Tastes of Kāifēng 开封

A day trip to ancient Kāifēng a few weeks ago with Louis and Ashley on a well deserved day off from work.  Kāifēng is pretty rad.

Rad facts learned from Lonely Planet China and other random guide books:

• A gated city known as one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China, dating back to 364 BCE.

• Parts of the city, which were inhabited by the Song Dynasty, lie buried nine metres below ground level because of centuries of flooding.  Construction of buildings requiring deep foundations are prohibited today, for fear of destroying historical artifacts.

• Although having been conquered and named numerous times in its past, Kāifēng came to be after the conquest of the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China.

• Kāifēng has a deep rooted history in Judaism as it was the first city in China where Jewish merchants had settled. The Kāifēng Torah dates back to about 1643.

• Today, Kāifēng is comprised of mostly Christian and Muslim Hui communities, with only a small number of people claiming Jewish dissent.

I was thinking temples, synagogues, churches and mosques. AWESOME! Diverse religious communities  = beautiful and unique architecture.  Maybe.  Bliss.  An hour and two hundred kuài later, we arrived in Kāifēng via taxi and had forgotten about all the rad facts we had read.  Instead, we choose to eat our way from one market to the next, following the smells of kebabs and chou ganzi (stinky tofu) through the maze of merchants, construction and debris, trying to find the next best taste.

A tour around town....but dumplings first.

The markets.

Found kimbap!!  In China, we cover it in mayo, ketchup and PB.

For my friends in construction :D  You'd love these sites.

Kilometres of markets.  Stuff, stuff, and stuff.

Kebab and beverage break.

Sugar cane juice.  Not so yummy. 

kebabs. nang bread. sesame seed cakes. marinated tofu. kimbap. dumplings. sugar-coated berries. mutton in flat bread. noodle/mystery meat soups. soy frozen yogurt.

Yup.  Ashley and Louie ate all of that.  Not me.  I would never do that ;)

The tastes of Kāifēng 开封 was amazing!  But beware of food coma.  I slept for most of the cab ride back. HA!

Thanks for reading :)

Next blog:  Exposing my love/hate relationship of living and working abroad.  It's one hell of a roller coaster ride.