Late First Blog from China...

ACCIDENTAL CELEBRITY

Well, Grand Culinary Tour China is off to a rockin' start, 'n rolling already into Chendu, capital of Sichuan, third of eight cities en queue, blog time or not! Think aborted orbital launch that lands halfway around the world: fast, non-stop, hard, sleepless, spectacular, and wrapped in a blur of wild taxi rides.

Lack of sleep during the 24 hours of travel crashed my preemptive attempt to mitigate a 15-time-zone jet lag by staying up all night for the morning flight. Our first meal in China, after touring Ngong Ping 360, a giant bronze Buddah statue and monastery accessed by aerial tram, was lunch in the very modern downtown business district of Hong Kong. Highlights were a rich-brothed
Fish Ball and Fish Tofu Soup with vegetable, and a pear drink made with the pear poaching liquid. This was a good, modest culinary beginning. A taxi and a bus ride over to the mainland, through Chinese customs, brought us to dinner in Shenzhen. Crispy Roasted Duck, Deep Fried Fish with Pepper Sauce, Green Beans with Red Pepper and Pork Fat, cold marinated bamboo strips and wood ear salad, sweet pork spare ribs, and braised pigs feet. Overall, great tastes, especially the roasted items, yet for my palate, a rather meaty affair, especially as Jinsong and I were to run a "cross-country 10k race" in the morning.

After four precious sleep hours, up and out to a gorgeous city park built around a steep mountain overlooking Shenzhen. This was a 432 meter (1500 ft) Mountain Climb over 4K, followed by even steeper granite stairs, muddy boulder-hopping, and a wicked descent requiring heavy thigh-brakes! I took only one small lunge to the ground on a long, narrow, grassy, muddy descent portion; the only one where I could actually stretch out my legs. Well, I do love a hard physical challenge, befriended several local runners that day, and was even interviewed both on local Shenzhen TV-5 and a newspaper. It seems this long-legged foreigner at least LOOKED like a good runner to the locals. But sleepless in Shenzhen (10 hours in 4 days -- yikes!), this was kick-ass all the way up and all the way down -- notice that my 4-digit race number washed away (!) by halfway through the race!