After being stranded for some 3 hours in the middle of a busy Expressway, we finally arrived in Beijing at 8pm, safe & but not too sound cos we were all so so hungry!!

See the below our broken down blue car being towed by the front mechanic’s car – And our tourmate Uncle was telling Dear & I how amazing such a tiny thin wire could actually tow such a big heavy car!!

We bidded goodbye to our Chinese driver Sifu & hopped into our other Sifu’s van. This was our very first Sifu & Van that took us on tours from Day 1 to before we went to the Great Wall of China on Day 3, cos the China Traffic Police happened to spot checked our van & we were even questioned cos the Police wanted to make sure we were well treated and not being conned into travelling on illegal vehicles with illegal travel agencies in China.

And cos Sifu forgot to bring his van’s documents & licences, our van had to be confiscated by the Police, & Sifu even had to be punished, by reporting to the Traffic Police every morning for training & study lessons, till evening, for 3 full days! What strict rules of the Chinese Government!! But Dear & I felt it’s really good that China has such routine spot checks & such security policies!! We were really so impressed!!

And luckily this Sifu happened to just complete his 3 full days of punishment by the Traffic Police, so he could now be our replacement Sifu & continued driving us in his Van for the rest of our China trip!

We soon arrived at our dining Restaurant which served ”everyday home-style food” - a rather poor run-down small Restaurant in the outskirts of Beijing.

The Restaurant was plainly decorated with simple tables & chairs, but there was a TV!! How cosy & homely!

Dear entering our private dinning room :

Dear & our tourmates Auntie & Uncle at our dinning table – the place looks pretty run-down ha!! But we didn’t care much cos we just wanted to EAT!!

Auntie & Uncle still talking about our stranded car incident!! And they kept telling Dear & I how lucky they were that they had us for company, or else they 2 alone would feel so afraid!!

Heehee Dear & I were pretty okie with the whole incident cos we’re pretty used to travelling & driving in Australia on our own. But somehow we felt the same way towards Auntie & Uncle too, that luckily we had them for company too, cos afterall, we were all in a foreign country far away from home & family!

Dear pouring our favourite Orange drink which we’d before a few times while having supper in Beijing!

YES YES, here come our first dish!! And both Dear & my favourite too – Sweet & Sour Pork!!

All of us were so hungry we immediately tucked into these huge Marvelicious Yummy Pork!! They were crispy on the outside but tender inside, & they tasted so good!

Stirfry Pork with Carrots, Mushrooms & Green Bell Peppers – these were really delicious too!

Huge bowls of rice to go with our dishes – but the rice’s quality was rather poor so we didn’t eat too much of it.

Stirfry Vegetables with sliced Pork & Mushrooms with Oyster Sauce – plain but very nicely cooked too!

Stirfried Ducks with sliced Gingers & Dried Red Chilies – we’d never tasted anything like this!! Never knew duck could be cooked this way & this well too!

Really fragrant & fantastic dish – the Ducks were crispy & so tasty, & even the Gingers were good to eat!!

Steaming hot very delicious soup with slighlty black Kampong Chicken, Black Fungus (or Wood Ears), Chinese Parsley & thick Glass Noodles - superbly prepared & served in the Claypot!! The chicken was very sweet & the Glass Noodles were springy & the Soup tasted best!! We didn’t leave any bit of it!!

We all salvaged the food & ate so well & so full – it was our Greatest & Best meal in Beijing. A saying goes by that “Never judge a Book by its cover!” is so so True cos though the Restaurant looked poor & run-down, it didn’t mean that it could not serve Good Delicious cuisines!! In fact its chef was so capable to cook so well & yummy dishes we were really overwhelmed!

After dinner, we were all very urgent & in need of toilets – but we dared not use the toilet cos it was located in a dark area in a distance away from the Restaurant. And according to Wang Jing, we would not be used to that kind of toilet at all!!

See the below tiny orange light somewhere in the middle – that’s the toilet I was talking about! Guess I need not tell you more ha – Photo taken from inside Sifu’s van :

We soon left the Restaurant & Sifu drove us to the nearest Petrol Kiosk where there were public coin-insert toilets available – FINALLY wew!!

Now, we’ve to hurry to Chengde cos it was almost 9 pm now, & the sky was already so so dark!!! What a night!!