Foods in Beijing

There are a lot of interesting Chinese foods that you must try in Beijing. Well, actually, China is a good place of culinary lover since Chinese foods are so famous world wide.

I'm soo picky about food. It's not that i only eat certain types of food, because i'm definitely eat everything, but i only consider few types of food to be called "delicious".

I tried quite various kinds of Chinese foods here, so i can give you some must-try foods in Beijing. I've been thinking seriously to make this list, since they should be really good ones. So, here are they; Bon apetite!

1. Hotpot. It's really popular in Beijing, especially in winter. The concept is that you put meats, vegetables, tofu, etc, into a big pot with a boiling seasoned water inside and gas stove underneath. The aim is to make the food always warm. Please put attention to only choose hotpot in a fancy restaurant :p, i don't mean to be lavish, but i've eaten hotpot in a small restaurant (cost 35Y per person, located in Shaoyaouju), and it was disgusting. The soup was tasteless, so were the meat, vegetables, and other stuff. The sauces tasted awful. But then, i went to a fancy hotpot restaurant (cost more than 300Y for 4 people, treated by Mr. Wang ;D) and it was amazing. They put a lot of delicious mushroom and herbs into the soup so it had rich flavor, and was really delicious. The meats and vegetables were fresh, the sauces were great. Plus, they served it with delicious dumplings, stuffed buns, soy milk, and durian cake as desert. It was just amazing (apalagi gratis, mak nyuuss!)
2. Roasted Duck. For sure... Beijing Duck is really famous, world wide. Actually, until this note is written, i haven't been tasted a Beijing Roasted duck heheheheu. Well, it's so expensive for me. The whole part of the duck may cost you 200- 300Y. But still, i put it on the list since it's really famous. You can find many roasted duck restaurant all around Beijing. Have a try!
3. Dumpling. Or jiao zi. If you manage to find good, fresh, dumpling, it would be heavenly! Moreover, dumpling is the traditional food of Chinese. They used to make it at home during some festivals. I had dumpling stuffed with duck meat in a duck restaurant near Temple of Heaven, and it was really good (it's good if it's still juicy inside). Dumplings are not expensive. I paid about 26Y for a portion of really good, fresh dumpling.
4. Caramelized Fruit. Probably, if i have a chance, i'll start to sell this in Jl. Dago hehehe. Caramelized fruit is my favorite snack. They put various fruits in a long stick, usually grapes, oranges, mulberry, banana, kiwi, strawberry, apple, but sometimes they also put cherry tomatoes. You can find it sold by sreet vendors all around Beijing for 2-4Y, yum!
5. Insects. Well, i mean, when and where again you will try barbequed insects? you can find it in Wangfujing Food Street. They sell scorpions, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and many more. The basic taste of the insects is crunchy, and a little bit juicy for scorpion. They might look disgusting, but they don't have really annoying taste, just give it a try! The price starts from 20Y per stick.

To try new foods is always a huge interesting part of traveling. Just free your self a little bit and let your appetite decide. The best cure for bad mood is tasty food. But also aware of food poisoning, make sure that you don't have any allergy of certain food and always bring medicine for stomachache and food poisoning with you.

Enjoy! :D

How to Survive Winter (for tropical people :D)

Yippieeee!! it's winter in Beijing!
...
brr.

Heheu, it's my first winter. Like i've told you before, i had my first snow. But, winter is not just about cute stuff like snow, it's also about 0 until -4 degree celcius of temperature, and yet they still haven't turn on the heater until this note is written.

(my school during winter)

For me, winter is also about survival heheu. For the first time of my life, i feel so damn cold. While writing this note, i sit under my blanket and coat. Actually, people's rate of tolerance to cold weather is really vary; depends on environment, health condition, (probably) body mass, etc.

But, i'm a petite girl with not so many flesh attached to my bones, plus, i spent almost all my last 4 years in Jatinangor, which daily average temperature is about 27 degree celcius. And now, i'm experiencing under 5, 0, until -4 degree celcius. Well, in Indonesia, i only find this kind of temperature inside my fridge.

But, i can tell you how to survive this freezing temperature, first, here are some fashion tips;

(my winter style)

1. Wear multiple clothes under your coat. I used to wear tank-top, t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt, sweater, jacket/blazer, and finally winter coat. Only with this kind of combination, i can feel a bit warm. Ow yeah,, make sure you have really thick winter coat with you.
   
2. Wear double scarf. I recommend one of them made from wool. Just to make it fashionable, try to match both scarfs with your coat. They sell cute scarfs for only 10Y- 20Y in shopping places. Such a fun.
   
3. Wear tights/ legging under your jeans/ throusers. Believe me, it helps a lot.
   
4. Own a pair of glove. Choose ones with a layer inside, cause it'll be warmer.
   
5. Own a pair of boot. I suggest the material is from leather or any other hard material, because they won't absorb water. Mine is velvet and i still have some water inside my boots when it's really wet.
   
