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I love steamed buns and was always on the lookout for vendors that looked hygienic. The place I found in Xian looked great and they had four different kinds, each with a different filling.

China 1998 - Part Three: Xian & Beijing

Dougburnett
2003-11-22 16:39:38

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a taxi but I asked the price just the same. They all wanted 30 yuan to take me to my hotel. I walked less than a block away, flagged down a taxi and got there for 12 yuan.

After lunch I took a taxi to the Temple of Heaven - a great ceremonial complex south of Tiananmen. It's another place to exercise your legs. I entered by the south gate and walked up the long ceremonial road toward the temples - there are actually two, both round and constructed of brightly painted wood. At the last building, the forecourt was full of the usual - Chinese having their pictures taken. The temple itself sat on a high platform and I had to walk up a narrow, crowded stairway to visit it. Then I had to fight for a view of the interior but sadly I couldn't enter.

That evening Rochelle and I went to dinner at a duck restaurant she knew south of Tiananmen. We were both a little tired from the day's activity - she had ridden a bike out to the Summer Palace in the northern suburbs - so we took a taxi to the restaurant. It was on a crowded little side street. Inside one wall had a bank of open ovens where the ducks were cooked and then hung to cool. Here, like all restaurants and stores I visited in Beijing, there was no air conditioning - it was uncomfortably hot inside. I decided the perfect cure would be a cold beer. When it came, in a big mug, it was at "English" temperature - way too warm for my taste.

The duck, served with rice and steamed broccoli, was delicious. The hustle bustle of the restaurant was pleasant and we sat talking for quite a while. Once outside in the cool air we decided to walk back. Our path took us through Tiananmen Square. When we emerged from the underpass that connects the square with the surrounding sidewalks we discovered a solider blocked our way - the square had just closed. Back at her hotel, Rochelle and I had a drink and then said good bye - she was flying back to Bangkok in ...