Good food and censorship

Its felt good being back on the road, so to speak, and the China I have missed since Christmas has welcomed me with open arms. Everything about China has made me feel welcome, from the smiling people to the diversity of the excellent food. My plan to come straight to Beijing changed at the border, and instead I decided to visit Datong alone the way with two Dutch travelers. This plan then forced us to spend a night in Erenhot, the border town, and Jining, a small town (by Chinese standards) along the way to Datong. All these towns offered great food and smiling faces, curiously following everything we did. They also started training us in communication in another country where almost no one speaks any English. Sometimes, at the best moments you do stumble on people who do, and all have been very friendly and helpful, from helping buy train tickets to adding good food and important words to my phrase-book.

In Datong we visited the Yungang Caves, a Buddhist site with caves and Buddhas carved into the limestone hillside. I usually don’t enjoy touristy sites, but this time I was really impressed. Usually when a visit a place that has lots of tourists I feel the place has no character or feeling, or has lost its soul in a way. Although these caves do get lots of visitors, both foreigners and locals, I was fascinated by them, with 17 m high Buddhas, and thousands of smaller ones carved into the rock forming large caves around the statues.

Part of the excitement of being back in China is the food. After eating mainly Mongolian food for over a month, the craving for good Chinese food is hard to resist. Although part, I’m sure, is down to MSG (monosodium glutamate), all isn’t. Mongolian food seems to have two main ingredients: mutton and grease, with only small amounts of anything else, usually potato or rice. Very limited amounts of anything else are used. The nomadic lifestyle made growing vegetables difficult, so even now gardens are few, and far between, and most vegetables are imported from China. Spices are not used, and of the meals I saw being prepared outside of UB, not one used anything but salt. This led me to have an overdose of red meat, even though the week spent on the horse trek I ate only vegetarian food. If I lived in Mongolia I think I would become a vegetarian for good. But now I’m in China, enjoying the variety available, and will eat anything except mutton.

Even though the food in Mongolia didn’t impress me, I grew to really like the country. The nature is magnificent, vast and barren, and the life in gers is fascinating. A ger is also one of the best places to sleep, and during my time there I never slept in a permanent building. The biggest part about Mongolia that I didn’t like was the pickpockets and bag slashers that are a problem in UB. I have never kept that level of situational awareness (excluding work) in any city I have ever visited. There were several cases that happened to friends during my time there, and there was one (unsuccessful) attempt at my pockets. At least once I spotted the preparation to try to get my bag, which ended when I made direct eye contact with the group, knowing what they are planning. However, I want to also emphasize that this is NOT a thing to discourage anyone from going there. Just remember to be alert and minimize the reasons someone might want to try.

As an ending note, censorship prevents me from accessing Facebook and Blogger (i.e. blogspot), and I am using a proxy. Through the proxy neither work well, and I cant add photos in Blogger, and cant do just about anything in Facebook. So you will have to wait for photos.

RANDOM FACT GENERATOR

What are the following phrases?

Cool powder of the intense emotion beef.
The rich brocade stabs the body to put together greatly.
The money belly of water.
The water puts together greatly.
The spring onion burns the United States three.
Big plank die fish tail.
The classic hair blood is prosperous.
The temple explodes the cowboy meat.
The stupid chicken sparerib men pulls winding.
The faces the egg maternal grandmother.

Answer:
Names for different dishes at a restaurant in Ereen (also Erenhot), China.