This is Sophie Meisner and Mette Schoenfeld from Denmark. They are on a long trip during a "gap year" and have already explored alot of the world. After leaving Shanghai they head to Vietnam for a month, and in July expect to be on the west coast of the US. We shared a picnic on the Great Wall. One laugh was my discovery of dried mangos which I shared, and later found out they were dried sweet potatoes. Oh well. Later in the trip we had alot of fun eating and shopping and sightseeing.

The trip afforded an excellent taste of many provincial food styles including hot pot (above) where each person has boiling pot and puts the prepared veggies, meats and noodles in themselves.

In Beijing we had a dumpling extravaganza, no kidding, with wonderful stuff and a flaming pot at the end. I was too tired after all that food to go to the special evening entertainment. Oh well, good to relax in the room and get to bed early.

Jack is very enthusiastic about regional foods. He always chose delictable things for us to try and share.