Beijing Begins with a Bang

With a short flight Jon and I left our Korean friends to not only arrive in a new city, but a new country as well, Beijing, China. Our arrival day also happened to be Quingming, which is kind of like the Chinese Day of the Dead but without all the flair. It’s a day to clean graves and remember not only the recently deceased but past ancestors as well. It is also a public holiday, so while we didn’t see much in the way of graves, the streets were extra packed in this already crowded city of 22 million. Our first subway ride, directly from the airport was fun. We were completely sandwiched with people and trying not to lose each other, our luggage or our balance. 

Sign in our hotel lobby

 After settling in at our hotel, we decided to venture out on the city’s first adventure, to find food. We walked by plenty of places that looked good to me and were brimming with people, but none were to Jon’s liking. He finally picked a restaurant that was some sort of chain and that looked very clean and orderly inside. The food smelled good and from what I could see looked good as well. Jon speaks pretty decent Cantonese. Unfortunately, everywhere we would be visiting speaks Mandarin, and he can’t read a lick of either. He managed to order us some drinks, but turning to the menu we were both lost. The restaurant was a build-your-own bowl of noodles type place, and the menu was just a giant list of ingredients with a golf pencil for you to pick. So, I just go for it, I pick up the pencil and start making marks. Dinner Roulette is the name of the game! What the waitress ended up bringing us was not really dinner. There were no noodles at all (apparently we hadn’t selected any, hence the odd look she gave us when we handed in our order), onion, sprouts, chili, bits of duck tripe and peanuts were all we got. I guess we lost that round, and in fact we lost the next few too. That however was just a set up for the miraculous rebound that was about to follow…

May not look like much, Granny pulled noodles.

 By our third day I had convinced Jon we should try some hole-in-the-walls; even if we couldn’t order. Success! Pointing to other customer’s food we succeeded in scoring some seriously tasty,  hand pulled noodle soup. Of course, served up by a sweet old lady, adding the needed ounce of charm to the situation.

Excessive condiments win me over every time. (Dragon bean top left)

 For our following culinary experiences we asked for friends recommendations and it’s amazing how well that paid off, go figure. At ‘Da Dong’ restaurant we had an entire Peking duck carved table side, and that’s where we first tasted the elusive “dragon bean.” Mmm, a green like one never tasted, with the crunch of celery and flavor similar to a snap pea. Oh course, not failing, the cut stalks served, resembled a four pointed star. Later at another restaurant, ‘Hancang,’ we would find it again, but this time it was called “sword bean.”  

Late at night, when no ones looking, I fantasize about this. (Sword bean front right)

Lakeside about to get cracking.

  ‘Hancang,’ is a large home style cookin’ joint and was the dining highlight of Beijing. The pork belly and the braised fish were cooked to perfection, and the street style shrimp skewers went perfect with our beer. (Are ya starting to get the feeling all we did while traveling was eat?) The food was so tasty, I didn’t even mind that the service was shitty, including rude waitresses; and would go back in a second. This would be a great place to go on a date because it right on the Hou Hai Lake and bar district, perfect for late night strolling and imbibing. You can even get a bicycle tuk tuk ride for just ten bucks. Don’t worry, if you aren’t Asian no ones gonna mistake you for a local so fuck it, may as well enjoy being a tourist. And if you are Asian, hey, it’s your vacation why should you be ashamed of a good ol' time in a tuk tuk?? Anyways, I’m starting to believe those beans were all an illusion, because after an extensive market and internet search that damn veggie could not be found.  

Love in an alley.

The Unexpected

Ok, so Korea, very little expectation going in.  However due to my boyfriend’s love of Korean cinema, he had led me to believe all Koreans are very dark and edgy. Of course this is ridiculous to assume of a whole people, but what ended in disappointment for him was elation for me. The cultural differences were sometimes odd, sometimes amusing and in the end further expansive of one’s world view.  

One of the first things we noticed as we started scoping out the streets was that an eye catching-ly high number of couples were matching. Matching you ask? Why, haven’t we all by some odd coincidence shown up to meet friends and realized we all remarkably decided to wear blue today, how funny. No, no, it was executed in a variety of styles but let me assure you it was all intentional. Koreans have a flare for what to Americans may seem like pre-teen romanticism. When they got a man, they ain't afraid to show it loud, show it proud! The first incidence I saw was a woman in a pink mini skirt. At her side was a man in a polo of the  same exact shade. I wanted to think this was a happy accident but the slew of folks to follow just wouldn’t allow. The best execution I saw was a young couple, both in matching red converse shoes. So the color of the shoe obviously caught the eye but they still had the autonomy to pick the rest of the outfit. At worst there is full on, head to toe matching. It can and often is down to the socks and the head-wear. It’s actually impressive in a way, I would be hard pressed to find a friend who could convince their partner to give this a shot.  (sorry, no pics to share, but if you are really curious look it up)

Sorry ladies, boys only!

