Donghuamen Night Market - Beijing China

During our 2010 trip to China Lindsay and I stumbled on a very unique market on our first night in Beijing. We were scoping out the area around the forbidden city and found our way east to a very lively shopping area called Oriental Plaza. This was a pedestrian street that was lined on both sides with numerous shops, malls, etc. Furthermore, there were thousands of neon lights which really gave the area a cool feel. We spent a good hour wandering around this area and eventually stumbled on a very busy market on the far end of the street. We noticed there were numerous food stalls with hundreds of people watching closely what was being made. Upon further inspection we realized that each one of these food stalls was selling fresh food cooked to order…at first we were extremely excited but then quickly lost our appetite when we saw what was being cooked. :) Although there were a few egg rolls, noodles, etc almost every food stall was selling exotic delights like insects, lizards, sheep parts, etc, etc. Each of these items were placed on display on wooden sticks and were then deep fried or cooked to order. Lindsay was pregnant at the time and needless to say the sight/smell of this type of food was making her quite nauseous. I remember stopping at one particular food stall to admire the insects that were neatly placed on a wooden stick just like a kabob. Lindsay and I were both extremely shocked when we realized the insects were still alive and were moving! We never ended up ordering anything but we continued to walk around this area to take in the exciting and unique nighttime scene. Eventually the busy market gave way to narrow alleyways that were full of little shops, etc and the whole area was extremely charming. We wandered around for hours until our feet were just killing us. We will never forget the amazing/disgusting food on display at the Donghuamen night market in Beijing, China.