China

During Chuseok I usually spend the holiday season with my Korean family. Every year for the past few years, they have invited me to celebrate with them. It has been a great cultural experience every time. However, since it was a golden week (we had 10 days off work rather than only 5 days) I decided to take this opportunity to celebrate and also do some much needed adventuring in another country.

So, which country did I explore next? China. 

I went with my friend to the capital city, Beijing and Xi'an to see the Terracotta Army.

The first city we traveled to was Beijing.  The same day that we arrived in Beijing, we had a food tour planned for dinner. I was really excited for this tour, because who isn't excited to eat?

Our food tour was with "Untour: Food Tours" in Beijing. They also have tours in Shanghai and our host took us to a few different restaurants to try some really delicious foods. If you book this tour you will eat amazing food, meet awesome people from all walks of life, and learn a lot about the culture and history of China and its cuisine. My big tip, is to listen to the host when he says to pace yourself while eating. The food is really delicious so you will want to eat a lot, but there are so many things to try that you need to save room in your stomach for all of them.

This food tour began at 7pm and did not end until 11pm so we had a good four hours of trying some of Beijing's best foods.

The first stop on our tour was for some hot pot and dumplings. It was great meeting everyone and sharing our stories together.

I will have to add more pictures if I can find them, but we also had the opportunity to try delicious spicy noodles, which we watched them make fresh. The noodles were made by pounding it and stretching it into long strands and then mixed with a spicy, vinegar like sauce. 

In Beijing it seemed like a lot of the foods we ate, were eaten with a spicy vinegar sauce. Supposedly different regions of China have their preferences in tastes and in Beijing they really like the vinegar taste.

We also went to a Halal restaurant that was started by some Muslim Chinese that came from the silk road region of China. They made delicious lamb skewers, baked potato slices on sticks, and one of the most delicious breads I have ever tried. I will have to find the names of these restaurants so I can remember them again. I definitely want this restaurants bread again.

The last thing we tried were spicy chicken wings. They were mouth numbing spicy. But the flavor was there, especially on the more mild wings.

The most interesting thing I tried on the tour was donkey meat. It was prepared like a sandwich with green peppers and onions. It was also tasty and I never thought I would ever try donkey.

The hostel we stayed at in Beijing was really nice. They had a lot of information on some good things to experience in the city. They even had tours you could book to the Great Wall. Unfortunately we did not have enough time during our adventure to go to the wall, but I hope to get there some time next year (2018).

The next morning we woke up and got ready to go to the Forbidden city. The location of our hostel was within walking distance to all of the places we wanted to visit, so we decided to walk rather than squeeze onto the busy subway. It would allow us to see more of the city anyways.

On our way to the Forbidden city we met some friendly locals. One local wanted to rent some bikes to us, but we decided that walking was our best option for the day so we kindly rejected. 

Some of the locals we met wanted to take pictures of us. Yes, not take pictures with us but of us. We thought it was a little weird but took some photos anyways. After he got his picture he asked if we wanted some pictures for our own use. We figured why not, so we got a picture of ourselves, too. 

And we found the Forbidden city! We originally walked to the back gate so then we had to walk all the way around to the front, but we finally got inside. Also the flowers were pretty.

Pineapple ice cream in the Forbidden city!

Pineapple ice cream with another background. Also, the Forbidden city has wifi, which was surprising to see. 

Siji Minfu

Next it was time for dinner. The restaurant was called "Siji Minfu" and I highly recommend it if you are looking for some Peking duck. They always have a wait of at least an hour because people are always lined up to eat there. You can order half a duck or a full duck. We decided to get only a half duck, because we also saw many other items on the menu we wanted to try as well. The food was amazing. It definitely exceeded my expectations. 

The place settings at the table. Our chopstick holders were so cute! They were ducks! 

Our first dish was a sampler platter of traditional Chinese foods. 

The next dish was lotus root filled with a glutinous filling. It was sweet and delicious.

The next dish was my favorite. I have no clue what I was actually eating in this dish but it tasted really good and I wish I had some right now. I am getting hungry thinking about it. 

And here is the amazing Peking Duck.

The duck comes with very thin savory pancakes to wrap around the duck and the condiments. It was the best duck I have ever had. 

