China

The Great Wall

Posted on by helenhmk


Before we are on our way

Originally uploaded by Helen K

With any holiday experience there are always little things the guidebooks don’t mention. Getting from the top of the Great Wall back to the bottom via a toboggan slideway is one. I don’t know why they leave it out… but it was fantastic! 2-3 minutes of pure excitement and the wind rushing through your hair. The only downside is having to slow down because the person in the front is too cautious. It definitely beats the the old chair lift any day. So next time you are in Mutianyu I highly recommend the “slideway” ride down.

At this point you are probably asking “But how was the Great Wall?”. Well it was truly amazing – what else can you say. Views are stunning (once the sky has cleared up)…. from all angles. It certainly is an incredible structure, the way it hugs the top of the mountains. on the photo will take you to my photo page where you can see many photos of the wall.  Its a great experience..  and worth the very steep climb, and all the stairs.  Thankfully they don’t have those stairs at the gym – The Great Wall is one place you wouldn’t catch me running up and down!

Before it was carved

Posted on by kymdt



Before it was carved, originally uploaded by Helen K.

Here is a poor duck before it was carved up.

Well you may know Helen and I have been in search of Adelaide’s best Peking Duck and so far it is probably Citizen in King William Street. We have had one duck in Beijing and so far it is the best we’ve had in China. Indeed it was very good! Quite different that in Adelaide.

Firstly, we had the whole duck carved up, no second dish like duck noodle or rice. Secondly, the taste was let’s say more adult or less Australian. I think Australian ducks are influenced by the tradition of chinese food being quite sweet. Peking Duck and the sauce in Adelaide are also quite sweet. Not so here.

Also, the food wasn’t sullied with the staple of rice!! Special occasions deserve special food. Rice is an every day food.

If you want to see more photos of our duck and the restaurant then visit Helen’s flickr pages. Some of her new photos are shown to the right of this post, and a quick scan can be had by clicking on the photo page at the top.

Qinmen Daije

Posted on by kymdt



Qinmen Daije, originally uploaded by kdt.

Like a focused machine Helen and I were in Beijing and we knew we had to eat Beijing (aka Peking) Duck! Helen used a simple search criteria on Google “Best Beijing Duck”. It came and back and said you MUST go to Liqun Roast Duck Restaurant in the back streets of an old Beijing Hutong.

That doesn’t too hard, but these streets are small and I can never seem to find two maps that agree on street names or locations. It doesn’t matter anyway because streets are disappearing and appearing all a time. Even our Nokia GPS had as walking in a middle of a void, even though it looked like a street.

This photo is of an area that looked very “old china” at first appearances to our naive eyes. On closer look it was clear that all the buildings were new and indeed me any were still in the process of being fitted out. This is clearly a mega shopping development. At least it wasn’t another boring mall.. Only problem is that all of little streets that should have connected to the hutongs were gone! The hutongs are certainly an endangered species.

We still made it thought by guess work and good look. Have a look at the next post to see the duck.

Air China over China

Posted on by helenhmk




Air China over China

Originally uploaded by Helen K

This proves we made it on the plane. The journey was pretty uneventful (apart from the turbulence for around an hour..ug). Checking in was a long queue for nearly an hour, where a number of people where repacking their cases in the middle of the floor. Thankfully I can say I pack neatly compared to a number of people on that flight!

Thank-you to the person who mentioned the nose cone camera view available on the in-flight movie system. Apart from that entertaining viewing at night time, I occupied my time by watching Over the hedge, the Bee Movie, and Lost in Translation, and reading one of the manga novels purchased in Sydney. Top films available on Air China! Sleeping, well that was optional, as it always is on long flights. Food was good – decided to go the Chinese option for breakfast, which was a rice dish, with mince pork.