China #2: Food

I’ve been told I have a relatively adventurous palate.  Certainly willing to dabble with any cuisine, I will also sample pretty much any dish proffered provided it does not include any of the following:  reptiles, insects, entrails, or organs.  (Okay, I have eaten crocodile and frog legs, which, I believe, would both carry a reptilian classification.  I also liked them both!  They taste a bit like chicken with a fishy nuance but not exactly the same chicken with fishy nuance.  Both are distinctive, each holding its own unique melding of chicken/fishy nuance flavor and texture—go figure!)  Most plant-based food does not repel me intellectually or visually before sampling, although on multiple occasions I have tasted “vegetarian fare” that needs never be an included portion of my sustenance again.   Keep in mind, too, I really am not a foodie, connoisseur, or gastronome.  Mostly I just don’t like being hungry, and food that actually tastes good as it satisfies makes any day better.

In China any boundaries limiting what ingredients could constitute human victuals seemingly blur.  Case in point—check out the following photos made at a popular night market specializing in meals-on-a-stick, one located on a side street connected to the most upscale (think Gucci, Prada, etc.) shopping district in Beijing:

 So...these actually look quite edible, yes?!  Just keep walking--so to speak--as we did...

 Now, these gave me the willies!

Yummy...NOT!

On these, the scorpions wiggled and writhed.  Apparently the buyer would first select a stick to be grilled.  (And maybe then the scorpions were stilled?!!)

Still, all this said and pictured, meals in China can also include some delectably memorable eats.  Fresh ingredients—but not moving, please—and novel combinations often culminate in a most pleasurable dining experience.  One of my favorite dishes on this latest trip was kung pao chicken.  Now I’m not talking about the ubiquitous Chinese-American style kung pao chicken here.  I’ve never eaten “ kung pao” anything in America that resembled the kung pao chicken I ate in China:  chicken and peanuts in spicy sauce.  Another favorite—and its name I never learned—was this caramelized sugar sauce poured over fresh apple chunks or baked chunks of sweet potato.  Although it was always served as part of the main course, it negated any craving for dessert!

China #1: Bonnie

My sister Diane said she would like a real people story from my trip to China.  Okay, then.  Meet Bonnie, the leader of our Intrepid group tour; she would be the one person actually from China whom I came to know best:

"Bonnie," for us--but Liu Yanqin for her real life in China--grew up in a rural farming area outside of Beijing, the eldest of two children.  Because her parents were farmers in the countryside, a second child was permitted if the first one was a girl, so Bonnie has a brother six years younger.  Bonnie is thirty, although one would never guess it to look at her; only after she recounts all her studies and work experience does one realize she definitely requires at least thirty years of existence already!  She confessed at the end of our trip that our group was her first one to lead for Intrepid, but her knowledge, skill, grace, and poise certainly proved her prior involvement in the travel and tourism industry.


During our first evening together as a tour group when we commenced the conventional tour group ritual of self-introductions, Bonnie included in her own introduction that she was Buddhist.  About a week into our nine-day tour while on our second night train journey--between Xi'an and Suzhou, by the way--Bonnie and I ended up alone for maybe twenty minutes in our narrow compartment sectioned by six bunks, three on each side.  Because most Chinese do not profess religion, especially on first meetings, I suspected from the beginning that Buddhism was important to Bonnie.  As she ate a vegetarian supper that evening I asked her if her whole family is Buddhist.  No, they are not.  And then she told me the story of how she became Buddhist.  It was not a quick conversion.  She had an interest and she studied, but she also had questions and some serious doubts.  Encouraged by some Buddhist friends and monks in Beijing to do a temple stay out in the mountains, she attempted on several occasions to arrange one, but work and then her father's health crisis prevented her.  Ultimately, though, it happened.  Bonnie admitted that she arrived at the temple stay no longer particularly hopeful that it would make much difference to her conflicted state of mind, but she chose to have the experience anyway.  In the end, the monk who taught her and addressed her questions opened her up to a full conversion.  I asked Bonnie how her family accepted her conversion to Buddhism.  She replied that at first they were a little worried, especially when she became a vegetarian, too, but they had since grown to accept it. 


As we talked, I think Bonnie could tell from some of my questions and comments that faith and things of the spirit are important in my own life.  She has offered to set up a temple stay for me any time I return to China.


Bonnie and I also discussed travel and politics.  As of yet, Bonnie has never traveled outside of China, and she's currently waiting to receive her card that will allow her to go to Hong Kong.  Previously she has applied to travel to the USA and also to Europe, but both applications were denied.  According to Bonnie, one must be careful not to create a record of "denials" for international travel because then it becomes even harder to receive permission, so she has decided to wait awhile before applying again.  The fact that I worked in Seoul, Korea, on a US military base no less, fascinated her, but I also believe that she had concerns about the intent of S. Korea and the USA with regard to N. Korea.  She asked if I thought S. Korea wanted to have a war with N. Korea.  When I said no, that any war between the two Koreas would result in devastating destruction for them both, that most people just wanted to have the chance to live their lives with family and friends, with peace and prosperity, she seemed relieved.  At the end of our tour, Bonnie invited me to travel to N. Korea with her.  I mentioned that for a citizen of the USA, that would be difficult.  "Oh, no," she said, "we can cross the border from China!"