BEIJING - smog, smog and smog

---

Before coming to Beijing we were already warned by a friend who is living there, that the airpolution is almost unbearable. She was right. It blew up the chart of the measuring instruments. We really suffered just from going out and taking a walk. Maybe I was lucky to get sick after the first day, so during the next four days I spent most of my time alternating from bed to toilet.

Actually it was the best place to get sick because I have allready been to Beijing two years ago and have seen most of the touristy highlights. It was a pitty to miss a never finished and now abandoned Disneyland that is located somewhere around Beijing. Also visiting the Summer Palace again would have been nice, but anyway, we had a really good hostel (Sunlitun Youth Hostel) that offered everything I needed to get back on my feet and to strength for the next weeks. But there was one thing I couldn't afford to miss again - Beijing Roast Duck. So we met a chinese friend who brought us to a restaurant called "Quanjude". It was established in 1864 in Beijing and is apparently one of the most famous restaurants for Beijing Duck in whole China. Actually it was m not only a plain restaurant. It was a temple of food, occupying 5-6 floors of a huge building. Here we enjoyed the most expensive food for weeks and it was worth every yuan.

What I liked most was the fact that it is not only about eating food. In China it is about celebrating the food. I have never been to a place where people loved eating as much as the Chinese love it. Eating appears to be less a satisfaction of basic physical needs, but more a religious act (of course not in terms of cleanliness). The cook brings the duck to your table in one piece and then carves it in front of your eyes. Afterwards the helpfull waitress shows you the right precedure to eat it. First the skin is served, dipped in sugar and garlic sauce. The meat is then served with steamed pancakes, spring onions and sweet bean sauce. The pancake is wrapped around the meat with the vegetables and the sauce and eaten by hand.

After enjoying this great meal I went back to bed to wait for my stomach to punish me for this crapulence - I didn't have to wait to long. The next days I spent in bed again.

Next stop: DATONG - an hour-hotel, 51000 buddhas and a completely new old-town

---