Beijing Kaoya 北京烤鸭

Peking Duck is a Beijing specialty, you can't live here and not try it at least once. First, it is inflated with a pump or other object, separating the skin from the body (in ancient times someone with strong lungs would achieve this by blowing through a straw). Then the skin is scalded with boiling water to make it drier and tauter and brushed with molasses so that it acquires a dark, rich color. After drying for half a day, the duck is hung by its neck in an oven where it is roasted for an hour or more, during which time the copious fat of the duck melts off and the skin becomes crispy. In order to finally experience Beijing Kaoya I went out with two ACC friends to eat. First we went to this really touristy place that was packed with people, I have never seen so many people in a building in my life, it was horrific. Colin had made the reservation, but it turned out it was at another place. So we called the restaurant and had them explain to our taxi driver where it was. The restaurant we ended up at was great. It was small, but the quality of the food was high. We ordered Peking duck as well as some vegetable dishes. We also ordered a small container of their cheapest "bai jiu" which is basically Chinese hard liquor, since I had never had it. It tastes like battery acid, not something I would ever choose to order. They brought out small plates of hoison sauce, scallions, and cucumber. Then they brought out the pancakes. Finally they brought out the carefully sliced duck on a really cute duck shaped platter. Along with the sliced duck, they put the head of the duck, I guess so you know you what you are ordering! It was so good. The skin was crispy and the hoison sauce was addictive.

Afterwards we wandered around and stumbled upon a huge outdoor shopping area. It's pretty easy to tell which areas are meant for foreigners and which are meant for regular Chinese. This had a Starbucks, Ferrari store, and a huge plasma screen overhead made up of thousands of small tvs showing underwater scenes. After gawking for a while we moved on. We had been wanting to get a massage all week and as we were passing a hotel we saw a sign for "anmo" or "massage". The place looked legitimate so we went inside. It was expensive, but well worth it. A full body massage was 150 renminbi for 100 minutes. We changed into what were basically pajamas and then were laid out on our own separate massage bed, but in the same room. Colin and David had female
masseuses and I had a male. It was so nice. They really worked every part, especially the back. Afterwards I just wanted to go to sleep. It was a great end to my Beijing Kaoya adventure.