Okay, went to another Temple Festival yesterday with Siqi and her cousin, only this time it was much bigger, with a lot more people and a lot more things going on. We got up nice and early and made it in time to watch a reenactment of the QingLong Emperor (Qing dynasty) during a prayer service - which was interesting. Afterwards, we went to another stage to see some traditional Beijing entertainment - Cross-talk (a form of standup comedy with two comedians, lots of playing with words, incredibly funny if you understand!), Beijing Wrestling, Chinese Magician, 快�?� (A singer with two wooden clackers - a bit like castanets - who creates a rhythm and sings along - again, usually very very funny lyrics!), Acrobatics and a few other things.
After all that, it was time for a food break. Temple festivals are very popular for their lamb kebabs (originating from Xinjiang province- where there are lots of Muslims) and today’s were not at all a letdown. Even better (and quite randomly) there was Spanish Churros for sale (deep fried donut-like twists covered with sugar and chocolate) and 臭豆�? - stinky tofu - tofu that has been left to ferment and smells like my Dad’s socks; which is then deep fried and coated in a spicy sauce and eaten with cocktail sticks… YUM!
To finish off the day, me and Siqi took a bus to the French Cultural Centre in Chaoyang District (lots of foreigners live and work here) and watched a French film (also has Chinese subtitles) called “Filles Uniques”. Its a great little cinema that I go to quite regularly (got to keep my French up!) and its less than a pound per showing for students.
All in all a great day out, gonna take it easy today and laze around in the house again 
Below are some photos for you to peek at:
Jono
February 14, 2008
Hey, don’t knock the socks………
February 14, 2008
sorry… it was the only way I could put across how bad the tofu actually smells!