This first week, I would like to highlight the word bing, which means 'cake'. There are three cakes in particular I would like to highlight.
The first would be what we've had for breakfast most morning, da4bing2. Da4bing2 is like a pancake, except occasionally it's filled with vegetables. I myself have particularly liked the ones with just a little bit of green onion in the batter. Each da4bing2 at the stall we frequent is about 8 inches in diameter, and costs 2 kuai (about 33 cents). You can also just get half of one for 1 kuai, which is usually enough for me. The street we eat at, (which William and the other exchange students two years ago dubbed 'breakfast street,' though they only sell breakfast at that corner) has a number of stores and businesses, but even more stalls. People sell fruits and vegetables out of carts, bubble tea out of holes in the wall, drinks out of refrigerating units that don't fit inside their tiny stores packed with bottles of water, soda, and tea. The place we buy da4bing2 has short tables and stools laid out next to the street. The street itself has barely any room for cars, but cars and even trucks will still slowly make their way amidst the bicycles, rickshaws, open back rickshaws (like an open back truck, except with a motorcycle at the front), and people. Occasionally I have seen some chickens in the alleys between the buildings, and there have been a few dogs. If you go south along that street, the food carts are replaced by vendors selling used books laid out on the sidewalk. If you go north, you find stalls selling mostly clothing and bedding, but we also found pots and pans and pirated dvds.
The second bing2 would be yue4bing2, or 'moon cake'. Yue4bing2 are particularly important for mid-autumn festival, but stores are selling them now. While we explored Kaifeng and Anhui (a city about three hours away from Kaifeng) Daniel pointed out to us some giant yue4bing2 about the size of a dinner plate, each decorated elaboratly or with the charater (fortune) which means fortune written on them. I purchased a yue4bing2 from a stand in Anhui. The two evenings we spent in Anhui we walked down a street not unlike Breakfast street, except even more crowded. There were clothes stores, and ladies' undergarment stores with western looking manaquines, and puppies being sold in cages. I bought a red bean paste moon cake, which I ate while everyone else was eating soft serve ice cream from KFC.
The third bing2 would be from Daniel Youd's last night in Kaifeng. Daniel already knows the area, and is fluent in Chinese, so we never had pick random things from menus, we never had to try and pick our way through a conversation without having someone to translate. He encourages all of us, even those of us who aren't students anymore, to reach out on our own. But it was nice to have a safety net. Also, Daniel has stories ranging from famous Armenians, to his daughter crochetting, to awkward situations as an exchange student in China in the early 90's. We went to KTV (karaoke) the last night, which was unforgettable. But before KTV, we ate Peking duck. Peking duck a little bit like tacos. The duck is served on its own, and in smaller dishes there might be small pieces of vegetables and a small bowel of sauce. Everything is put together on a thin round piece of bread that looks a lot like a tortilla, called a bing2.
(Also, a few more photos)
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| Another Shot of Millenium Park |
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| The rock reads has the Chinese name for Millenium Park. The charaters read, "Clear bright above the yellow river park" |
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| Henan University Campus. On the left are the exchange student dorms. |
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| Behind the fences are our dorms. |
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| Iron Pagoda Park |
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| This was taken in the Shanghai airport. I would recommend you zoom in and look at the sign (there's an English translation under the Chinese). |
