Beijing i

Beijing - the capital of the People's Republic of China.

Shortly after we arrived in the city, we headed out to Siji Minfu for Peking duck. As expected, there was a wait (~30 min) but there were snacks!




I hadn't expected that it would take over 50 mins after we ordered for the duck to arrive.




Complimentary jujubes. I didn't realise that this was the fresh form of the red dates!
Finally the duck! We ordered the "whole duck" ergo, we got both breast pieces. It did hurt my soul a little when they took the rest of the duck away, knowing that it would be used for another dish for someone else's order. Seems a bit like double-dipping.








The duck had almost no fat, however, I had expected the skin to be crispy (it wasn't). It was also a bit of an odd experience; we had started to eat and the waitress came over to demonstrate how to wrap the pancake. But we had already started doing it ourselves...

Nonetheless, I am glad that we went. The cost of the meal (whole duck, 2 x condiments and 2 x pancake) was 246 RMB. When in Beijing.

Beijing is also known for the Forbidden City and we had intended on visiting. However, after walking against the stream of tour groups and witnessing the sheer number of people at the exit, we gave it a pass. If you want to read about the Forbidden City, Ice Pandora wrote about her visit!


Gotta love the larger sized Yakult


One of many instances where we had to walk against the crowd.


After the group passed.




We found it quite difficult to find food and even those generic souvenir shops selling magnets, mugs, etc. Perhaps it was simply one of those instances where if you are actively searching for something, all the shops seemingly disappear.


Zhajiangmian. As I write this post, only now do I notice those stray pieces of celery and carrot in the bowl ...




Our trip to Beijing was punctuated by a visit to Harbin in-between.








For an overview of my China trip refer to this post.