Houhai Hutong

So we arrived at Houhai Hutong in Beijing to hang out for the afternoon before heading back to the hotel to catch the overnight train to Shenzhen. There were about 8 of us in two taxi cabs. Hutongs are “old Beijing.” They are typically narrow streets or alleys with residences and some with stores/cafes/shopping. The alleys are usually lined with traditional courtyard residences. Many neighborhoods were formed by joining one hutong to another. But the number of hutongs have dramatically decreased and have been demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. But now some hutongs have been designated as protective areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

Houhai has a nice lake, bars, cafes, stalls, vendors, shops, residences, & pedicabs. We wanted to get lunch and it was a pretty nice day so we decided to eat at a little Chinese eatery outside, on their 2^nd floor, which pretty much means we were eating on the roof. I think I had a noodle clay pot dish which was OK, not the best food I had while in Beijing. After lunch, a few of us grabbed some Yanjing (local Beijing beers) and we walked the alleys while making visits to the local shops. I didn't buy anything but some others did like tea, chopsticks, etc. I took a couple of photos of a bride and I think she was amazed I was taking her pic. I have been the one the Chinese have always been photographing since I got to Beijing but now here I was taking a photo of her. I think this amused her. She had a cool dress on by the way.

As we were making our way back to the major road to take a taxi back, I noticed a food vendor selling what appeared to be tofu. Could he also be selling stinky tofu? I asked him was this stinky tofu? He said yes. I yelled to Laila to come over to this vendor as she likes tofu too. I had been waiting to try stinky tofu since I saw a documentary of tofu in China before I came here. He charged 1 kuai for one piece of stinky tofu which now, looking back on it, was a rip off but I wanted to try it so bad I didn't even think of negotiating. We ordered like 5 pieces for the 5 of us that wanted to try it. Now stinky tofu is a form of fermented tofu that is suppose to have a very strong odor. It is a popular snack in East & Southeast Asia, particularly mainland China. Supposedly, from a distance, the odor of stinky tofu is said to resemble that of rotten garbage or manure, even by its enthusiasts. In some instances the taste has even been compared to rotten meat. In spite of stinky tofu's smell, most say the flavor is surprisingly mild. It is said the more it smells, the 'better' its flavor. Well, this stinky tofu did not have the strong odor so I don't think it was really authentic. But we were in a somewhat touristy area, so maybe the vendor toned it down a little to appease the Western palate. I don't know. It was tasty, but did not live up to the hype I had in mind. According to the documentary I watched previously, you're suppose to be able to smell stinky tofu like a block away. Here, at this vendor, that was certainly not the case. I could barely smell it while standing right next to it. He put some kind of chili sauce on it and something else as well. It was good but I will have to try it somewhere else again.

Well we caught a couple of taxis back to the hotel. We boarded our buses around 5pm to head for the train station for our overnight train to Shenzhen. The train was suppose to leave around 8pm. The train ride would be approx 24 hrs to Shenzhen, which is southern China, next to Hong Kong.