Hotpot is the dish of choice for any social gathering in China from what I can tell, and it is a superb dish to be sure. Essentially a large pot filled with hot water and some spices, a few onions and such, along with individual bowls of customizable sauce. Garlic with soy sauce and peanut oil is typical. Place any 1 ingredient at a time of the 5-10 ordered into the pot for a few minutes, meat, vegetable, mushroom etc., remove with chopsticks and dip in sauce. Eat.

One ingredient popular in the south is fish head, of which I was given the dubious honour of eating the most choicest of part, the brain. Difficult to pick up a gelatinous mass with chopsticks, yes. Easy to swallow a mass of brainmatter with the consistency of something between jello and silicone, doubly so. That was before the live skewered shrimp went into the pot...

But even so, it is a tasty and enjoyable way to spend an evening. Thankfully we didn't choose one of the many large and very much alive snakes to butcher and boil for our soup, but apparently in the south of China where all this took place, snake meat (and turtle) is consumed with much enthusiasm--I could go on.

The train ride back to Beijing from Guangzhou for example, 22 hours of it. Snack food consisted of Ritz crackers, banannas, and a real tasty treat, a bag filled with seasoned duck neck and duck feet. Most delectable (I kid you not).

Heading out for a walk, Great Wall is coming up on Saturday and I'm quite excited. Hope it doesn't snow though, as hiking on ice covered rock steps and paths doesn't really do it for me. Chinese National Art Gallery is also on the list for tomorrow (Friday) or Sunday.

Unfortuantely, I am lacking cpu cycles and bandwidth so I don't want to spend too much time uploading pictures of things until I get back. Not too many of Beijing so far as it is pretty much a large sprawling metropolis like any of of 16 million people.

Off to do some more exploring.