Shanghai Chinese New Year 2008

川菜 Chuan Cai - Sichuan spicy food

If your looking for spicy food in china, the place to go is Sichuan province. Sichuan is famous for its spicy food, the food in the province is chuan cai(川菜) named after the province. I went to a restaurant in Chengdu (成都）, and every that I ordered was spicy, even the vegetable dishes. The old town in Chengdu, called Jinli （锦里） is also famous for its snacks (xiao cai or 小菜). This city is well worth checking out if you like your food. The city and surrounding areas also has much more to offer in terms of places to visit as it's the only province in china where pandas are.

上海 Shanghai dumplings

Shanhai's old town (城隍庙) is famous for its dumplings, you can get all sorts. Shanghai dumpings are different from dumplings from hong kong even though some share the same name.

This place in shanghai had queues at 8am in the morning before it opened and people making orders of 100's or dumplings at one time. The shop is called 上海南翔小笼包.

The old town has many other places to eat dumplings aswell in 上海城隍庙小吃城.

Old Beijing Noodle King (北京炸酱面大王)- Most amazing noodles you'll ever have!

My friend from beijing took me to a few places in beijing and the food is amazing, beijing is not just beijing duck. This noodle place "

北京炸酱面大王" or "Old Beijing Noodle King".

The restaurant is set out in old beijing style with low tables and traditional stools. The restaurants atmosphere makes you feel like you truly are in old beijing. At peak times you might have to wait upto an hour for a table.

This restaurant has the best noodles in the world, and is popular with beijing natives, tourists and visitors from all over china.

Beijing 北京

Beijing (北京) is the capital of China, it contains the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City, and Tianamen square.

How to get there

As Beijing is the capital of China it has a large airport with regular international and regional flights, so there will be no problem in getting a flight to beijing

Olympics

This year beijing is hosting the Olympics, and olympic fever will definitely be felt around beijing.

Food

Beijing is of course famous for its "beijing duck" and it is truly amazing, I will update this post with the names of the restaurants which has the best beijing duck later. Apart from beijing duck beijing has much more to offer in terms of food (updates coming)

Yunan province - Lijiang (丽江)

World Heritage
Lijiang is a small city in China in Yunan province. It's listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site's, world heritage cities are ones which have preserved there heritage and shows the way the city was in its original state. Lijiang is also known as the water city due to its extensive complex water system running through the city.

Snow mountain

The famous mountain in Lijiang is the snow mountain, visible from nearly every part of the city. 

Old town

The old town of lijiang not only is beautiful because of its traditional looks but also its markets and bars. The night life if Lijiang is amazing, with a stretch of bars and restaurants, the atmosphere is enhanced by singing battles between hired girls from each bar. Lijaing old town is not very big, and is possible to explore within a few days, however, like every city the longer the stay the more the experience.

Weather

The weather in Yunnan is hot all year round. Believe it or not the picture above was taken in February 2008 during the snow storm. Once I was in Lijiang all knowledge of the unbearable snow and cold was forgotten.

Getting to Lijiang

The airport in Lijiang is very small. Direct flights are available to and from the main cities in china such as hangzhou, shanghai, and beijing, but to get your ideal flight and price you may need to make transfers from nearby cities such as chengdu.