip of Hanoi traffic and how to ride in it.
Replace 7/8 of the bikes in the video with urban assault vehicles and reduce the driver skill level by 9/10ths and you’re in San Francisco! Goods get transported on them. Families go out on them. People eat on them. Mobility, yeay! (take THAT Muni!)
And as for crossing the street, what worry? Just pick an opening, make eye contact and walk at a constant speed. We will see you and ride around you. Don’t make any sudden changes in your path, OTW you may be hit…
Peace Dividend
On the grounds of the Army Museum in Hanoi is the usual collection of war booty, equipment and exhibits. There’s also a coffee shop that serves light meals and all sorts of coffee. It’s very popular with young Hanoians, more popular than this museum memorializing “the American war”.
So there’s a gaggle of girls having green tea smoothies with their motorbikes parked nearby in the shadow of a MIG-21. That’s the peace dividend.
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