Tian'anmen and Temple of Heaven

Today we went back to Tian'anmen square in the hope to be able to visit the Mao mausoleum. Unfortunately, being late risers, we were a bit late to the party, not knowing the visiting hours end at noon. We still spend a bit of time looking around the parts that were closed last night.

I think those are part of the 60th celebration. There are huge screens replaying highlights of the parade and cultural programming
This is the monument to the heroes
This nice sculpture is beside the mausoleum
This is the mausoleum (I think)
We had some soup noodle for lunch at which point I decided to go back to the hotel for some R&R. The foggy Beijing air is not agreeing with me at all. Alex continued on to the Temple of Heaven where he brought back some really nice pictures
I joined Alex for dinner (thanks for cellphones to be able to find him!). I looked in the shops for the last few days for the trendy face masks that locals are wearing without finding them so I settled on a scarf for my weapon against the Beijing air. I look like a bank robber! We had a simple dinner with crab and shrimp ball soup
Chinese style chicken wings
And this dry bbq duck
I'm pretty excited about tomorrow since we get to see the great wall!!

Hazy, Lazy and Dog meat!

After visiting the Olympic Park and having a small rest (my respiratory system is not agreeing at all with Beijing's hazy and humid air!), we headed over to Tian'anmen square and the Quianmen shopping street for a bit of shopping.

Tian'anmen at night is kinda of like being on a movie set with all the lights everywhere. With the haze, it felt like we were in Stephen King's The Fog where monsters would come out of the mist.
The buildings were lit up as if it was christmas
I think this is the monument to heroes
And this is the people's great hall where hawkers were selling tickets to a special event that must have been going on
When we got to the shopping street, the first thing we noticed is all the rules!
The street itself is beautiful and again, lit up like a movie set
There were lots of people milling around, looking for the perfect souvenir or good deals
We found a quiet place to have dinner where Alex pointed out that they had dog meat on the menu. Thinking of Amy the Shih-Tzu glaring at me, I didn't order any dog meat, opting instead for pork buns. However, there must have been a mixup in the ordering system. When my buns were delivered, Alex noticed the symbol for dog on the sticker beside the dish. We confirmed with the waiter that it was indeed dog meat (although if we asked him if he liked it last time he visited the moon, he probably would have said yes as well). So there we go, I had dog meat! I can hear Amy whining that I ate one of her cousins.
The buns were pretty good, if a bit salty. Alex didn't want to taste them at all. We also had more traditional pepper steak
Beef with mushrooms
And eggplants with garlic
As well as delicious sweet and sour soup that I forgot to take a picture of.

I really didn't think I would have dog meat when I woke up this morning!

Brunch, Hazy Tian'anmen & Zoo

On Friday, we got out of the hotel a bit later than usual and started hunting for a restaurant where we could have a dim sum brunch. We didn't really find one but we found a compromise where we had this meal.

Not sure what veggies these are but they were cooked in a delicious fish sauce
Egg tarts for Alex since I don't like them. At the speed he gobbled them up, I think they were fairly delicious
Fujian rice with shrimps
Buns for me, Alex had only one. They were a bit dry and not quite as savoury as I had hoped
And these fairly bland steamed dumplings were pretty good once they were dipped in hot sauce.
After our meal, we made a small detour through Wangfujing road to do a bit of shopping. It was fairly quiet this early in the day but we still managed to spend more than we should have.
We saw this funny store "Beijing special product tourist goods supermarket"
And finally reach Tian'anmen square. It's different being here for real as compared to seeing it on TV. The place is HUGE!
Obligatory photo with Mao!
It was really hazy so we decided to skip the in depth visit and come back on a less hazy day if there is one.
Our next stop was the zoo where for only 15 Yuan (less than $3) you can get access to the grounds and the panda house. Pandas are a big draw at the Beijing zoo!
All they seem to do is sleep and eat. Reminds me of a cat I know :)
And if you need souvenirs, there's plenty of shops selling them for surprisingly reasonable prices (no negotiations though)
There's instructional exhibits as well to learn more about the pandas
And this "olympic panda house" where you can see them up close!
The zoo that is over 100 years old also features plenty of other animals. These ones made me miss the little furry creature that lives in my house.
Alex said this one looked a little bit like me.
And these looks like they were up to no good!
There's also scenic grounds to walk on.
The only part I didn't appreciate was the tiger house
I felt that the cages were way too small for these animals
And the ones that howled the loudest got to go outside for a stroll. Lucky them!
Also caged were elephants
Rhinos
And Hippos
The Giraffe had a bit more ground to run on
After the zoo, we headed back to Wangfujing road. Quite a different sight at night
We found this little food alley where exotic snacks are on offer
Looks at all the variety of meats on a stick! (yes, some of them are bugs!)
And they even had Chinese shawarma!
I totally wanted to eat a scorpion until I saw them wriggling on the stick, still alive!
I'm not sure what they do with the scorpions and I didn't see any locals get them so my courage dissipated. Maybe we will go again for another visit where I will have the guts to try it! It would help if I could ask questions like how are they cooked and are there any bits I'm not meant to eat :)