Peking duck

(Aug 8 and 9)

What do you do if you have two days in Beijing in August? Two days of 30+ degree temperatures, high humidity and thick smog?

The first of our days was a Sunday and we decided to head to the Forbidden City. But so did at least a quarter of a million Chinese tourists. We emerged from the subway - which we found very easy and orderly to use - into Tiananmen Square. It’s a BIG place and it was filled with LOTS of people, all taking souvenir pictures of each other. We followed the flow of colourful umbrellas raised against the sun, passing under the benevolent smile of Chairman Mao and through the gates into the Forbidden City. The City which was founded almost 600 years ago consists of 9999 buildings. We went into about 7 of them and walked for hours through the extensive grounds. The smog was outrageous and obscured the view of all but the closest buildings. But overall it was an amazing place to explore.

The second day we began at the Temple of Heaven which was also built almost 600 years ago by the same Emperor as the Forbidden City. The smog and humidity was worse but it didn’t seem to deter the number of Chinese tourists.

For lunch we headed to the Beijing Quanjude Hepingmen Roast Duck Restaurant. (Barney decided that as we were in Peking we should be eating some Peking duck.) The restaurant seats over 4000 people and we were directed to the fourth floor where we were able to watch the chefs roast whole ducks in brick ovens. The menu was illustrated with large glossy pictures of the duck dishes on offer. To name just a few, we could choose from...

Mustard duck webs
Spicy duck gizzards
Duck livers cooked in salt water
Spicy duck wing shreds
Duck meat rolls with duck egg yolks
Stewed and seasoned three flavours of duck
Duck treasures in birds’ nests
Braised duck meat with sea cucumbers
Fried duck meat with scorpions (for only $25)
Flame-touched duck hearts in mautai liquor
Braised duck tongue and asparagus
or
Boiled dumplings with duck tongue filling

We settled on a half a roast duck served with wafer thin pancakes. It was excellent!

Later in the afternoon we wandered through several hutongs (the old parts of Beijing) and found some fun shops. We decided that we were glad that we made a short stop in Beijing. There is so much more to see but that will have to wait till we’re next in the neighbourhood.

Photos from Beijing...

Beijing