2018-08-16
【Aiden in English】 The thing I'm looking forward to the most in China is the food. It's that simple. Great culture, extended family, and a new world are all worthy of attention, but nothing captures all categories of China like its food. Therefore, I feel completely fine when saying Chinese food is equivalent to American football. You just can't escape it, so why not embrace it. Honestly, Chinese culture also puts the most effort into food, more than practically any other major country. An early practice from years past was food brought fun to parties, not Netflix. Obviously, it is quite a Chinese thought process, which is why this only applied to Chinese get-togethers. Further evidence of the ingestion power is the sheer amount of restaurants you will find in any shopping mall in China. They might as well rename malls 'food centers' because multiple floors would be filled with all varieties of restaurants.
Now, complimenting so generously always means there is a catch. In this case, it was the airplanes. By no means am I critiquing the plane service or flight experience? In fact, Air China was surprisingly good (mainly because of the food). However, up until this point in my traveling career, not once did I have a canceled flight. Ever. That's very lucky of me. And especially since the first canceled flight wasn't a major transatlantic flight. But eventually, we would have a canceled flight somewhere, and why not here? A small, two-hour flight from Beijing to Nanjing got canceled due to a massive typhoon in the East China Sea, so we stayed overnight at a 'local' hotel, located an hour away from anything interesting.
After sounding waiting for luggage at the canceled flight carousel, waiting for new tickets at the domestic flight's desk, waiting for a guy to pick us up for the hotel bus, to waiting for the bus to the hotel, we finally arrived at the hotel, which was alright. It included all meals... which sucked. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of eating, so when mom's old college friend came around to give us a Beijing food education, we already felt relatively full.
So far, China has yet to throw us a bone. We waited and waited, and ate some terrible food. All things I wasn't looking forward to. But that could all change, which it did. We drove to Beijing Hualian Shopping Ctr. in the District of Shunyi, the one where it's more of a giant ingestion festival of restaurants. And there was so much food! I understand I just ate (my stomach let me know), but all the flavors wafting through the air in an enclosed mall really made my mouth water. We found Xibei Oat Noodle Village had a small line and ordered (the adults did the talking) and boom! Suddenly a bunch of buckwheat noodles and sorghum soups were at the table, mostly Northern tradition. And like I said, we made the mistake of eating before, but we still made good progress on most of the dishes.
Returning to the hotel in high spirits, I felt satisfied with the food selections and their taste. The only thing missing was a long night's sleep, which occurred an hour later. Most of all, I felt relaxed, understanding that although things didn't go as planned, sometimes the gray areas of travel are also the best moments.
【红霞译文】
在中国我最热衷的事情是吃，就这么简单。悠久的文化、庞大的家族、全新的世界，所有一切固然众所瞩目，但没有哪个领域能像饮食行业那样打动人心，如若把中餐佳肴与美式橄榄球相提并论，我毫无意见，既然你离不开它，何不好生念它的好呢?
老实说，中国文化十分重视美食，几乎盖过世界上所有烹饪大国，“食不厌精脍不厌细”，过去中式派对上备受欢迎的是酒席而不是网飞，显然这与“民以食为天食以味为先”传统思维理念遥相呼应，充分体现了中国特色。因为爱吃好吃，餐馆饭店一向生意红火，结果在中国各大商场有好几层楼尽是五花八门的地方名吃，所以真该把“购物中心”改成“饮食中心”。
嘿，如此慷慨美言总免不了另有隐情，眼下转乘的航班的确出了状况，我毫无怪罪机上服务或飞行遭遇之意，实际上中国民航表现出奇得棒（主要缘自食物），然而迄今在我的旅行生涯里从未碰到过停飞事件，一次也没有，算我走运，特别是取消的航班并非跨越大西洋的主要航线，但倒霉的时候喝水都会呛着，既然早晚都会偶遇这种意外，在北京经历一下又有何妨呢？从北京到南京短短两个小时的飞行居然被东海强台风搅黄了，我们只好在机场“附近”的酒店过夜，方圆个把钟头几近荒郊野外。
在停飞航班传输带前等着领取行李，在国内航线客户服务台等着办理机票改期手续，在机场大厅等着当班小伙子带我们坐车回酒店，在车站等着大巴送我们去目的地，折腾了一路，换来一日三餐伙食全包……太不值得。糟糕的是我们失算，胡乱塞了些东西垫巴肚子，待妈妈大学朋友向我们灌输“舌尖上的北京” 时，我们差点悔青了肠子。
到现在为止，我们在国内尚未尝到什么甜头，接二连三的等待，吞咽的东西又刺激胃口，一切的一切都不是我所期待的，但人生本来就不是一帆风顺的，风雨过后才能看见彩虹，好事多磨呗。我们驱车前往顺义华联购物中心，吃的喝的琳琅满目，只有想不到没有吃不到！我清楚自己刚打过牙祭（肠胃说话算数），但是漫游在一个封闭环境，空气中到处散发着扑鼻的香味，把我馋得直流哈喇子。我们找到一家排队不长的“西贝莜面村”点了菜（大人只顾聊天），“啪唧”！说时迟那时快，一桌子北方风味的饸饹面鱼鱼汤呈现在眼前，上面提到我们千不该万不该随便打发食欲，但照旧大快朵颐几乎横扫残余。 兴高采烈地回到酒店，我对今晚特色饭菜风味小吃甚感欣慰，假若有什么遗憾无处安扶的话，那就是仍要折腾一个钟头才好睡上囫囵觉，当然最重要的莫过于身心放松，虽说计划赶不上变化，可有时旅程上的灰色地带同样拥有最兴奋的时刻。 Today in History(历史上的今天): 2017: Amsterdam the Mokum, Netherlands(荷兰阿姆斯特丹—避风港) 2017: Amsterdam—Venice of the North, NLD(荷兰阿姆斯特丹—北方的威尼斯) 2017: Amsterdam—Jerusalem of the North(荷兰阿姆斯特丹—北方的耶路撒冷) 2017: The Night Watch @ Rijksmuseum, NLD(荷兰国家博物馆《夜巡》) 2014: St. Stan's Summer Festival(圣斯坦夏季狂欢节) 2010: 魔鬼变奏曲(Monster Variation) 
National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆 01-22-1989) 
Xibei Oat Noodle Village (西贝莜面村 08-16-2018) 
Lobby @ PEK (北京首都国际机场候机大厅) 
Terminal 3 Station of Airport Express (机场快轨•首都机场三号航站楼地铁站) 
Airport Expressway (机场高速) 
Jingping Expressway (京平高速) 
Shunyi Expressway (顺义高速) 
Parking Garage of Hualian Shopping Ctr, Shunyi (顺义华联购物中心停车场) 
Hualian Shopping Ctr, Shunyi (顺义华联购物中心) 
Authentic Beijing (正宗京味) 
Gluten, Xibei Oat Noodle Village (西贝莜面村·西贝面筋) Crosslinks(相关博文): China(出游中国) 9th Grade(高中一年级) |
