Brief (for me) summary

Hey All,

Just, sort of, got back from China. Trip was fantastic. Forbidden
City was awesome, and loved the Great Wall, though I would have
enjoyed it more if we had more time there. Food was mostly
excellent, especially the prices. You can check out some pics at
http://picasaweb.google.com/oskibear95

The captions pretty much say it all. Although, the roast duck at Li
Qun was so-so, but they had the best "pi" (wrappers) - they were
paper thin, like the Vietnamese rice paper. I'll try to transfer the
pics of Li Qun later - they are on the cell phone and it won't work
without a SIM card. Hope the pics are stored in the phone memory and
not the card. The duck was better at the famous Quanjude Roast Duck,
but their wrappers were way thicker.

Didn't eat anything too "exotic". Had the opportunity to eat bumble
(or honey) bee and grubs, but opted out - I didn't want to order a
whole dish, and was too chicken to ask to try a single one of each
(or maybe it was a convenient excuse not to). Most exotic thing I
ate was duck intestines and duck kidney. Normally don't care for the
filter organs, but the kidneys were pretty good - better than the
intestine.

Didn't have enough time in Shanghai - only 2 full days - and one of
those days we went to Suzhou. But, had a great lunch in Suzhou at
Song Helou. Was disappointed with Xiao Nan Guo in Shanghai, but
maybe was expecting too much and/or didn't order the right things.
Nanxian Shao Long Bao was good, but I think Din Tai Fung beats it as
far as thinness of wrapper goes. All the locals supposedly go to
Nanxiang, though. I assume it is cheaper, but my aunt did the
ordering, so I can't say for sure. There is another place, Crystal
Jade, in Shanghai that is supposed to be slightly better than DTF
(even thinner wrapper), but didn't go there. Ate at Jean Georges on
the Bund as well - they have a pretty good deal on prix fixe lunch
(~US$25-30), and had a nice afternoon tea at Moon Sha across the
street. I think I ate 4 meals my last day. And I have to say, the
fast food there is pretty good - even the fast food shao long bao.