When In.. Beijing!

For the past 10 years, I’ve called Beijing my home. I’ve eaten in a lot of restaurants, been to a lot of places and experienced life living like a local. If you plan to visit Beijing, the top 4 places to visit would be Forbidden City, Great Wall (Mutianyu section please!), Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace. However, if you talk about food, I give you fast 5 of Chinese cuisine you must try in Beijing: 

1. Beijing roast duck (aka Peking Duck): a must-eat food when you visit Beijing. The duck is roasted with wood in a stone oven rubbed with spices and no oil. Best to order this dish when you reserve a seat as it take quite some time to cook. The duck will be carved right in front of you for Instagram shots!  Notable restaurants are: Quanjude (Hepingmen Branch only, don’t bother with the other branches), Da Dong, Duck De Chine, Made In China (Grand Hyatt hotel). 

2. Jianbing and soy milk: the Beijing’s version of the breakfast of the champions. You can find them at street corners near office buildings. You have the option to go vegetarian or loaded with meat.   You may think it’s not too hygienic but nobody died yet!  Pair your jianbing with a hot soy milk.  

3.  Hotpot:  there are a lot of hotpot places that you can try in Beijing.  For the budget-conscious traveler,  Xiabu Xiabu (呷哺呷哺) offers the best deal.  For mid-range, go for Haidilao (海底捞) or Dong Lai Shun (东来顺).  Haidilao offers entertainment if you ordered their handmade noodles.  Dong Lai Shun serve their hotpot in a traditional pot.  There are different soup base to choose from (clear, spicy, tom yum, tomato), meats (lamb, pork, beef, seafood), vegetables, noodles/dumplings, sauces.

4.  Dumplings (饺子):  if noodles are considered the staple of the south, dumplings are considered the staple of the north.  A must-eat dish especially during Chinese New Year.  Families prepare their own dumplings and boil them to cook.  I miss the Chinese dumpling restaurant in front of our office building which serves good dumplings.  You can opt for vegetarian, meat lovers, seafood lovers or mixed fillings.  Some dumplings are wrapped in different colors from the usual white.

5.  Lamb Skewers (羊肉串):  the days where you can find in every corner a lamb skewer vendor who grills them as you wait are slowly dying.  My friends and I sometimes just sit outside on a warm balmy day with a bottle of cold beer and just these lamb skewers for dinner.  However, as the local government wanted to ensure the cleanliness and authenticity of the skewers, they are now mostly available in restaurants.  

There you have it!  Enjoy your stay in Beijing!

Photo credits:  Vivian Tang, thebeijinger

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Going to Beijing – How many days??

My sisters and mom just left from their vacation two weeks ago and life is back to normal.  Hahahaha!  If you want my sister’s account of her travels in the city, check her commentary on her blog site.  As for myself, I did all that I can do in Beijing on my first year here with Marco.

So.. before we take into consideration as to how many days.. we must consider what kind of trip would you like to have.   Do you want an amazing race adventure or a light and easy trip?   When you’ve decided if you want to kill or relax yourself, decide how many days would you like to stay in the city.  3, 4 or 5 days?

In any case, here’s a 3 day itinerary for you.  When I say 3 days, that’s 3 whole days so make the necessary adjustments.

Hooters (美国猫头鹰餐厅)

Hooters in the US is known for their beautiful, well-endowed servers.  When Hooters opened in Beijing in 2007, foreigners particularly men flocked the restaurant hoping to be served by these beautiful, well-endowed servers.   However, they were disappointed as Asians are not known to be blessed with big breasts.  Reviews at that time were focused on their servers and not their food.

In any case, I only got the chance to visit this place last month after church.  It wasn’t full as it’s a Sunday and to make up for their lack in bust size, they perform a 30 second dance routine almost every half an hour.  Service was great and the place is filled with flat screen TV tuned in to different sports channel.

Mandarin Oriental Beijing Went Up In Smoke Last Night!

There goes my goal of keeping a perfect attendance this month!  Traffic was horrible this morning on the third ring road going northbound.  Police put a blockade from Guanghua Road to Chaoyang Road on the service lanes as well as the Guanghua Road exit on the northbound highway.  Buses and cars are crawling as everyone would like to see the aftermath of the huge inferno last night.

Before                                                  During                                                     After

At around 830pm last night, the Television Cultural Center at the new CCTV complex was engulf in flames.  The Television Cultural center has a cinema, theatre, recording studios and the flagship hotel of Mandarin Oriental. Witnesses say it was due to fireworks.  One firefighter died due to smoke inhilation.  In the matter of hours the whole building was like the highlight of the firework show to celebrate the last day of the Spring Festival.  When we walked past near the area around 12mn, we can’t see anything due to smoke.  This morning on my way to work, you can see how big it really was and the extent of damage of the fire.

(Photo Credits: Rico Calma, ai de ke flickr photos)

I’m still here! Latest updates!

It’s been forever since I wrote on the blog but real life have been very busy.  First was a week training in Hong Kong then had to catch up with my work and prepare for my holiday in Manila.

Currently, I’m in Manila relaxing after a couple of days of whirlwind activities.  My cousin Jason got married to his girlfriend from Cagayan De Oro, Cathy.  From Beijing to Hong Kong to Manila, it was tiring.  Thursday was pure shopping and dentist appointment.  I think I spent almost P10,000 in a day which is not what I intend to do.   Also on Thursday, I got my 2nd generation ipod Touch 16gb.  I’m totally enjoying it and I was able to surf the net in CDO.