China Crumpet

It doesn’t happen often.

Every September or October however, for a few days at a time, Beijing transforms itself from a stinking, disgusting, huge, grimy, pile of dust to a gorgeous, urban wonderland. On Saturday, we had spent the sunny day sitting outside the glitzy Shin Kong Place discussing agriculture politics and the outfit of the girl sitting next to us. I was already in a good mood.

As we left, we wandered home next to the otherwise smelly river just south of the China world trade offices. The sky had turned a golden purple blue and bathed the skyscrapers in a pool of fairy dust. Next to the river, migrant workers had turned a rather unattractive group of ramshackle housing and un-hygenic restaurants into rubble and then into a park, complete with pagodas, sculptures and weeping willows. A cool breeze was stroking my skin.

Beijing had me once again.

I have just come back from a fabulous two day stint in Korea. Not only was the air clean, the surroundings gorgeous and the people stylish and friendly, but the food was FABULOUS.

We started our trip in the small-ish city of Suwon, home to 14 universities and a UNESCO world heritage site. Unfortunately, we were there for work so alas many hours were spent preparing for presentations rather than seeing the sights. However, we did pop out for a meal or two while we were there, the highlight being a seafood bonanza, consisting of a coal grill in the middle of the table, a LOT of small pickles and a mountain of assorted shellfish (including a huge SNAIL!) which were subsequently grilled and eaten. We were also served a pot of Korean style moules in a fiery broth and a kind of spicy seafood salad, which was also grilled. There was almost not a carb in sight, except for a delectable tiny cast iron bowl of rice, topped with fresh seaweed and caviar.

Yum. And all this for an affordable 170 CNY for two (or about 25 USD or about 206 SEK).

When our work was done and our presentation presented, we moved on to spend a day in the capital. It was not altogether as un-stressful an experience as Suwon, mainly because there was no English or Chinese to be seen, not a soul spoke anything but Korean and we had a few practical things like airport buses and storage lockers to figure out. But people tried their best and finally it turned in to a great day.

What we had discovered from day 1 is that Koreans know their meat. We had experienced a meat fest in Suwon on our first night and when we popped in to a local hole in the wall for lunch in Seoul, we were hoping for a repeat (but with a new twist, of course). Unfortunately, we sat like two question marks while the waitress tried to tell us what was on the menu. Finally I just nodded to something she said and hoped for the best. We were served two sizzling cast iron plates of spicy pork, which we wrapped in lettuce and had with rice and another assortment of pickles and a bowl of steaming soup that looked and tasted like miso. It was amazing. And it cost the equivalent of 50 CNY (about 7 dollars or 60 SEK). For two. Not kidding.

Needless to say my dear Koreans, I will be back. If not for the meat, then for the pickles.

Tomorrow I leave for Paris-Copenhagen-Lomma and not a moment too soon! China has been eating on my nervs and I know there is nothing better than a cold and wet Swedish Christmas to make me see that my life actually is pretty good. Either that or I will fall head over heels in love with my new little nephew, eat too much yummy christmas food again and see long lost friends which will make it difficult for me to return to my smog ridden current residence. I guess the high prices will snap me back to reality, and I hope my relatives will give me a harder time than usual to ensure no a good and healthy dose of China home sickness. I’ll keep you posted…