All of the food so far in Beijing has been excellent.

Last night I headed out with Laurence and we ran into the Dong Hua Men Night Market - which is renowned in Beijing.

There is a wide range of regional delicacies on sale - including lamb kebabs, pork and beef skewers and fruit.

Then there are the real specialties. In the interests of fairness - think how interesting pork scratchings and haggis are..

Starfish on a stick:

And roasted and fried scorpions, silkworm grubs and crickets:

Silkworm grubs. Crunchy on the outside, silky and velvety on the inside. That’s what my online gourmet reviewer said.

Scorpions. Crunchy with a bite. I made that one up.

Finally crickets. Fried and ready to go.

The Beijing skyline is filled with cranes.