Location: Beijing, China
Hotel: Shangra-La - 4 star:big and spacious with a wonderful self-catering breakfast
Weather - A very smoggy 26 degrees at midday
After getting off a BA business class flight, the first for me, you are fighting fit to take on Marvelous Marvlin Hagler in a come back fight or in this case check out what Beijing has to offer in a couple of days before a whistle stop tour of Microsoft's Beijing office to find out what the company is doing in China and how I might be able to help make the core-tech recruitment team improve our processes and communications globally. The thing I liked most about BAs business class was their reclining chairs and the myriad gadgets it had on offer. Not to mention the constant pampering from the inflight attendants and the huge variety of digital entertainment on hand the chair was something special. Fully reclining, vibrating, and long it combined space with style all at 11,000 metres and worked well with a glass of tasty wine.
Taxis are incredibly cheap in China. Our first ride was 30 minutes long and it cost about 4 euros. We started witht he Temple of Heaven which called Tian Tian and is the largest temple complex in China. I had never heard about it before until I bought by DK book but I won't forget it now that I have seen it. The video gives you an idea of what it looks like. What the video doesn't show you is the perfectly formed circle format in which he complex is built around lush green grass with lots of myriadering walk paths and lots of beautiful flower beds with lush cedar trees all around them. Throughout the park was lots of tourists and lots of older people flying their colouful kites languidly with an ingenious mouse wheel that freely allowed the kite to soar to the heavesns reeling out as much string as the wind demanded. The is where the emperor made his sacrifice and prayed to heaven and his ancestors for a fortuous harvest for his people. What caught my eye the most was the golden inscribed beams on the outer side of the building that showed lots of dragons curled up and breathing fire. Beautiful artistry. I gave myself an hour their and it was more than enough. There was a small museum in the complex but it wasn't too impresive and if you visit I'd spend no more than 15 minutes in the inner circle with maybe 5 minutes in the museam. Also keep away from the audi guide as it doesn't contain a lot of information, you're better off using your travel book which will provide with sufficent information to let you know what is happening. If I went back again i'd defintely visit the temple again but I'd spend the most of my time watching the folk practiing tai chi, reciting Chinease opera and flying their beautiful kites o gracefully in the gently flowing wind.
After the Temple of Heaven we went to the nearby Pearl market which I thought wouldn't be up to much. I am becoming highly cyncial of markets after all my travelling. Most are rip off, 3rd class quality with sowed on labels on the clothes and rip off copies of artistery with very poor quality souenvirs. You also get enveloped by vendors screeching and touching. My intution: bang on!
After the market we went in search of some of Beijing's famous Bejing duck. I'm not normally a duck fan but when in Rome! A bot like the Brazilian's see football and the Irish see Guinness the Chinese see the cooking, cutting and presentation of duck as art. The restaurent we went to had a lot of pig's lips, cow's tongues and a plate of scorpions to top it off. We decided to go for the full gloden bronzed duck. What I like most about this experience was I expected to get the duck on a nice bed of rice with some soya sauce and salt. Instead a chef came out with a top hat, surgical mask and a set of frightening knifes. He proceeded to slice the duck expertly with a screeching crush of the duck's skull at the end to reveal its brain. With the brain we also got the golden caramilsed peff-pastry like in texture sweet duck's skin, which is a delicacy. The combination of both for me was a sensation my palette won't forget for a while. The brain was a little like you'd imagine by dropping your pencil and chweing on your erasure. The skin was much better and melted like eating paper in your mouth followed by a donut like sweetness.
While I won't rush to my nearest Chinese take-away for the duck I would recommend you try it if you want to dive head first into the crazy world of Chinese gastronomy.
