8 July 2018, Sunday
This morning, I woke up to news that my family had landed safely in Beijing at 7:23am. The travel party consisted of six people – my parents, my Uncle J and Aunt C, and Uncle S and Aunt J. I had arranged for my host to pick the six of them up from the airport for a fee of CNY 200 (S$41.70). I didn’t make the trip to the airport because of space constraints in the vehicle, as they would be travelling with large suitcases. I had my breakfast while waiting for them to arrive.
Finally, at about 9:20am, they arrived. I greeted them all with a huge smile and gave my parents big hugs as I was so happy to see them. I helped carry their luggage into the house and gave them an orientation of the different rooms and facilities. It took some time for everyone to settle down and for the excitement to abate.
At 11:25am, we were all ready to explore Beijing. The first order of business was to get lunch. Our host had recommended a restaurant called Xian’r Lao Man (馅老满), located just around the corner of our house at Jiugulou Street (旧鼓楼大街). It was a popular restaurant and it was fully occupied, probably because it was Sunday. We waited for a short while before we were allocated two tables.
One of the best things about travelling with companions is that I can now try out more kinds of food. Previously, when I was alone, I was restricted in terms of the amount of food I could order. Certainly, I would never have dined at a restaurant like this, and even if I did, I would only order one or two dishes at most. Now, I can order several dishes to share with my family.
The restaurant is famous for its dumplings (饺子), which won an award in 2013 for being Beijing’s best dumplings in the second Beijing Catering Culture Festival. I know this because the award plaque was proudly displayed at the restaurant’s entrance. We ordered a plate of specialty dumplings (招牌老满饺子) to try, as well as the Yangzhou fried rice (扬州炒饭), noodle with tomato egg (西红柿鸡蛋面), kungpo chicken (宫保鸡丁) and a pot of chrysanthemum tea. The bill for the three of us came up to CNY 127 (S$26.50).
The food was good, but I over-ordered in my enthusiasm, and we couldn’t finish it. Mum was also feeling a little unwell so she didn’t eat much. It was probably because of the overnight flight and also because the restaurant was quite noisy, contributing to her headache.
After lunch, I decided to bring them for some window shopping. It was their first day here so I wanted to take it easy today. I should also add that this was Uncle J and Aunt C’s first time in China, so they were extra excited. We took the subway and alighted at Wangfujing (王府井) station at about 2:30pm.
I had already come here last night to do a quick recce, but it was a totally different scene today. There were much more people here now enjoying their Sunday shopping and it was much livelier. I saw a small pedestrian side street that I didn’t notice last night, so we headed over for a look.
It was a food street called Wangfujing Snack Street (王府井小吃街), selling all kinds of snacks and street food. When I say all kinds, I really mean all kinds. Besides the usual candy snacks and fried food, there were also unconventional ones…creepy crawlies like scorpions and bugs.
The scorpions were still alive and moving when they were skewered on the sticks, before being deep fried. A stick of fried scorpion cost CNY 25 (S$5.21). I understand that the bugs are a good source of protein, but I cannot for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to eat scorpions, especially when their stings contain venom. I wouldn’t eat a scorpion even if you paid me to do so!
After the slightly nauseating detour through the food street (everything else didn’t seem appetising after that), we went back to the main street where all the shopping malls and department stores were. Wangfujing is Beijing’s premier shopping street and it is home to established institutions like Beijing Department Store and modern malls like Beijing apm. We dropped in to have a look but didn’t buy anything, because most of the stuff could be found in Singapore anyway.
After that, we took the subway to Nanluoguxiang (南锣鼓巷). When we arrived at 5pm, I found that it was even more crowded than yesterday evening when I visited. The atmosphere was great and we had a good time strolling through the street, occasionally popping into a shop that interested us.
At 6:15pm, we had dinner at a restaurant because we wanted to try the famous Peking Duck (北京烤鸭). Peking Duck is considered to be a national symbol of China, served to diplomats during official functions and loved by locals and tourists alike. The dish originated during the Yuan Dynasty around the 14th century. It used to be served only to the Emperor before it became available to the masses. The dish consists of thin pieces of tender, roasted duck meat with crispy skin, wrapped in a thin crepe together with slices of cucumber, spring onion and sweet bean sauce.
We had high expectations but unfortunately, the Peking Duck at this particular restaurant was disappointing. The main problem was that the duck skin was not crispy at all. It was moist and soft. It tasted more like roasted duck than the famous Peking Duck we had come to expect. The rest of the dishes were good though. I later learned that the best Peking Duck can be found at Quan Ju De (全聚德), established in 1864. It is the most famous restaurant serving the dish and there are several outlets in Beijing.
After dinner, we took a leisurely walk back to our house and passed by the Bell Tower on the way back. We returned to our house at about 7:45pm. It was a relaxing and easy day. We spent the rest of the evening chit chatting in the comfort of our large dining area, cracking jokes while discussing the next day’s itinerary. It definitely felt good to be surrounded by family again.
