Oh Spring, where art thou?

It's Monday, 30th March, my day off. I'm sitting at home, wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by piles of used tissues and pouring hot water into myself. Central heating was turned off last week, and our cozy apartment's temperature has dropped by an estimated 30 degrees. At least! I've gotten a bit of a cold just from sitting on the couch in the evenings. It's a farce at this stage, really- we're coming into April, and the temperature's kind of hanging in just above zero. My crazy friend and I recently went to Chaoyang Park to look for the first signs of spring. We ran around the empty park shouting, 春天，您在哪里？ (Chuntian, nin zai nali?) Spring, where art thou? And while he didn't exactly show his face then, we could feel the early signs of the season in the soft rays of sunshine and in the comparatively warm air. It must have been around ten or twelve degrees then. That was three weeks ago, and it's been progressively colder ever since.

Is it the same where you are? I've read reports on European weather behaving just as strangely- is Spring hiding from the crisis, or what?

Anyway, Friday night now-Beijing employee Himself treated me to a nice meal near his new office. We went to this lovely vegetarian place in the Holiday Inn Lido, the name of which escapes me. And, while vegetarian in Europe would probably mean something like mushroom risotto, veggie lassagna or chickpea mash, in China vegetarian restaurants serve so-called meat imitation dishes. That's right, on the menu you'll see all the familiar courses such as Beijing Roast Duck, Gung Bao Chicken and Hangzhou fish, except that none of them contain any duck, chicken or fish. Not that you'd know, anyway- these dishes recreate the smell, taste, colour, shape and texture of meat and fish with dazzling accuracy. I had this thing that looked, smelled, felt and tasted like a German Mettwurst, and our "sweet-sour-bitter-spicy fish" didn't only exuberate precisely those flavours, but looked and tasted exactly like (filleted) fish. (Of course, both were really doufu, but you sure couldn't tell the difference!) Now personally I'm not a massive fan of all the notion that vegetarians need to be given something that at least looks like meat (I never even bought any of these Quorn products when I was living in Ireland). My stance is that we (vegetarians) know what we want and get what we need, and I think that in vegetarian cooking, the vegetables should speak for themselves. That said, the food was genuinely delicious! It was so nice, in fact, that I even felt a little guilty for breaking my vegetarian vows as there were moments when I simply couldn't believe that I really wasn't eating a dead creature.

Of course, silly me didn't take any pictures, and I haven't been able to find any good pictures online. Just imagine the sliced portions of meat you get at your local Chinese, except made from Tofu.

I shall take a few photos next time though, as we're definitely going back. For now, our only souvenirs of the place remain the two wooden spoons that Himself nicked. Ah well.

Bis dann,

Nadine

Bejing Beauty

Internet censorship. Detainment of protesters. Bad weather. Darfur. Rabies. God knows what. With only hours to go until the 2008 Summer Olympics, media across the Western world are doing their utmost to find new, negative things to report on the host country, paying no attention to any sports topics, and completely ignoring to the many fascinations the host city has to offer.

I am therefore starting a short eight-part series, Beijing Beauty, each part of which will introduce a different aspect of this gargantuan city and its society. From culinary tempations to neighbourly spirit, I will share my impressions and try to show you all the wonderful things the papers don't want you to know about.

Part One: Food!

What do Beijingers say when they meet in the morning? Ni hao? Wrong. Zaoshang hao? Nope. Ni chu fan le ma - Have you eaten?- is the greeting you hear on your way to work, or early in the office. Though, like How are You in English, a detailed answer such as "Oh, I've been having problems with my digestion and therefore haven't had anything" isn't really asked for, but this practice does show one thing: Chinese people's passion for food. For eating, and gathering over food.

And plenty of food there is indeed. From the street stalls selling Baozi or pineap ple to go to the small, unpretentious restaurants of all sorts - from Beijing BBQ to Sichuan- to fancy, round table, full-service fancy spots to your usual suspects like KFC and Pizza Hut: When you're in Beijing you'll never have to be hungry. From as little as a few cents all the way up to a stately price you can enjoy virtually any cuisine you like. Any by any, I mean any.

