SATURDAY, MAY 23rd - BEIJING

Beijing street food


Jing Bau Beijing street food

Jing Bau Beijing street food

Jing Bau Beijing street food

Cards in park

Dinner with Roberta, Ted, Phil, Astri, Geri and Lenny

Dinner with Roberta, Ted, Phil, Astri, Geri and Lenny

Hot Chili's

Phil and Ted

Geri and Astri

Food shopping

More Chinglish

SATURDAY, MAY 23rd - BEIJING

This morning we went to the Ex-Pat Exhibition with Phil and Astri. We have encouraged them to do the things that they would normally do so we can experience a little slice of their lives here. The exhibition was much like a vendor fair in the US with companies showing off their expresso machines, wine tastings, tea tastings, Chinese Language Schools, etc. From their, we were introduced to some Beijing street food called Jing Bau. It is a pancake about 14 inches in diameter made on a very hot round grill plate. Then they spread an egg over it, some chili sauce, green onions, a sweet soy sauce of some kind and peanuts. On top of this they put some kind of crunchy cracker. Then the whole thing is folder over into an envelope shaped package, slipped into a plastic bag and handed over to you to eat. The whole concoction cost about $1.50 US and was plenty for two to share it. It was so yummy. We will have to have another one before we head for home. We then walked to a beautiful park where we played cards for about an hour and enjoyed the outdoors. The parks here are used by all ages and there is always a lot of activity. We took a walk through what is called the Silk Market, another one of the giant "lady lady" places, where vendors call "lady lady" and try to get you to buy whatever they are selling. It is truly a Chinese happening.. We seemed to have walked forever today, just enjoying eachother. We also took a bus and a subway and then a cab to get home. Beijing is a very big city.In the evening, we were picked up by our cousins, Roberta Lipson and Ted Plafker. They have a big van and they were able to fit all of us so we could go together to the restaurant. It was called The Middle - 8th Restaurant ( www.middle8th.com) and serves typical Yun Nan cuisine. It was quite upscale and lovely and we had a wonderful evening talking and eating and drinking together. Here we are in Beijing, China with Phil and Astri and Ted and Roberta, eating out in a terrific restaurant - we had to pinch ourselves! What fun!