Rockin' Rolls

I checked out a favourite restaurant of sushi conoisseurs in Beijing. Called Hatsune, it's a block north west of Shin Kong Place, a block south east of the new CCTV building.

As you walk up the stairs you immediately get the feel of a minimalist place with the stark stairs and white cubes along the stairway.

But inside it's far from austere. The sushi chefs at the bar are all wearing baseball jerseys that say "Hatsune" on the front, each with a different number, and then their surnames at the back. Very cute.

Each table setting has a miniature ceramic pot with the head of a red carnation flower. And then you're not just given chopsticks -- you can choose from a selection of them on a wooden tray, each pair of chopsticks look different, and carefully tied together with paper and string.

The most famous (and best value) items here are the rolls. The Mota-roll-ah rolls (75RMB) are considered the best, with crabmeat and mayonnaise rolled with cooked salmon and topped with a thin slice of tuna, avocado and roe.

It was also drizzled in mayonnaise which was a bit over the top for taste, but probably added to the drama of the presentation.

I also had the Rainbow roll, which was basically California rolls topped with a selection of tuna, salmon, cooked prawns and avocado and presented in a semi-circle. That was clean and delicious.

There are lots of other creative rolls (and their names). One is the Dragon (50RMB), which has tempura shrimp with salmon roe on top, the Engen (65RMB), again with tempura shrimp, spicy tuna, avocado, unagi and green onion.

But perhaps the funniest name of all is the Pimp My Roll (85RMB), which is a combination of soft-shell crab, avocado, topped with seared salmon and albacore tuna, with a spicy sauce.

What was disappointing was the Agedashi tofu, that came very deep-fried thanks to what was probably a very thick batter. I've never encountered an Agedashi tofu quite like this one.

Another sore point was the lack of wines by the glass, even though there was a small selection of half bottles. I had to settle for a bottle of Tsing Tao instead.

Nevertheless, it's pretty good value for money considering it's higher than average quality ingredients and presentation.

Definitely worth checking out again.

Hatsune
8A Guanghua East Road
He Qiao Plaza, Building C, Floor 2
6581 3939

Dairy-Free Diet

Since I first arrived in China, I've been regularly using soy milk in my cereal, but occasionally would drink a small box carton of UHT milk if the hunger pangs arose.

Luckily the brand I drank most of is San Yuan, which so far hasn't been found to have any melamine in it, which has caused a huge scandal in the Chinese dairy industry.

So far four babies are dead, and over 6,200 diagnosed with urinary tract infections like kidney stones after drinking melamine-laced milk powder from Sanlu for the past three to six months.

But now 22 other companies have been found doing the same thing, including Yili and Mengniu. Yili was one of the official sponsors of the Olympics and Paralympics, stocking their milk and yogurt in every food stand.

I ate some of that yogurt, but officials say any food supplied to the Olympics was strictly checked and deemed safe. So does that mean there's a double standard when it comes to food products for foreigners and athletes, and those for 1.3 billion Chinese?

And now it's found that milk powder wasn't the only product contaminated -- Hong Kong officials found a yogurt ice cream bar had melamine in it and 10 percent of liquid milk has been found with melamine in it too.

How did this happen?

Apparently farmers sell their milk to collection agencies. And sometimes the milk they sell isn't of a high enough standard. So instead of refusing the milk, allegedly some buy it at a lower rate and then add melamine to "boost" the protein content of the milk before selling it to the dairy companies. Others dilute the milk and then add melamine to make more profit.

And apparently the dairy companies are unaware of this practice so they don't test for melamine in the milk they get. According to Fonterra, the New Zealand dairy company that has a 43 percent stake in Sanlu says no one in the dairy industry tests for melamine... because no one would ever think of adding it.

There are lots of questions of who knew what was going and when. Heads rolled in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province where Sanlu is based. Allegedly five of the officials there, including the mayor, knew of the problems but did nothing about them because the Olympics were on at the time or about to happen.

Regardless, it's interesting to wonder who owns the other 57 percent of Sanlu... and if pet food and toothpaste were laced with melamine last year, and now milk this year, what about the other food products we're eating? What about the soymilk I'm drinking?

People have lost faith in the government again to protect them from tainted food. But so far the government hasn't stepped in to actually look at the problem and regulate it by creating an entirely new system of how the dairy industry should be run.

Instead on Friday President Hu Jintao called for officials to take more responsibility in their work.

"Some officials have ignored public opinion and turned a blind eye to people's hardships, and even major issues that concern the lives of the masses of people.. We must learn a painful lesson from the recent accidents" that have caused great losses to people's lives and property, Hu said.

