Hutong: A Taste of Ancient China

How would you respond if the government said you could only drive your personal car on certain days?

Yesterday, Dr. Yao apologized for not driving us between hospitals. However, the license plate on her car was designated “1”, which was not allowed to drive on March 13. I didn’t ask how often cars can be driven, but in a town of 20 million and the level of pollution that is present, I guess I understand. Truly the driving and traffic in Beijing is nothing compared to some places we have lived. I don’t know that we have seen a single major accident in the year that we have spent in China!

The second hospital that we were at was in an historical hutong. These are the ancient neighborhoods with narrow streets and traditional Chinese rooflines and architecture and colors. Oh, I just loved it. I felt like I was back in Taiwan 30 years ago. There were street vendors selling roasted sweet potatoes, older people just sitting outside their houses, people and vehicles jockeying on the driving spaces.

Dr. Yao took us to a corner dining area, reminiscent of the street vendors in Taiwan where the kids ate almost every day.  It was about the size of 2 living rooms, with people sharing tables. There was a constant long lunch line. It was buffet style where you could point and grunt. She bought soup, and dan bing (egg pancakes stuffed with meat), but she called them something else, and meatballs. Delicious…except for the red soup with the rice which was sweet. (I don’t remember having sweet soup in Taiwan, but they sure seem to like it here. I asked before I tasted it, so it was not quite such a shock as last time when I almost upchucked when I tasted the sweet sweet corn soup in Taian.  I took it home to Rick, with my apologies.) The two consecutive people who sat at the table with us, laughed and laughed when they picked up my few words of Chinese talking about “stinky tofu”.  In the 5 hours that I was gone from home and the thousands of people I was surrounded by, I  did not see another single foreigner. Fun times.