Next, we went to the night market to see what it was all about! It was mostly street food. 

Here are the scorpions! I was so ready to try them and then I saw some on a stick still alive and moving so I changed my mind. I think the picture of them is enough. I want to work up the courage to try them one day though. 

The entrance to the Night Market.

Candied fruit on a stick. I am not sure what kind of fruit they were but it looked like a crab apple that was covered in a sugary hard honey coating. 

Some street food seafood.

Some more street food seafood.

And what is across from the Forbidden city? Tienanmen Square of course! Here it is in the background.

So the next day after the night market and the delicious roast duck dinner we went to Tienanmen Square. Unfortunately, on Mondays most things are closed, so we only got to see some of the things we wanted to. I was a little disappoint that I couldn't see Mao's Mausoleum or go into the National Museum of China to learn more about their history, but guess what? I have a visa that lasts for ten years! That means I have plenty of time to go there in the next few years if I choose to. 

Here is the front of the National Museum of China. 

Mao's Mausoleum

I liked the look of this street when we were walking to the Forbidden city so I took a picture. We were in China during the mid-autumn festival (same time as Chuseok in Korea, but I think China celebrates longer) so every house and every shop showed their patriotism for their country by displaying the flag of China outside. 

My favorite drink of all time written in Chinese. 

Coca cola! 

Spicy noodles and a Chinese hamburger

The inside of our Chinese hamburger. This one we got in Beijing, but we heard from some friends that the best Chinese hamburgers are in Xi'an. I did not try one in Xi'an but I will in the future!

Lamb Skewers and Ox kidneys. Yup, we tried Ox kidney. It had good flavor but was very chewy. Overall still a good experience!

Next we traveled by bullet train from Beijing to Xi'an. The journey took about 4 hours to get there, but we arrived safely. The weather wasn't the best (rained the entire time) but it was still a good experience being able to travel outside of the capital.

Here is one of the excavations of some terracotta warriors. The warriors would protect the tomb of their emperor from the east. That is why this pit of warriors was found about 1.5 kilometers to the east of the Qin Emperor's tomb.

Although the crowds were intense, we made it to the front eventually thanks to our awesome and very knowledgeable tour guide.

And look at those crowds! Believe it or not, the crowds in China were not as bad as most people might expect them to be. I thought a lot of the streets would be so packed that you cannot move well, but it was not like that at all. On the main streets you have the car traffic, then you have bike lanes, and then there are sidewalks for pedestrians so the bike riders and walkers do not have to share the same space. It is really nice. 

This is at the Terracotta Army in Xi'an. It was the most crowded place of all the places we went in China, but definitely worth the crowd. We booked an English tour so we could learn more about the history of the Terracotta warriors. 

They were discovered by a farmer who was digging on his land to install a new well for crop irrigation. 

The Terracotta warriors were buried with the first emperor of China. Their purpose is to help protect him in the afterlife. His army is made of both the infantry and the cavalry and you can see the Terracotta horses too. 

The coloring on the warriors is spectacular if you have the chance to see it. Not all the warriors found are on display however. The paint easily curls and chips away once it is exposed to the air so they are trying to preserve the remaining warriors by exposing them to as little air as possible. Some tombs have been left unopened because of this problem. Currently they are trying to work on the technology to preserve the paint jobs.

It was very rainy and cold during the tour so we decided to warm up with some tea and coffee. Since we bought a cup of coffee each, they gave us a complementary tea tasting. There were 12 different kinds of teas and we were allowed to try up to four kinds. They had a sheet that said the name of each tea and what their hidden health properties were. 

This is a high ranking officer of the Terracotta warrior army that was found. 

On the last night I stayed at a hotel that was near Beijing's International Airport, terminal 1 and I had a view of some of the planes taxiing to the runway. This one was Egyptair.

Here was another plane that was parked near my window. This one was Hainan airlines.

And as I was sitting on my Korean Air 777, I saw a North Korean Air Koryo plane park at the gate next to my South Korean plane. 

Air Koryo

Next time I return to China I already have a list of things I still want to do and foods that I would like to try again. Hopefully I will be able to return again sometime soon.