German, French, Italian, American, Russian, Korean, Japanese and Thai restaurants are some examples of the many international cuisines Beijing has to offer. But the true culinary wealth lies in the thousands of Chinese restaurant that offer every single style of food that th is huge, diverse country has to offer. With meals affordable enough to eat out every night, you can have Dongbei on Monday, Sichuan on Tuesday, Mongolian Hotpot on Wednesday, and so on.

See the pictures below for some impressions beyond sweet and sour chicken with rice! (Now updated with additional pictures from last night's opening ceremony party)

Is it lunchtime yet?!

Bis dann and Hao yun Beijing!

Nadine

Mongolian Hotpot

Ma Po Doufu

Song Hua Dan - Thousand-Year Old Egg

Baozi - the perfect hangover breakfast!

Liang Ban Bo Cai - cold spinach with vinegar

Chiazi - aubergine with onion and garlic

Kafeh toudu - coffee potatoes!

That was chicken, I think...

Ou - lotus root with cabbage and pepper

Tonight will see the first full moon of the lunar New Year.

That means this day marks the end of the Spring Festival. It’s called yuan xiao jie, or Lantern Festival. The tradition is to eat small glutinous rice cakes called yuan xiao, which are filled with red bean past and apparently make quite a good breakfast. Unfortunately I seem to be the only person in the entire office who hasn’t eaten any today. Everybody seems to have had their fill of dumplings at home or on the way to work, but nobody thought to bring any in to share with this laowai. Hmpf. I began my Lantern Festival day with a two-hour Chinese lesson from which my head is still reeling. My Chinese pronunciation, apparently, is quite good, which makes for the dangerous trap that a lot of people, including my teacher, seem to fall in to: They think I can speak much more than I really can! While I suppose it’s nice for your teacher to challenge and believe in you, it can be awkward to have a taxi driver yacking away, and all you’re able to do is smile and nod.

On the positive side, today should also mark the final day of fireworks. However, because it’s the final day on which they are tolerated, those cracker enthusiasts are giving it their all today- when I left for work I felt like I was walking through a mine field, and that was at nine in the morning. Imagine what it’ll be like tonight! As my colleague said, “You can always tell it’s an important day in China just by the amount of fireworks.”

Bis dann,

Nadine

Four weeks' wisdom

Tis now a month since I stepped off the plane, and the last four weeks have been filled with many a new discovery, and countless lessons have been learned. Here are some of them.

Pork is a very clever meat. It often manages to sneakily find its way into supposedly vegetarian dishes. Research has found it has developed cunning disguise strategies that allow it to cling to pieces of tofu and not be noticed until bitten on.

If you are uncertain about how people are going to react to your nationality, just say you’re German. You’ll be loved. Telling people you’re Japanese, on the other hand, may not get you quite as far.

A bicycle is not fully loaded until you have packed it with at least 1.8 times your own weight, preferably in pieces of cardboard.

You can tell Koreans by their haircut. A fashionable bunch.

Everything can be faked. Cocktails are no exception. It is, therefore, possible for a vodka-based drink to give off a slight whiff of baijiu.

If you’re black in Beijing (especially outside the main business district), you may as well pick a Chinese name that means Sore Thumb. A colleague of mine is from South Africa, and he’s never seen as many heads turn in his life.

Tips are not given in Beijing, except in restaurants where they have gotten used to it and to cab drivers who don’t mind the extra money. Which is which can be found out solely by trying and risking to embarrass the life out of your waiter or driver.

Fortune cookies are not, and have never been, Chinese.

Starbucks outlets, apparently, sell their products at the same prices everywhere in the world. While selling a cup of coffee for EUR 3.40 may not be the most unusual thing to do in Dublin, it requires a lot of neck in Beijing.

Garlic is your friend. Embrace it.

You won't be able to avoid this little guy in Beijing, I tell thee.

Bis dann,

Nadine