After lunch, with little time on hand, we walked toward the bus 707 (or 717?) to #335 (or 355) to my dinner destination, passing by this store. Everything had to go because of the demolition. The owner asked for
A campaign for demolition on Banbuqiao Street 西城区半步桥街 in Beijing. There is a reward to the residences for a certain percentage % of vacancy by a set date.
7 Fayuansi Front St, Xicheng, Beijing
北京市西城区菜市口附近教子胡同的南端
This temple is well known to me but not to general public – one of my friends said she’s never heard of it. (zh wiki) The first taxi driver, who has been driving for 13 years, declined to go, told me “Maybe someone is from Beijing knows.” The second cab, luckily is from Beijing but he doesn’t know either. Bravely, he agreed to go and dropped me off in the vicinity. My great grandfather had his service here in 1942.
A short walk, took me to the temple. No parking but ..
The admission is
Niujie 牛街 Oxen Street/neighborhood in Beijing, near Fayuanshi is home to the sizable Muslin population. It’s also for people like me who loves to eat. There are so many big or small eateries, some are pretty dingy, cater to any appetite.
The Baiji Niangao 白记年糕 is one of stores I like. One of my classmates loves it too. It’s inside a supermarket. Their red bean paste is very delicious.
You got a ticket to ride? … asked John Lennon of Beatles fame.
Due to a little reason, I needed to take the train home but I didn’t have my passport with me. So we waited on Window 1. The woman pointed to the window second to last to her right, for no ID card purchase. Window 2 said he doesn’t deal with no Chinese. Window 3 sent me to see his supervisor. Window 4 made a few phone calls then sent me to Window 5 to make the purchase, using my New York driver’s licence.
Phew.
Good to know the security is tight. And good to know that my driver’s licence works.
It takes only 32 minutes to get back to Beijing.
New York-Philly-DC, New York-Boston need high speed train, for pete’s sake.
Hedong District, 11 Longitude Street (@ 8 Latitude St)
河东区十一经路与八纬路交口东北角(十一经路店)
Goubuli means dog ignores, is a popular steamed meat buns from Tianjin. According to the legend, the founder was nicknamed doggie and he’s too busy making the buns to respond to his friends. They soon shorten the saying that Doggie didn’t have time for us to Dog ignores; or Go Believe.
I haven’t had this kind of buns for a long time. While living in Tianjin briefly when I was little, I didn’t get to eat it because most people were dirt poor under the reign of Chairman Mao who died in 1976. I’m pretty surprised to see the tall facade for an one dimensional fare. The hallway by the entrance is lined with boxes, and the staff is in white uniform, looking rather sharp.
In 1992 they opened an outpost in Flushing, New York but didn’t last long. Perhaps without nostalgic, they couldn’t compete on service and varieties. Glad to see them moving forward this time, cashing on the name. They even implement some crowd pleasing bells and whistles, such as coming to your suite, and letting the diner to make the buns. I joked that we would get 20% off for DIY …
The bottom two were made by me and the top one was by the chef in white toque. … Ok, no 20% off but an extra % added because I didn’t make them right -:).
Heping District 和平区
Tianjin government has designated Five Great Avenues – a few roads in Heping (Peace) district as historical destination. It’s in the former British concession, with many grand homes zh wiki. I lived on one of them. In fact, there are six streets:
On this trip I only went to Zhou Mingtai (周明泰 zh wiki) not Zhou Shutao (周叔弢 @ 睦南道129号; zh wiki).
Hebei Lu 277 河北路
“Keep walking” a minder told us as we walked by the shooting spot where a tv or movie was being made.
We took the carriage, circling the wudadao, the five big streets.
Munan Dao and Changde Dao
Machangdao 马场道
