With more than half my time here gone already, it's high time to take stock. This blog has pretty much been shameless posturing intended to make you salivate and hop the next Beijing-bound flight to partake in the orgasmic culinary cornucopia that is Asia. I'm dismayed by how much it pales in comparison to the work of LA Weekly journalist Jonathan Gold, my personal hero and the first food writer in history to win a Pulitzer. Those who follow my other blogs are probably sick of my love-worship of Mr. Gold, suffice to say that food-porn and weekend play-by-plays alone does not a blog make.
Last week I counted up my remaining weekends and panicked. So much to do and re-do, and so little time. I'm not even making good on my vow to stuff myself silly with Xinjiang food. So I proceeded to plan a day-trip to Tianjin (more later), a weekend in Pingyao. Next weekend is shot as I'll be dutifully taking my uncle around (but maybe I can catch the dawn flag-raising in Tian-an-men and finally get a glimpse of the mummified Chairman. Then one more precious weekend free before my family gets here. I feel like I'm going at a breakneck pace to fit in everything I possibly can, and with the vague notion that I can't afford to stop for a even a moment.
I've come up with a two-liner to deftly deflect any and all inquiries of "How's Beijing?" Biting back a retort to just "read my blog," I tell them, "Beijing is huge. And full of good food." This satisfies most people. If they push for more, I throw another bone: "The air is the suck." This indeed is Beijing in a nutshell for me.
I'm almost afraid to dig deeper for fear of what I'll find. First, the city: proud, ambitious, unapologetic, inconvenient. But also uncompromising, heterogeneous, cohesive and hopeful. And above all, a city of undeniable character. I feel I'm just getting to know it, just getting to develop things I crave about it, and it will be just moments before I have to leave.
Then, the food: abundant, piecemeal, delirious. If I had a nickel for every time the word "delicious" made it into my blog...
The people. They fall into at least two categories, of course: expats and locals. There might be a specially small contingent of huaren (overseas Chinese) like me, people thinking they're coming back to the "Motherland" realizing they'd never felt less Chinese in their lives. For the expats, I feel an unspoken bond of family, strange citizens in a stranger world, whether I've spoken to them or not, whether they're just here for fun, have an unhealthy interest in Asian things, or genuinely love the city. With the locals, I'm finally feeling accepted as a friend (rather than treated just with courtesy and curiosity), though I know I'll never actually be one of them as long as my language skills are on par with those of a 5 year old child. Nor would I want to be. Coming to Beijing has been a great exercise in confirming my Americanness, and in so many ways I'll be glad to be back in the States.
Anyway, all I know is I can't leave it at this. I'll be coming back soon, for sure, for Xinjiang, and Tibet, and Haerbin (from which my slight and gently long-fingered new hairdresser hails). Not for the Olympics, I don't think - I'll pass on the hysteria, thankyouverymuch.
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That said, where did I leave off? Starting from two weekends ago:
- Climbed some obscure mountain with the teammates
- Got a haircut in Wudaokou.
- Had western style brunch - twice, once at Lush and once at Kro's Nest (the first was better).
- Visited Capital Museum. Got very dizzy in the spiraling tunnel of the special exhibits structure.
- Had a sundae at McDonald's that was way too sweet.
- Compared the Russian food at Traktirr Pushkin to that of my darling Kiev. (Both delicious - Kiev wins because of the opera singers).
- Went karaokeing, FINALLY. It was a karaoke palace, really - a place called Party World with miles of marble halls and ropes of crystal hanging from chandeliers. Full buffet. Oh, it was rich.
- Visited Tianjin: Pleasant train ride, Port Authority Architecture (lots of stodgy old European Buildings), Kiessling's Bakery,mediocre Goubuli dumplings, buying lots of things at the Foreign Goods Market. Missing the famed Antiques Market by just a half hour, but then proceeding to buy more artsy shit I don't need at the old gucheng (Ancient Culture Street). Suffering a 2.5 hour bus ride back to Beijing.
- Partying it up at Vic's for the first time, severely damaging my eardrums, shimmying alternatively to techno and hip-hop, and discovering this amazing local drink that mixes sweet green tea with whiskey.
- Finally checking out the Harvard-like hallowed grounds of Beida University.
- Dining at Middle 8th Restaurant, deciding I'll never get sick of the tender veal grilled to perfection, nor the variety of fruity teas.
- A Beijing-style Thanksgiving dinner that put many a previous feast to shame: homemade dumplings stuffed with shrimp, egg, jiucai (chives) and copious amounts of dill, roast turkey for which our host trekked 3.5 hours to some Texas barbeque place near Silk Market to procure, and various spicy localized dishes.
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