Ah yes; the Far East... a mystical land with an ancient history and heaps to explore. And if you’re a fan of Chinese take-out, well then it’s pretty much food heaven. You can have Chinese take-out every night! Well... be aware that it’s not like your average western China Town. Food there is different to say the least. But, it will certainly be exciting. But more about food later...
By the time you arrive, winter will be on the way out, and you’ll have good weather for sightseeing. The winters can be bitterly cold up north during mid winter, but in the south conditions are significantly milder.
China’s currency is the Yuan. Pound Sterling, US Dollars and Euros can all be exchanged locally, or you can buy your currency in advance. At the time of writing, US $1 is 6.7 Chinese Yuan.
Although vast, China operates on a single time zone (GMT +7 hours in British Summer, GMT +8 at other times) so sunset and sunrise can happen at strange times.
Here are some more details on the cuisine:
It's important to understand that Chinese cooking in China is different from Chinese food served in the west. Fish is usually cooked whole after removing the guts and entrails. The head remains on, and if anything, takes on a decorative appearance to the dish. The cheek of the fish is considered a delicacy that meal participants will vie for. It's not uncommon to find the pigeon's head, feet and sundry vitals floating in the soup tureen. Bones are often cut up into the food rather than removed. In many restaurants, dishes of food are placed onto a glass rotating 'lazy Susan' for the table of diners to share. Steamed rice, if ordered is usually served near the end of the meal, whilst fried rice is considered a main course.
You'll have the chance to sample many Chinese specialties including the famous Peking Duck, typically served with wafer-thin pancakes, shallots and bean paste. The Chinese excel at noodle-based dishes. They appear in soups, boiled, crispy, short, long, fat or thin. Shaanxi Province is famous for it's noodles and on most visits to Xi'an you'll get a chance to see the preparation of noodles by trained chefs and actually try them in delicious soups. Every conceivable type and cut of meat is used including offal, and seafood is highly recommended. Vegetables feature in all dishes and fruit usually forms the very last course of a banquet. Indeed, vegetarians are for the most part, well catered for.
Here is a snapshot of the four principal regional categories and some top dishes.
Cantonese (Guandong) - Light stir-fried dishes. Stir-fried shrimp, mushrooms in oyster sauce, crisp skin roast pork.
Shandong - Soups and seafood reign supreme. Sea cucumber with braised onion, sharks fin soup.
Szechuan (Sichuan) - The cuisine that gave the world 'hot and spicy' and 'sweet and sour'. Spicy pork shreds, Szechuan chicken, bean curd with chilli, fried carp.
Huaiyang - Light, fresh dishes. Beggar's chicken, sweet and sour mandarin fish, crab meat in clear soup, boiled salted duck.
So there we have it. That should be enough to get you going! Keep those votes coming in everyone, and look out for the winner of the Travel Photo Fail! We’ll be announcing it on Thursday.
Good luck,
Team GROM