He was apparently referring to the recent mudslide in Xiangfen, Shanxi province, which killed nearly 270 people, and the milk contamination incident which has killed four children and caused urinary tract problems, including kidney stones, among more than 6,200 infants.

"Only when we strive to solve the pressing problems facing our officials and always put people first... can the Party lead the people to achieve a moderately well-off society," he said.

Hu is vague in his words as a huge hint to officials to smarten up, but at the same time doesn't want to be seen as making promises that he could be held accountable for later.

However, as children are dying or getting sick from milk their parents thought would make them healthy and strong, the government is ultimately responsible.

And not to be seen as caring for the people to create a harmonious society is the wrong approach to this incident.

In the meantime the rest of us are running out of things to eat... and only those with deep pockets can afford imported foods to stay alive.

Entertaining the Masses

I don't watch Chinese TV that often... there usually isn't much on that's interesting unless you like dramas about the Chinese revolution, imperial dynasties or silly comedic humour.

But while we were in Xian we flipped to a channel that had three young foreigners on a variety show... speaking perfect Chinese... much to my shame.

One was a black girl from the United States, a Caucasian guy from Canada, and a Chinese-Filipino guy who was on the chubby side.

There were four hosts dressed in variations of white and turquoise outfits, young and curious about what foreigners think about China.

The trio made observations that I have as well, but they articulated them well to much hilarity to the studio audience.

For instance, when people outside of China finish a telephone conversation with someone, they usually say, "Bye", or "talk to you later". But here in China, they usually grunt "en" and then hang up. "What's with that?" the girl asked.

Everyone laughed because it was true.

They also talked about how local people drop their jaws when they speak Chinese... but I also did a double take impressed by how fluent their Chinese was. The girl said she learned most of it from singing Chinese songs and started belting out "Shanghai Bund" which thrilled the crowd.

The Filipino guy, dressed in a Chinese-style silk top and black pants, played up his portly size and tried to do some Chinese dancing with one of the female hosts.

He also competed against one of the hosts in writing as many Chinese characters as he could for the pronunciation of "ai" in a set period of time. I think it was practically a tie.

It's too bad the Canadian guy didn't have much to offer besides his language skills. He wasn't too funny and didn't have any witty remarks to make. He almost looked like those kids I see in Hong Kong trying to convert people to Christianity, dressed in a white shirt, black pants and black tie.

But the black girl really has potential to become the Chinese Oprah. She's funny, entertaining and has lots to say and not afraid to say it.

Hope the Chinese TV stations are thinking of this idea. She could host her own show and be a big hit.

Watch out Dashan! You've got some competition...

Special Treatment

When we arrived in Xian we took a taxi into town which cost us about 130RMB ($19) for a 45 minute ride.

But we smartened up and on the way back took the airport bus at 27RMB ($3.94) each.

We just happened to pass by the Melody Hotel near the Drum and Bell Towers where we saw the airport bus and inquired for details (leaves every 30 minutes at the top and bottom of the clock).

And it's on time, your suitcase is labelled and you get a luggage tag and then you get on the bus and it takes almost an hour to get to the Xian Xiangyang International Airport, stopping at two terminals.

We got there a bit too early and weren't allowed to check in more than two hours in advance... something we found out the hard way (waiting in line then turned away when it was our turn).

While we were waiting we saw a Chinese man have his luggage opened up and an officer pulled out a large pop bottle that was obviously opened and filled with a different colour liquid in it.

What was that liquid? It didn't look like a drink. The officer questioned him and even got his colleague to come over for a second opinion, opening it and smelling it.

We were sure the bottle would be confiscated for its suspicious appearance.

But no, they let him go and even put the bottle back in his suitcase.

I hoped he wouldn't be on our flight.

After we checked in, this time in five minutes, we had to go through an identification check and go through security checks, the standard metal detector and hand luggage X-ray.

We lined up with everyone else, but after the security officer realized I had a foreign passport, she made me go to another line that I didn't even know existed.

Our bags went through the X-ray machine fine, but after I went through the metal detector -- that seemed to be very sensitive -- I was wanded.

But this wasn't enough. I was asked to take my runners off and put them through the X-ray machine as well.

Excuse me?

It seemed us foreigners were not trustworthy enough and had to go through extra scrutiny that was bizarre considering moments earlier a Chinese guy was carrying a weird liquid in his suitcase.

While the security staff were polite, the double standard was a strange experience. Were the extra security measures in place meant to make us foreigners feel safer or feel more alien?

Riding the Wall

Xian's city wall is a 13km perimeter that today only encompasses part of the urban area.