6. Own a hat. It's really cold when your ears are exposed. They sell various hats here, my favorite is beanie because it's warm and fashionable. If you don't like hat, you can use the hood in your coat.
   
7. Wear socks, anywhere, anytime, except for bathroom for sure.
   
8. Recommendation from my friends; head, hands, and feets are parts of your body that will lose the body temperature easiest. So, make sure all of them are covered.

(say BRRRR)

And any other tips...

1. Take subway; it will be a lot warmer inside the subway,, hehehe
   
2. Eat, eat a lot! especially carbs. Carbs produce energy and energy produce body heat
3. Drink a lot of water to hydrate yourself, because your skin will be really dry during this time
   
4. Don't take shower with cold water, u'll freeze at the time
   
5. Keep coffee, tea, or chocolate in your room. So, you always ready everytime you need hot drinks! :D
   
6. Avoid parks; it will be super freakin cold there
7. Be careful when you step on ice caps on the ground. I slipped once last week and i still have some bruises in my a** >.<

So, that's all from me! i enjoy this winter since it's a part of my adventure, and i'm glad that i'm given the opportunity to experience this :D

It was not swine flu, but still...

I was a bit ill few days ago. I had flu. It wasn't swine flu, thank God, but i was pretty worry that i searched for the symptoms of swine flu in the internet. It was said like this:

"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in humans the symptoms of the 2009 "swine flu" H1N1 virus are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general. Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. The 2009 outbreak has shown an increased percentage of patients reporting diarrhea and vomiting."
(Wikipedia again)

Ok, i had quite temperature, sore throat, runny nose and low blood pressure. But i didn't have cough, headache, body aches, chills, fatigue, diarrhea or vomiting. So, i conclude that I HAD NO SWINE FLU. Pff. I still have runny nose and low blood pressure now though.

Actually, it began when i eat a weird snack that i bought in a small supermarket near my school. It was prawn snack; and tasted more like salt with chips than chips with salt. I can't put the picture of that god-damn-nasty-snack here cause i'm afraid to be sued, but i can tell you that the container is red, with a picture of prawn on it. Humph.

The next day after i ate that snack, i had a sore throat. I thought i would be recover soon so i just ignored it. But that day, i went to a lot of place, drank milk shake at 10pm, danced a lot, and had ice cream at 5am in the morning. Please remember that now is autumn- early winter in Beijing, so it was sooo cold for me.

So, then, i was ill. I didn't bring any medicine from Indonesia except some tablets for diarrhea that my mother put inside my bag. I used to have really good antibody, so i thought i would not get ill and i dont need to bring medicine with me. That was a REALLY BAD idea.

The girls, Martyna and Slava are really sweet. They gave me medicine from Russia and Polland. I took Strepsills Intensive, Grypolek and Oepbekc and took a rest for two days and i felt much better. Thanx a lot, girls! :D

(they work! :D)

So, if you're going abroad, i highly suggest you to bring some medicines from your country. If you feel lazy to bring a lot of medicine with you, make sure these 1st aid stuffs are in your luggage:

1. Flu/ cold medicine. Some stuffs with parachetamol will do. For Indonesian, it could be Panadol, Bodrex, etc.
   
2. Cough syrup/ sore throat medicine. If you feel troubled to bring cough syrup with you, make sure you bring Strepsills, FG Tchrosis, or something like that.
   
3. Inhaller. Runny nose is really, really annoying. Inhaller may help you a lot.
4. Diarrhea medicine. There's a lot of food poisoning case happens to foreigners.
   
5. Vitamin C. It's important to maintain your condition during recovery.
   
6. Cajuput Oil (minyak kayu putih maksut gw... hehe). It always helps.
7. Band-aid
   

But the most important thing is that always aware to your condition. Always have scarf, gloves, coat and boots when you feel cold. Stay in bed if you don't feel well. When you have flu, you're really sensitive to other viruses and something worse can happen to you if you're being reckless.

The best medicine for flu is to lay in bed and sleep! ;D

Chong zhi dian hua ka

*Subtitle: refill the phone card

I had a pretty emotional morning when i tried to refill the credit of my Chinese phone number, hehehe. I bought 30Y credit of China Mobile and I was so frustrated because this card of Chine Mobile didn't have a SMS system to refill the credit. The instruction written in the card was only;

1. Dial 13800138000 and follow the voice instruction to recharge your China Mobile account
   
2. Call from China Mobile's service or any fixed-line service to recharge your local account
   
3. etc... (msi ad 3 poin lg males nulisny gw,, irrelevant tpny dgn crta da,, hehehh)
   

(troublesome card)

So i did, i dialed 13800138000 and tried to follow the instruction. Of course the intruction was given in 2 languages; Chinese in English, but... the operator spoke with a really strong accented voice. It was sound like Chinese for me >.<>

Dial 13800138000

Dial "2" for English assistance

Dial "2" to recharge your account

Dial "1" and insert the numbers written in your phone card

Dial "#" to confirm

Type "Ye" then send to 10086 to check if your credit has been added

You can buy phone cards in the magazine stalls that can be easily found in Beijing. To ask for it, you can say,
"Ni you mei you dian hua ka?" (Do you have phone card?)