The next thing that catches you off guard is men in makeup. Ahem, straight men in makeup. Korean  culture is very into the aesthetically pleasing and you know, why should it only be the women who get to look good? Many men dye their hair, get perms and devote a competitive amount of time to styling. There are even stores that exclusively sell male beauty products. One of my girlfriends complained to me that it sucks to share a bathroom with her brother because he takes so long to put on his foundation in the morning! Go Korea for breaking some major gender role expectations they saw our metro male phase and raised the stakes on that one. 

Vegan in training

Although this next Koreanism could have gone in the food posting, I didn’t actually try it so I felt it would be more fitting here. Everybody has heard the rumors and jokes about Asians eating dogs. Mostly people sneer and exclaim something like “Savages!” Well I just want to say Seoul was equally if not more first world than anywhere I have been and yes people eat dog. My generation eats it less, kinda in the same way we all go on kicks of vegetarianism or not eating processed foods. While shopping one afternoon, I got targeted (I think cause I was the gringa) to sign a anti dog eating petition. It was a small group of emo looking kids, chanting and I felt obligated to put my name down. Immediately following my friend chuckled, “Shucks, I guess I’ll have to change our dinner plans!,”  winking.  Whew, I got out of it this trip, but he swears I’m the one missing out. 

Baby looks like she got back.

Last thing I will mention is padded undies. We have push up bras, so why not enhance the other end if yo mamma didn't give it to ya? And that's all I have to say about that. 

Stuffed to the Brim

        When we first arrived in Korea our good friends and most generous hosts JP and Agatha asked what we wanted to do while in Seoul. Jokingly, I said “eat,” because for starters I actually didn’t really know what there was to do in Seoul,  and also because I really love Korean food. I had no idea that my love was the teenage crush version of what was to become a full fledged grown up love affair. Or that my taste buds would soon be going on the orgasmic culinary explosion of a life time. Yea, we saw a palace here, did a little shopping there, but only because you can’t literally eat all day long...believe me, we tried, and even came close to succeeding.

Eel three ways. -photo courtesy of JP

 The hallmark of many Korean restaurants is the tabletop grill. One night it was filled with sizzling pork belly and onion, the next duck, the next eel.  Of course no meal would be complete without the accompanying panchan or what westerners would call side dishes. This translation however is very essentially flawed in that these “sides” are often equally the stars of the show. What are they exactly? I don’t know and I don’t care because whatever little pickled morsel I just popped in my mouth is so good it hurts. This type of feasting can only be rivaled by Thanksgiving, but hello this went on for 5 days, 2-3 times a day! No Thanksgiving has ever been taken to that level, probably because you really don’t wanna eat undercooked turkey and soggy green beans more than once a year.This food you want to eat forever.

Panchan fiesta

 One of our greatest meals came on a night without a grill. My companions and I took the subway out to what looked like a pretty seedy part of town. Buildings had paint flaking of them and I saw a few men stumbling drunk (they still looked nice though, no hobo chic). We crossed a freeway overpass and arrived at a warehouse. Inside was the most extensive fish market I have ever seen.  People were yelling at me from all sides to come check out their stalls and I didn’t know where to look first as I stumbled down the aisles wide eyed. Once again the lovely Agatha came to the rescue ordering some delicacies for us. If I were to make this venture solo I would never have known that there is an on-site restaurant cooking up whatever you purchased in the market. After we sat down at our table, Indian style on the floor, the usual opening of several bottles of soju commenced.  I didn’t feel the need to mention this earlier but please email me personally if you make it through a Korea trip without excessive consumption of this beverage.  After a few minutes the waitress returns with our sashimi. I know all about the radiation in Japan contaminating the worlds seas, but don’t worry the soju is there to help you forget such annoying details. As the waitress plopped down our next plate of food, our friend JP had the most ridiculous smile on his face. He pointed to the plate and despite being cut into bite sized pieces the octopus was writhing and wiggling right before my eyes. “This is my favorite,” he exclaimed as he brought some pieces to his mouth. “I love how it suctions itself to your lip as you try to eat it,” he added with a chuckle.  “When in Korea,” I squealed as I grabbed a piece between my fingers and screaming dropped it in my mouth. What in the name of Jesus? This dish is good! Not just eatable, not just for the sake of being polite good, but really super yummy good! Top meals ever good.

I heart Korean food this much.

I can't tell you many sights to see in Seoul, but if you like to eat it just might be worth a vacation.