Tiananmen, Chinglish, and Culinary Delights. All in One Day!

At the risk going all Fodor's on you, I won't write volumes (or even paragraphs) about Tiananmen Square. It is the place where Mao Zedong proclaimed the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. On the north side is the Gate of Heavenly Peace, with Chairman Mao looking down on the people ("tiananmen" literally means "gate of heavenly peace"). On the south side is Qiamen Gate, the
Gate of China". The Qiamen Gate was built in the 1400's, but, like many other things in China, was rebuilt in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the center of the square is the Mausoleum of Chairman Mao, where his body is on display during the week (note to self to visit again on a weekday next time).

Much of the square bears the strong imprint of Communism--heavy square architecture and statues clearly showing the onward struggle and the people's progress. Very little of the designs or architecture that you see in pre-revolutionary palaces is visible here. But it does convey a strong sense of the strength of the government. When you walk around the malls and go to and from work and see the growth and development going on, you can forget how different China is from the United States in its political structure. Being here was a visible reminder that we are in a very different country--as if being surrounded by several million Chinese weren't enough! I'm finding it very interesting to see how China is building such a capitalist economy with such mammoth growth and at the same time maintaining Communism as a political ideology. It seems that both systems would be at odds with each other--however, China seems to be making it work. There's honestly been very little about the way things are done here that has been really frustrating. It is definitely more organized than Tanzania, so if people tell us stories about bureaucracy, we can always find a story to top them!

I've mentioned this before...Beijing, for all of its crowds and pollution, has a lot of green spaces. Not huge expanses, but lots of little spaces and places to relax. Beijingers take advantage, too--there are always people sitting and chatting, playing games, or exercising. This one was funny, though--apparently someone felt that this particular area was lacking in foliage and enhanced the view with a "fark". As in, "faux park."
Look deep into the forest. Smell the fresh grass. Listen to the cheerful birds sing as they flit through the trees. See the leaves as they wave in the gentle breeze. Peaceful, no? It's OK, Ava. Turn around and run through the grass! After several hours of pounding the pavement, it will feel heavenly. No? Ok, then.

Chinglish is what you call very badly translated phrases and signs. China has improved vastly in this area, but there are gems all around--such as "I like your face. Do not make me to cry by to not step on my face." Which makes perfect sense when it's on a sign stuck in the grass accompanied by a footprint with a red circle and slash through it. Don't step on the grass, silly! I'm taking my driver's test next week and I haven't

come across this while studying. Maybe it's just so obvious that while there are lanes for cars and lanes for bikes, there's just no room for exploding vehicles.

Or this one, which is splashed everywhere across town. I believe the actual slogan is "Nothing is Impossible."

Being hungry, we headed for Wangfunjing Snack Street. Wangfunjing is one of the high-end shopping streets in town. Snack Street looks like a kitsch-y tourist trap, like what they'd expect tourists might want. Maybe it's what Chinese tourists would want--I keep assuming that everyone I see walking around is Chinese. As in Beijinger, when it's kind of obvious that many of the people we see are Chinese tourists. We certainly liked it! It's filled with street foods, mostly served on a stick. Hel-LO Minnesota Fair connection!

Although I don't remember seeing these babies on the menu along with Pronto Pups. I didn't even bother to take a picture of the tripe, squid tentacles, or hearts of something. In light of these tidbits, that would just be boring. Near as we could tell, the ones on the left are cicadas, the middle bunch is some kind of cocoon and on the right you have your scorpions. If seafood is more your style, you can go for the little seahorses. Note: the scorpions on these sticks are still alive. I suppose you know that's how they're fresh. Because, you know, you're not supposed to eat market or street food unless you know it's been prepared and handled in a sanitary manner.

And don't pretend you don't know what's coming. This is me, for crying out loud. Or, more particularly, us. We loved Fear Factor. If you thought we'd just walk past this kind of stuff without stopping, you'd have another think coming. So don't say I didn't warn you.

I suppose there are those who would claim that I didn't eat anything and just hid behind the camera. Those folks would be wrong. Mark was the only one who actually bit into one, but Cameron and I both ate the legs and stingers (the crunchy parts). They basted the buggers with something like buffalo wing sauce and then fried 'em on the grill. The little crunchy parts were...not too bad.

If you need a palate/eyeball/mind cleanser, you can take heart. They do have other yummy things.

One of our favorites is candied fruit on a stick. You can get grapes, plums, oranges, pineapple, watermelon, or what they call cherries but look and taste more like a crab apple. They kebob them and dip them into hot sugar syrup which immediately hardened. A skewer is less than $1 and delicious! Rats, that's right--no eating fresh unpeeled or questionably washed or handled

fruit. Oh, well...if that wasn't enough to purge your thoughts of scorpion-crunching, my friend Calandria has a lovely blog entry on her cranberry/walnut/apple pie, and it's probably something that would go over better at Thanksgiving than what we ate.

Finally, a noodle shop. Don't ask about how I'm pretty sure that big pile of used chopsticks inthe corner was (hopefully) well washed and then inserted carefully into little plastic sleeves so they looked sterile. The pork noodles (mixed yet again with fresh veggies) were hot and filling, and the dumplings were heavenly!

Add to all of that a heavenly fall day, with blue skies--what more could you ask for?!