Back from China

So I’m back from China. I left Saturday afternoon at 6:05 pm (China time) and arrived in Raleigh, NC at 10:30 pm (USA time). What a long day that was! And now here it is, Monday, and the jet-lag is still very much present. It’s about 12:30pm now and the sleepiness should be hitting me around 2:00 or so. I have no idea what cup of coffee I’m currently on, nor do I know what the total will be by the end of the day. I’m thinking I’m becoming immune to caffeine altogether. This could be a problem for sure!

 

I had thought, “wouldn’t it be a great idea if I did a restaurant review of each place in China?” Yes, that would have been nice had I thought about sooner, but alas, I did not. Anyway, I ate out for every meal while there and that would have just been too many reviews for me to write and let’s face it, for you to read. So here’s an overview:

 

Chinese noodle restaurants: I went to three and they were all Hui noodles. Each were delicious, but the best was the Gan Bian Chao Mian (as I had thought), which are homemade noodles stir-fried up with large chunks of green onions, fresh green chilies, green bell peppers, dried red chilies, ginger, garlic and beef. Really so delicious!

 

Chinese dishes: I had dishes three times. I will say that my favorite place was the last night in Beijing while we were waiting on the pearl necklaces to be made. The spread consisted of Gan Bian Dou Jiao (stir-fried green beans), Gong Bao Ji Ding (essentially Kung Pao chicken, but so much better!), Yu Xiang Qiezi (Fish flavored eggplant-sounds gross but doesn’t taste like fish at all!) and beef with peppers (Don’t remember the Chinese name). The beef wasn’t my favorite, but everything else was so delicious! Yum!

 

And one night we had Hot Pot and one night we had Jiaozi (Chinese dumplings). The Jiaozi was actually a feast we had in Xi’An where they form the dumplings into shapes describing what’s on the inside. If you get chicken dumplings the little dumplings are shaped like chickens and the duck dumplings were shaped like ducks. You get it? Very good.

 

And of course, I added La Jiao (chili peppers) to everything! Some serious heartburn followed but it was worth it.

 

And so now I’m back in the States recovering from jet-lag and heartburn and smiling for the great time I had with old friends and with new ones. It was a great trip. I’m really thankful I was able to go back and see my friends and hopefully encourage them as they encouraged me. God also confirmed that I’m not to return to Asia. I had been praying through this for some time and He was faithful, as always, to answer my prayer and He was very clear on that. So I’m here, in the States, for I don’t know how long and I’m enjoying life!

 

Waiting on the next adventure…