This type of provider is kinda unique (read: capitalyst ;p) for me. Because, if you run out of credit, you can't even accept a short message nor a call. Totally unreachable. But they will inform you if you only have 10Y left in your credit.

Beijing Subway

I really love Beijing Subway, yes i do!

I always feel convenient enough with angkot, DAMRI bus, BABON bus, ojek, and all kinds of transportation that i used to take in Indonesia. But to live in Beijing, i need more sophisticated and comfortable transportation, unless i'll get lost. Because Beijing is super huge city, and believe me, you don't want to get lost in Beijing.

Maybe for some people, Beijing subway is not really comfortable, since there always be a lot of people using it. But i have to say, I like the system. And the arrangement is easy even for foreigner like me. A foreigner who doesn't even have subway in her country (Pak SBY, mari qta bkin subway yuuk...).

I can tell you how easy to use it...
First, here is the map of Beijing Subway:


Easy, huh? the lines connect almost all areas in Beijing. They always prepare this kind of map in every subway station, and they will give it to you for free. All you need to do is ask,
"Ni you mei you ditie ditu ma?" (Do you have subway station map?)

Ok, if you need to take subway in Beijing, here are the things that you need to do:

1. Find the closest subway station from your area. You can ask, "Ditie, zai nar?" (where's subway station?). It's pretty easy to be found, since it always has this kind of sign:
2. After you get in to the station, you need to buy the ticket. It will costs you 2Y for one way ticket. But if you intent to stay for quite long time in Beijing, i highly suggest you to buy this yi-ka-dong (subscription card). You can find it in big subway station, like Pingguoyuan, Guamao, Nanlishilu, Wanfujing, etc. It'll costs you 50Y. 30Y for the credit and 20Y for deposit. You can also use it to pay the bus (it'll be cheaper). You just need to wipe it into the ticket machine to use it. It look like this:
3. Then, you just need to get into the train. Remember that the seats are reserved for seniors, children, pregnant women, the sick and the disable.
4. If you need to check the stations you've passed, there's a subway line map available inside the train. Some of them are new ones with the light. It's so comfortable for you to check. But there will be also some notofication about the station that u're arriving.
   

Sometimes, we have to stand for quite long time in the train, but if you can sit, it's pretty comfortable inside. This is the inside of the train:


Always say "Lao jia" (Excuse me) if you want to get off and there's a person in front of you... bon voyage! :D

Departure

Ini adalah kali pertama gw pergi keluar negeri dan harus bener2 mikir sendiri soal ngurus2 administrasi di airport. I'm a bit nervous, takut ada apa2 yang bikin gw gak bisa pergi aja. But actually, it's pretty easy and simple, I can give you some tips..

1. Gw naik Malaysia Airlines k Beijing, transit di KL and I really recommend this. I take the promo ticket, economy class, and it only costs me 417 USD for 2 ways ticket, mesennya sebulan sebelumnya. Sebenernya bisa 402 USD kalo mesennya online. Kantornya ada di Jl. Sunda, belakang Pasar Kosambi. Bisa tanya nomer telponnya ke 108.
2. MA departurenya di Gate 2D, depart untuk penerbangan internasional harus 2 jam sebelum keberangkatan yah... cek juga di check in board harus check in di loket berapa
3. Selalu sedia uang rupiah utk airport tax dll. I have to pay Rp.150.000,- for the airport tax
4. Maximum load bwt bawaan 20 kg. 30an kg boleh tapi utk kepentingan sekolah, exchange, dll, dan harus nunjukin surat undangan dllnya
5. I don't have to pay for the fiskal since I have NPWP. Utk dapet fiskal, tgl bawa paspor dan kartu NPWP ke loket fiskal. Udah gitu, langsuung deeh... bisa masuk ke gate bwt ke departure room.
6. Put your passport, ticket, NPWP, ID card, Invitation Letter, Contact Number, dll di satu tempat. Jadinya gampang ditemuinnya. Soalnya, di pesawat bakal sering ngeluarin passport bwt ngisi2 form dll
7. Perjalanan ke Cina makan waktu 6 jam, jadi mending bawa bacaan. Anyway, there are some cool book stores in KL Airport,, worth to check

I hope that may help,cheers!