May 14, 2013
After
eating breakfast on our last day in Xi'an we boarded the bus and finished off
our tour of the city by going to a local market that specialized in meat
wholesale. We also saw many other things there other than meat such as tofu,
lard, eggs, and produce including a large selection of mushrooms. The market
was extremely busy, crowded and hectic; as there were people everywhere and
trying to move mopeds, motorcycles and three-wheeled carts through the streets
by just honking their horns to get people to move out of the way. There were a
few recognizable wholesale cuts of meat. Of all the things we have seen this
far, it was of the most eye opening experiences yet, as it was so much
different from what we are used to than seeing our meat prepared and stored. We
saw beef, goat, pork, and lamb. There were also chances to buy seafood at the
market. These include: a variety of
fish, shrimp, squid, and other unique seafood like eels and frogs. All the species were far fatter than we were
used to seeing, especially the pork loins. The methods that we saw the meat
being stored in and hung out in the open were extremely different and shocking
as there were no coolers as it was all hung out in the open, as well as the
cleaning and lack of sanitizing all surfaces. There were no types of plastic
covering over the muscle of the meat or anything. This along with the warm
weather drew a fair number of flies and gnats around. They are simply not aware
of the strict food safety standards that we are use to in America. For this we
can be extremely thankful for all the standards and regulations, producers and
all those that help keep the food in the United States safe.
After the
meat market we took the bus to the train station, which is huge and appeared to
be fairly new. Upon waiting for the train most of us took advantage and enjoyed
some "American food" as there were McDonalds, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and
Baskin Robbins. After getting our fill of some familiar food we boarded the
train headed for Beijing. The train took a couple miles to get up to speed, but
once it did we were traveling 311 km/hr (roughly 194mph). It is quite the
experience to ride a high speed train, as it is very smooth and you are still
able to look out and get a great view of the countryside. We traveled through
quite a few tunnels under hills and mountains some big and small. From being in
the huge cities of Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Xi'an we have never wanted to see
the countryside so bad. Outside of city limits, the Chinese landscape is so
beautiful. The farmers make sure to use all of the land for harvest as they
can, including in between highway beams and ditches where we normally just cut
for hay. With one stop in ZhengZhouDong, the trip took about 4 1/2 hours which
means we traveled roughly 800 miles.
After
arriving in Beijing, we had a change in schedule and took part in the Peking
Duck supper instead of Hot Pot supper. This was a little like a duck taco, only
Chinese style. You start with a small "pancake" as they were calling
it and dip a couple pieces of sliced duck meat (no bones this time!) in a type
of soy sauce along with cucumber and onion pieces, then wrap it together like a
taco. It was one of the best meals so far, in our opinion. It was a table full
of food including sweet and sour pork, beef with onions and peppers, spicy
chicken, and tons of other finger foods. Our tour guide for the rest of the
trip is Michelle who gave us a few facts on the way to the hotel: Beijing is
home to approx. 20 million people, 10 million of them being natives of the
area. There are four seasons, but the people only recognize them as hot and
cold seasons and there are also about 70,000 taxis in Beijing and 10,000 of
them being illegal.
Mushrooms
Train
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