After a gruelling and eventful day that started quite early, followed by a whirlwind tour of the Great Wall and the Summer Palace, Neeti and I caught up with Neelima at Dongcheng - courtesy Mr. Yang who dropped us there, thankfully without any more communication problems.
We were desperately craving a cup of steaming hot tea, for which we headed to McDonald's at Wangfujing (王府井) Street.
The street has existed since the middle of the Ming Dynasty. During the times of the Qing Dynasty, ten aristocratic estates and residences of royalty were built here. Soon thereafter a well full of sweet water was discovered. That gave the street its name - "Wang Fu" (princely residence), "Jing" (well).
But the residences are now gone, and there was no well to be seen! As we strolled around the main street at Wangfujing, which has been earmarked for pedestrians and has quite a lively feel to it around sundown, I wondered how time changes places. Once Wangfujing was a place of the aristocracy, it would have had quite a regal feel to it. Today, it's teeming with officegoers, families, couples roaming around the area, checking out the high-end luxury stores, street-side snack shops and shops selling cheap counterfeits.
We spent time checking out the stores at Wangfujing - most of the stores there were the super luxury kinds, the likes of Estee Lauder, Lancome, Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Chopard and many more. But there was more at Wangfujing - the Donghuamen Night Food Street”(东华门美食坊夜市). That's a 100 metre stretch full of small but spotlessly clean shacks and stalls, manned by people wearing red caps selling exotic food! And so we went in...
I was excited to see starfish, lamb and other exciting stuff being grilled to perfection, and then dabbed in crushed spicy peanut.... Man! That was heavenly!!!
That was something I discovered for "veggies" in our group! Sticky glutenous rice in tomato sauce...
Meatballs.... yumm!!!
That was nice - squid balls!
I ventured into this section searching for Peking Duck, but the preparation was far too huge for me, so I had to give it a pass...
Pan-grilled pork - that was yum too.... Man, this was paradise....
Fried Baozi... a Chinese bun with a vegetable filling...
And fruit juices, the exotic kinds...
Beetles, scorpions, starfish again....
And this stall had grilled lamb - a Muslim speciality, the Chinese kinds....
Stewed offal...
That was interesting ..... a sweet similar to our gachak or chikki!
Fish and snakes!
Pan fried buns!
The sign says it all! Snakes!
All kinds of grilled insects on sale...
And baby duck!!! Wow, a golden red color! Yum!
And I so hope one day we'll be able to convert places like Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai or Chandni Chowk in Delhi to tourist attractions for foodies, like the way Beijing has done here at Wangfujing!
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