And now for some real food.

Okay. I could bore you with details about today's trip to the ancient Summer Palace, the gorgeous gardens and pavilions, the exotic flowers, the boat we rented to motor around Kunming Lake, and the hour long taxi ride that underscored for us the true scale  of this massive city. But I won't.

What I really want to talk about is our dinner. We've had a few disappointing meals so far. The Auntie Yuan restaurant was actually pretty terrible, and the bugs on Wangfujing snack street were fun, but not really that tasty. Tonight's meal, however, was outstanding. Truly a meal to write home about. This was what I was hoping for when I dreamed of dining in China.

Upon the advice of the Lonely Planet guidebook, we headed out to Liujia Guo restaurant, which we were pleased to discover is only a few blocks from our hotel. The restaurant specializes in Hunan cuisine, which in America is one of my favorites. Nothing I've ever had in America comes close. The staff spoke no English, and the menu was difficult to interpret. After staring at the menu for a few minutes, we finally dove in and ordered a beef stirfry-type thing, chinese cabbage with garlic, a beef soup and scallion pancakes. 

The stirfry was spicy and garlicky and perfectly prepared. The chinese cabbage -- little baby bok choi -- was perfectly steamed and also covered in garlic. The scallion pancakes, crispy and soft, and sprinkled with sesame seeds, were perfect for sopping up the sauce from the stirfry. The soup, well, the soup was amazing: beef and carrots and onions and daikon radish in a spicy yellow broth that I couldn't exactly identify. With drinks, the whole thing came to about $20. I would have paid twice that amount, easy. 

It's about 7:30pm, and we're fat and happy. The kids are already asleep, and I'm looking forward to a nice, long conversation with Kori followed by a nice, long snooze. Tomorrow we head about 3 hours out of town to see the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. I can't wait. Every day has been great, but this promises to be a real highlight. I promise to take a bunch of pictures.

Peace!