Our First Meal in China

We had dinner last night in a local restaurant on a tiny alley near our hotel. Our local guide, Jack, ordered for the 6 of us--Dave, me, Teena (our other ICA adoptive mom) and her mother Vicki, Jack and our tour guide, Mary. (Mary is about two years out of University, where she studied how to be a tour guide. She comes originally from Tsingdao area, studied there, but has moved to Beijing to work conducting tours.)


The food was fantastic! We had typical local dishes, nothing unusual, but Dave and I really enjoyed all the sauces and preparations. We had beans with spring onion; diced chicken with peanuts, scallions, in a garlic pepper sauce; eggplant slices in a light sauce, and pork belly with potato in a slightly sweet sauce. Pork belly--Jack says this is something every family cooks at home, and like potato salad or fried chicken, every family has their own take on it. I have seen this on menu's all over China town and was too spooked to try it. It was deeelicious!


We were the only non-asians in the place. The restaurant is located in a University area. We passed the Technical Institute, Beijing International University, the University for Foreign Languages, and our hotel is directly across from the National Administrations Institute (leadership school for the Communist Party.)


Accordingly, there was a large group of college age women sitting next to us at dinner. They became animated when David stood up as we were leaving, and took the opportunity to engage this tall good looking guy in some brief greetings! (It was funny to see their eyes widen as I stood up. I'm probably a good seven or eight inches taller that just about everyone!)


Our initial impressions of Beijing from our ride from the airport--aside from the chinese signage, it doesn't feel that asian at all. It does feel oddly familiar to us from other European foreign travels. We saw bits that reminded us of cities in France and especially Spain. Not at all what we expected. But Beijing is now a modern Western city.

Today, we have lunch in a private home in a typcial hutong neighborhood. We also see some of the Imperial sites. So by late today, we expect to have a different spin on Beijing, a picture that is richer.

Some photo highlights (hopefully) attached.