Nevertheless, it's one of the oldest and best preserved city walls in China.

Construction of this wall began in 194 BC and lasted for four years.

And nowadays, the touristy thing to do is rent a bike and ride around it... if you can get up there.

It took us a while to figure out how to get up onto the wall at the south gate. There is no signage to give even a hint of where the entrance was. It wasn't until we saw people coming out in between the two gates with traffic passing through did we realize that was where we had to go.

But that entailed having to cross a busy intersection -- with no lights. This is far from pedestrian-friendly, let alone tourist-friendly. Eventually we gingerly made it across, paid our 40RMB ($5.85) entrance fee and climbed up to the top.

The view from 12 metres up gives you an overview of the surrounding areas, but then it fades into a sprawling haze thanks to the pollution.

That day the bike rental place was very popular and we finally got a tandem bike for another 40RMB for 100 minutes, and 200RMB ($29.27) as a refundable deposit.

What's funny is that for some reason the path on the south side is slanted so at first you think you're wobbly on the bike. But we quickly got our stride and began riding east at a leisurely pace.

For the most part the wall is flat (slightly bumpy thanks to the bricks) and there are the odd ramps in between, usually at the corners.

It's great riding up there as for the most part there's hardly any traffic to look out for, save other cyclists, ambulatory tourists and golf carts carrying people too lazy to peddle or walk.

Peddling is relatively easy on this bike with no gears, but you do work up a sweat. As we passed people I began waving at them and they waved back too. We were all having fun on the wall.

There isn't much to see cityscape-wise around the wall, save for one of the oldest gates which says "first gate" on it. Down below I saw a woman playing with a small kite.

And amazingly our 100 minutes were almost up by the time we reached the bike rental place. We were going to ride one more time down the south side, but we were pooped and our butts needed a break from the less than comfortable seats.

Nevertheless it was loads of fun and definitely recommended to anyone visiting Xian.

A Taste of the Silk Road

Xian is the start of the Silk Road from China and there's an area called Muslim Street or hui min jie west of the Drum and Bell Towers in the centre of the city.

And walking in there is almost like entering another world.

There are street markets lining the narrow roads, selling halal meats, piles of dried dates, apricots, kiwis, persimmons, walnuts, almonds, chestnuts, cookies, and fried dough cakes.

If you're daring, there's lots of street food to try. The naan bread (2RMB) is very fragrant. Like small pizzas, the middle is poked with circular designs, brushed with oil and a hint of onion flavour. When they're fresh out of the brick oven they are crunchy and hit the spot.

There's also lots of specialty dishes in Xian to try.

One is called yang rou pao mo. We went to one that served niu rou, or beef (9RMB).

You're given a big bowl and two quarter slices of a dense flat bread. Then you sit at your seat and for the next half an hour you're ripping the bread up into small pieces. Apparently the smaller the better. That's why it takes that long.

When you're done the labour intensive part of the dish, you bring the bowl back to the kitchen and they fill it with an oily broth with slices of beef, some vermicelli and diced spring onion.

You eat it with chopsticks and it's interesting for the first while, but then it loses its flavour and you also get filled up from all that carbo. I couldn't finish mine and it was also partly because gimmick of having to tear up your own bread had worn off.

On another day we wanted to try bian bian mian -- where noodle makers bang the noodles on the table as they make the dough turn into fine strings, hence the name bian bian. Shops advertising this dish should have a giant Chinese character with lots of strokes in it.

But apparently there isn't a shop like that in the Muslim district.

However, we did try noodles made from dough sliced with a knife and they were fantastic (5RMB). They were cooked in a slightly oily clear broth with thin slices of beef, with some vegetables, chopped coriander and spring onion and a touch of chilli to give it a subtle kick.

Aside from food, there lots to look at. We saw the carcass of an animal freshly cut up, leaving giant bones behind. Children ran around, saying, "Hello!" to us. Some vendors put out trinkets to sell, animal pelts, and a man made animals using warm liquid brown sugar, blowing into them like glass objects.

Most of the Muslims here are from the Hui minority. My friend told me they originally had their own language, but lost it and kept their religion instead, practiced precariously under Chinese Communist rule.

Nevertheless, they offer a colourful insight into their culture, and offer an interesting dimension to what is otherwise almost another Chinese city.

Where's the Polisher... in Xian

After finishing seeing the terracotta warriors, we spotted this sign pointing the way out... except we don't quite understand what it means in English... do you?

It says: "Asks you on own initiative to walk according to the scenic areaturnover [sic] line... Thanks the cooperation".