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Beijing in Three Days
I was returning to see for myself just how much the city had changed, especially now that it was preparing to host the 2008 Olympics. This was, I well knew, a chancy business – a bit like calling on a dear old friend to see how time treated her. Flying into Beijing through Cathay Pacific Airways has to be the finest introduction to beijing imaginable. Look at your plane window and it's all there: the dramatic and historical city skyline, the sprinkling of night lights spread into scores of inlets and courtyards, and a sprawl of terra-cotta roofs stretching to the horizon. And then you see it: the graceful Chinese characters, a perfect miniature from this height, and beside it, in the thick fog, under the magnesium lamps, the panorama had a spooky science fiction aspect. The German businessman sitting beside me on the plane said, "Beijing? Why nowadays it is just like any other city." My jaw dropped. Was he speaking of the imperial city designed on celestial lines, the capital of four dynasties, the metropolis of 16 million. What he meant, actually, was only that Beijing had become more modern, had developed better facilities and services, and had become "easier" for visitors like him. I had first visited Beijing in the late 90's,and despite its many frustrations, I had grown fond of the place. Now I was returning to see for myself just how much the cu=ity had changed, especially now it was preparing to host 2008 Olympics. This was, I well knew, a chancy business – a bit like calling on a dear friend to see how time has treated her. First impressions were promising, Beijing's new airport terminal is gleaming and efficient, a vast improvement over the depressing cavern it replaced. And unlike the old days, when immigration and custom officials seemed bent on giving foreign visitors as unpleasant a time as possible, now the airport authorities are positively affable. Once settled at the Novotel Peace Beijing Hotel, my travelling companions, Gabby & Aida set out to hike the familiar three kilometers west to Tiananmen. Beyond the ring road the magnificent sweep of Changan bursts into view. This is the famous Avenue of Eternal Peace. Formerly, this boulevard had the broad aspect of an airport runway. Nowadays, the new canyon of monaster hotels and office towers makes the avenue look narrower and paradoxically, gives it more human scale. Automobile traffic is heavier now, but better behaved. Although beginners complain about congestion, Changan is far less chaotic than the main drag of many Asian cities. One reason may be the avenue's new (and bicycle friendly) pedestrian underpasses and bridges. Because trucks are banned from Changan (and blessedly motorcycles from central Beijing), the street is surprisingly quiet. New sidewalks, parks, benches and fanciful public art make this a pleasant stroll. The comic art is a welcome surprise. In the bad old days, any suggestion of whimsy brought dark stares from the stone-faced cadres. Bicycles remain popular, for people and for freight. Often cyclists steer one-handed while they chat on a mobile phone. Alarmingly, some of the bike lanes have been divided to make way for automobiles. German cars including Volkswagen Santanas, Passats, Jetta, Golfs and the original people's car, plus Audi Quattros (our transport vehicle during our stay) are the popular mode of luxury transportation. The entire long block between the landmark retail junctions Dingdan and Wangfujing has been seized by an upscale shopping mall called Oriental Plaza. Facades that not long ago were stenciled with hectoring Maoist slogans now glow with signs for the likes of Daks, Baleno, Metro, Watsons and a lot more. The famous McDonald's restaurant at Wangfujing has been pushed out by the western end of the plaza. Reportedly, this was once the busiest hamburger joint on earth. Now, not one but three new McDonald's are visible within a block of the former site.and the entrance to the Forbidden City. Whatever wonders lure other visitors back to beijing my favorite memories were of the delectable street foods I enjoyed throughout the country in my last visit. On this return trip, I was both surprised and delighted to see that Beijing had become a gleaming Metropolis but eared this might mean the markets and back alleys locally known as hutongs, where I had sampled so many savory snacks had been modernized out of existence. Fortunately, I worried in vain, for while a few have disappeared, many remain, dispensing specialties with great flair and showmanship and giving visitors a chance to sample the world's most succulent and inexpensive fast food. The real magic begins at night, when after-dark markets come alive in a shimmering black-and-gold chiaroscuro (Brazilian Barbecue). Under the dramatic glow cast by the simplest bare light bulbs to swaying garlands of red lanterns, cook-vendors hawk their wares as loudly as tropical birds, to attract hungry after-work crowds shopping the stands as carefully