The Last Evening at Beijing....

After finding heaven at Tian Tan, we ended the Beijing trip with an evening at Sanlitun, sitting by the fountains, and watching Beijingers having a great evening!

Everyone, babies, kids, young adults and the elderly ("oldsters" - as Beijing Subway calls the elderly!) seemed to get a thrill from seeing the fountains!

This cafe reminded me of Mecanese delights - egg tarts and cold flat noodles!

After a good hour spent enjoying the lively atmosphere at Sanlitun, we headed to Yashow Market again for some last minute bargain shopping and man, I was bored to death as the ladies shopped away to glory! And I did say Hallelujah when got into a cab to head back to Shuangjing!
Back at Shuangjing, I had to visit my "temple", the abode of great food I saw earlier on Sunday - Guo Shu Hao - an exciting supermarket in Shuangjing! We passed by the 7-Eleven store, where I picked up two small bottles of caviar for RMB 50 each! Wow! I was impressed and excited to be able to have this exciting gourmet delight when I get back to Mumbai, which is "infested" with vegetarians and beings ranking low on the food chain - I mean those lesser mortals who absolutely adore "just" chicken and fish!

I came across this Ramen restaurant - Dang Dang Yummie! The exciting cuts on displayed menu brought back my appetite!

Finally we reached Guo Shu Hao!!!!

Exciting! Durian -  it emits a distinctive odour that is strong and penetrating. Some people regard the durian as pleasantly fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and revolting. That has led to the fruit's banishment from public transport in southeast Asia!

Dragon fruit! We had this exciting fruit during our stay here - looks like bulbous cacti. It's white on the inside with a mild sweetness and seeds like those of kiwifruit!

Guo Shu Hao is a paradise for mushroom lovers! I was amazed to see so many varieties of mushrooms - oyster mushrooms, shitake mushrooms and what not! It's not surprising to see so many varieties on display - its evident that China is the world's biggest mushroom grower at 46% of the world's output!

Button mushrooms are infra dig here!

But in Mumbai we get only button mushrooms! Sigh! 

And that's a display of wood fungus - wild edible mushrooms - those that grow on trees!

That's the meat section! And my heart beat went up seeing this in excitement!

Cuts of pork!

Dried seafood!

Pork belly, bacon cuts, ham, sliced rump! Wow! This is indeed paradise!

Duck eggs or quail eggs or partridge eggs? 

Or how about preserved eggs?

Luscious, juicy pork hock or trotters! Ain't seen anything as beautiful as this! 

Which fish is on the menu tonight?

The lady was doing her last pancake of the evening and we missed having it! Probably next time!

Man! What a pity I wasn't able to have all this due to the short time we had here! And a bigger pity - I can't carry these delights back home! Why wasn't I born a Chinese to be able to have all these delights day in and day out without putting weight? Probably that's how I would feel after visiting each and every place on our earth!

Seeing so much great food left me with a massive appetite! And so we headed to Sabai Sabai, a Thai restaurant for our last dinner in Beijing. Despite being barely 9PM, it was nearly closing time - Beijingers leave for work early and return early followed by an early dinner, giving them time for their family! And here in India, we barely are able to achieve whatever that shit, work-life balance, is!

With these thoughts I ended the last evening in Beijing.....