Munching on Chicken Head in the Middle Kingdom

Warning: This is a long post.

After the quick-fire orientation day on Monday I woke up on the Tuesday with the beginnings of a head cold, while Amy woke up prepped for her first day in the office alongside the person she is replacing. We were able to catch up with the other family for lunch at a local Chinese restaurant just across the road from the office. The food was great, and we walked out with bellies full for $7 each. That night we decided to brave the new city and head out on our own for dinner. After a bit of too-ing and fro-ing we decided upon a larger place called the Jackpot Cafe around the corner from the apartment. After having what we thought was a respectable crack at placing our order we got a bit concerned when the waiter came back mentioning something with the word chicken in it. Although we hadn’t ordered anything with chicken in it, for some reason we just nodded a lot and shrugged our shoulders. Five minutes later two of our meals came as ordered, followed by a broiled chicken chopped up on the plate with some very basic sauce, complete with broiled and unfeathered chicken head. A bit concerned that this was to be Madeline’s dinner in lieu of her requested wonton soup, we were happy when her actual order arrived thus confirming that we had either a) been duped into ordering something extra, because of westerner’s expected response of nodding when the language comprehension goes south, or b) mispronounced one word and got our intended order wrong. Given the complexity of the Chinese language and our poor grasp it is more likely that the latter was our downfall rather than any intentional deception on the part of the waiter.

As it was, the three ordered meals were great (Amy’s hotpot being an absolute WINNER), while the chicken was a tad bland for my liking. I did though decide to follow my previously stated desire to try anything once, so gave the chicken’s head a taste. To be honest it was all going OK until one of the eyes popped out onto my tongue, which kinda spoiled the texture. Two seconds later there was a pop followed by a squirt of some sort of poultry cerebral fluid across the table, thus ending my short history with eating chicken heads.

Yesterday Amy was again back in the office, and was taken up with meetings for the day. So while Amy was working I decided to head along with one of the other families and check out Chaoyang Park a short taxi drive away. On the way we stopped by a new mall that has opened up next to the park. A bit like the shops of Movieworld on the outside, the mall was nearly deserted which did mean that the line-ups for lunch were non-existent. After pigging out on Greek we headed into the park where the kids decided (against their better judgement) to have ice-cream on a day where the wind chill kept the temperature hovering at -8deg. To see the kids shivering while eating ice-cream really was a Kodak moment and a sure-fire Funniest Home Video Show winner (shame the camera was at home). While deserted yesterday all except for the keen kite flyers, this park is a real meeting point in the warmer months as it also has an amusement park and lots of areas for rollerblading (although sadly riding of bikes is prohibited in the parks).

For NYE Amy and I were invited to a party out at an area called Shunyi, which is around 35min drive towards the airport beyond the 5th ring road. Before this I was able to finally experience the great cooking of our Ayi to be, which was up there with the best stuff I’d tasted in Australian restaurants. On top of this she also looked after Maddy and the other children while we headed out for the celebrations. While the company was good, something didn’t agree with my brain chemistry and I ended up coming home with a huge migraine which still lingered this morning (but dissipated after a dose of caffeine and some Codral I’d brought from home). And before you have a quiet chuckle it wasn’t to do with the amount I drank – fewer drinks were the order of the day yesterday (never good to embarrass one’s self on the first invite).

Today being New Years Day, it was a public holiday here in China so Amy, Maddy and I decided to head in to Tiananmen and check out the area around the Forbidden City. Because of our late start (it was New Years Day after all) we realised we would not have enough time to cover all of the Forbidden City in the few hours before sunset so we decided to wander around the gardens to the South of the Forbidden City. Starting on the SE side (where the taxi driver dropped us off) we headed along the canal through the Park of the People’s Culture. While only a short walk, it did provide us with some great examples of old Chinese architecture particularly the marble bridges and the painted pagodas. We weren’t 5 minutes into our walk when Maddy became the fascination of some local Chinese family, who asked for a photo with her. We were more than happy to oblige, and it wasn’t the only one for the day with another group of young Chinese girls also wanting to pose with Maddy on the way out of the temple and back towards the CBD.

Maddy with the first of two local groups wanting a photo with her.

Reece, Maddy and Mao

Reece and Amy in Zhong Shan Park

One of the decorated pagodas in Zhong Shan Park

When we existed from the park into the front of the Forbidden City we realised that every other resident in Beijing was taking advantage of the public holiday to also visit the Forbidden City – the crowds were thick as we headed through the main Tian’an men gate into the courtyard at the front of the City’s Meridian Gates. Once inside the sheer numbers of visitors confirmed our early gut feelings that the full tour best be left for another day so we decided to cough up the entrance fee to wander through the Zhongshan gardens to the SW of the city. The park provided some great garden areas for visitors and views across the frozen moat to the Forbidden City walls, although as it is the middle of winter here the flora really did lack all the vibrant colours we hope come through in the spring. Nevertheless there were some great structures dotted around the park, including some great stonework that would give the Roman’s a run for their money. The biggest surprise was the Dodgem Cars we came across in the park – I’m told that scenes featuring these ancient Palace Dodgem Cars were in the Director’s Cut of The Last Emperor, but ended up on the cutting room floor (God knows why? :-). Maybe it had to do with the American Flag/Statue of Liberty paintwork that adorned the Dodgem Car duco.

Dodgem Cars decked out in the US flag colours - OK USA!

After the wander through the parks we headed for the foodcourt where Amy ate on her first visit in early December. In this place you charge up a card with credit at the door, and then wander around and pick from a smorgasbord of platters featuring a HUGE range of foods from different vendors (including meats, dumplings, soups and hotpots). Given our still poor mandarin skills it was alot of fun trying to figure out if we had enough money to pay for what we ordered – luckily the shop keepers were very understanding.

Marble Arch Bridge and Pagoda in the Park of the People's Culture

So ended our 4th full day in Beijing. It has been a real learning curve so far, and one that we will continue on for the full 3 years. We are starting to relearn our Chinese starting with the most important words first (diet coke, bill please, receipt), but I expect this to expand rapidly over the next few months as we start to want to do other things and explore more widely.

Things that got my curiosity in the last few days:
Chinese milk descriptions - Fresh Milk is good, but Excellent Fresh Milk is better. We are still awaiting clarification on the rating criteria.

The number of laptops around the place – three customers in the Jackpot Cafe had their heads in laptops while eating their dinner, while at Starbucks yesterday we had to step over laptop power cables to get from the counter to our seats (about a dozen laptops in total). Wireless is widely available and in alot of places is free.

Pizza prices in China are not what they are in Canberra. Our local Pizza Hut is the first one that opened in China, and we went there tonight looking for a moderately priced alternative to the more traditional cuisine. As well as having a very different menu (seaweed on your pizza, anyone?) the prices were 1980’s Australian prices, before the competitive market and shopping docket dropped the prices from $15 each to $6.95 each.

Plans for the next couple of days
As all the lakes are freezing over we are looking to go ice skating this weekend at one of the local parks. We are also looking to head out and check out some of the other sites around the city, as well as getting Maddy ready for her first day of school which she starts on Monday.

Boating Season is CLOSED, as Beijing's lakes freeze over

A popular bike model on the streets of Beijing, and my next 24hr bike. Imagine all the batteries I could carry in the back.