as though studying a menu. Clouds of steam and sizzles arise from fiery woks, and the air is filled with mouthwatering scents of grilling meat, pungent spices and the hot sugar of frying sweet dumplings. Nowhere does this activity build more intensely than at Doug Hua Men Ye Shi, generally referred to as the Night Market off Wangfujing Street. In full swing, the market is a dazzling long lineup of identical carts topped by red-and-white-stripped awnings. The market is open from 4:30 pm to about 10:30pm, and workers gather to set up shop around an hour before opening, stocking carts with pyramids of foods they have strung into bamboo skewers. Among the delicacies are ribbons and chunks of various meats, poultry, innards and giblets, all manner of seafood and cubes bean curd, quail's eggs flurries of green vegetables, looking so fresh they still might be growing, and for adventurous (and, perhaps, to shock tourists), locusts with gossamer wings, spiny scorpions, silkworms in corkscrew cocoons and tiny whole but headless frogs. According to one brave foreigner, the darkly charred locusts, scorpions and silkworms tasted like burned paper – texture without flavor, perhaps a blessing after all. Far more delicious were grilled beef strips, slices of octopus and barbecued crayfish and deep-fired starfish difficult as they were for us to eat red hot from skewer while standing amid a crush of people. Luckily, entrepreneurial men and women selling packaged hand tissues appeared just at the right moment, as did curbside sellers of cold bottled drinks.
Peking Duck Lunch
We had our taste of Peking Duck at the famous Beijing Quianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Resataurant at 14 Quianmen, West Street, Beijing. The crackling-skin roast duck deftly carved by a cleaver-wielding chef at tableside at this sprawling restaurant not far from Tiananmen Square was served in classic fashion with scallions and hoisin sauce. We had the choice of folding meat and skin in paper-thin pancakes or in somewhat doughy sesame buns. Was the skin a little greasier than in Binondo's upscale Chinese restaurant? Perhaps. But the meat was rich and exceptionally flavorful. Pecking duck couldn't get any duckier than this. We had their special soup promotions, mostly mushrooms of different varieties, plus the familiar Filipino fare of Asparagus tips in oyster sauce and steamed fish in soya sauce. The brick and dark wood restaurant, done in traditional Chinese style with over changing eaves the requisite red lanterns and gilded dragons, seats 1,300 on several floors. Founded in 1864, it was nationalized and taken over by the government in the 1950s. The branch in Quianmen was built in response to the late premier Zhou Enlai's request. The restaurant is touted as the largest roast duck in restaurant in Asia. On our first and second nights in Beijing, we always ended our tours with cocktails and dinners at the famed Le Cabernet Wine Bar & Bistro of the Novotel Peace Beijing Hotel. We enjoyed the best of French and Swiss cuisine including Pan Fried trout on capers and lemon butter sauce with garden vegetables and Tender grilled beef rib eye with sautéed potatoes, vegetables with tarragon butter. The following day, we tried their special promotions on Fondue. We had cheese fondue with Chinese wine. On our last day in Beijing however, my long time Mexican diplomat friend, Jose Maria Polanco Nunez, who is now posted at the Mexican Embassy in Beijing met uo with us and brought us to this intoxicating restaurant, in the heart of the Sanlitun embassy district . Arriving fashionably late for dinner, the intricately huge carved frin door of the Green T. House gave us the initial impression that we were in Soho or Tribeca. The restaurant is the creation of classical musician, artist, calligrapher, and her master chef Zhang Jin Jie. Ms. Zhang has designed her small space to soothe every sense. The chirping cockatoos , soft music (her composition), fresh flowers, calligraphy -on-scroll menus, antique décor, and natural furniture foster an ambiance of peace and tranquility. Even the chains resemble musical notes you can almost hear them humming. The "natural" cuisine combines Chinese teas, spices, edible leaves, flower petals, and includes such dishes as bamboo leaves green tea with pear and rose, asparagus and broccoli with green tea orchid cream sauce, High mountain wulong tea, lamb, and for dessert, tea-ramisu. Ms. Zhang aims to make her restaurant a "living artwork" that echoes the colors and moods of the Beijing seasons. Young contortionists turn themselves inside out ad upside down while plate-spinners whiz countless plates through the air. Routines were developed using simple everyday objects like sticks, hoops, chairs and jars. The group did the "peacock displaying its feathers," where a dozen performers balance on one bicyle. We also saw a performer do the "Pagoda of Bowls," where she did everything with her torso except tie it in knots, while balancing a stack of bowls on her foot, head or both.
Destination Highlights
The walls at Balading has been fully rebuilt and even improved. You could almost call it a zigzag work of modern art. We walked as far as we could, climbing a succession of remarkably steep steps until the way was blocked. The Great Wall of beijing stretches 5,000 kilometers from the Northern beijing borders to the Ghobi desert regions of the south. We also visited the Forbidden City, the great Ming and Qing Dynasty palace built from 1406 to 1420 with 800 buildings and 9,000 rooms. For almost the whole afternoon, we rambled over the palaces; marble terraces, stopping to gawk at the golden throne in the Hall of the Supreme Harmony and the Dowager Empress Cixis bedchamber. Afterward, we climbed to the pavilion atop Coat Hill Park from which we could see the full sweep of the palace roofs. In Jingshan Park behind the Forbidden City, we climbed a path to what a sign calls the Pavilion of 10000 Springtime. We crossed the street to Beihai Park and entered the "Round City," a little fortress enclosed by a circular wall. It contains a jade urn once owned by Kublai Khan and a 10-foot high white jade Buddha. One of the City's oldest architectural treasures is the Temple of Heaven, built by the Ming Emperor Yonglee in the 1400's. Behind high walls, the bustle fades and the temperature drops a few degrees.The hollowed grounds have recently become an open-air cathedral for singers, dancers, musicians, martial arts enthusiasts and many others who seek sanctuary each morning inside the 675-acre compound. For those who love to dream about the past, the great collection of Ming tombs outside Beijing is one place not to be missed despite the chattering hordes of tourists, which cannot disturb the sublime quiet of these structures; they are so well sited under the mountains that they appear fixed for eternity. Although I've always enjoyed the monuments of the past, what inevitably moves me most during travels is the sight of an ancient place that still lives for people. In that respect, the Summer Palace at the Haidan District is memorable tourist place to visit. The playground of the royal court, these enormous grounds was where the imperial family and entourage came to escape the interminable heat of the city. A day here can be easily spent taking in the sights, strolling along tree-lined paths. Long a royal garden, the grounds were embellished and expanded by Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century. Many of the buildings were damaged during the Second Opium War. Several years later, Empress Dowager Cixi began refit using money earmarked for a modern day navy, and perhaps in honor of this, spent a large chunk of it on a huge, tasteless marble boat. Further eastward is the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, the chief palace structure where the emperor handled state affairs and received envoys. To the north, the artificial Longevity Hill contains the majority of the park's interesting buildings. Cloud Dispensing Hall and the impressive Tower of Fragrant Buddha offer fabulous views across the lake. Overall, Beijing life has become softer and more rounded, for the visitors certainly, and likely for the locals too. Transportation for instance has improved. The once congested buses are more numerous and comfortable. The subway system has been xpanded and more lines will open before the Olympics. Taxis are plentiful, well kept, and cheap. Coal burning is being phased out and everywhere toilets are cleaner and more modern. Enough said. On our way to the airport, I spotted a teen in a bright red colored shirt with words written all over in English: Go! Baby! Go! And it crossed my mind – Beijing baby, you've come a long, long way. |
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