Eric's Beijing Diary

National Day. A bunch of us went to the Disanji building at Haidian Book City and had Shuan Yang Rou. "Yang Rou" means "mutton," but sometimes beef is also included. This restaurant was pretty good, but I still say the best place to have Shuan Yang Rou in Beijing is that little dump of a place down in Chegongzhuang. It really comes down to the sesame seed sauce that you dip the meat in, because mutton is mutton. Anyway, it's a good way to eat together in a manner that allows you to have a balance of meat and vegetables in a meal that will fill you up, without making you feel bloated. It's not exactly fat free, because the meat does have some fat in it, but it is boiled in water, not cooked in grease. Very healthy, and very tasty.

This afternoon, I decided to go down to Tiananmen and look around. In past years, I have always gone down earlier in the day, but everything is so crowded on national day, so this time I decided to wait until later. When I was on my way back, I met some students who were in town for the holiday. One of them asked me if I knew a university where they could stay. As far as I know, my university does not provide this kind of housing, but I told them about the youth hostel. The student told me that 60 RMB per person was too much--they were hoping to get something for 30 kuai each. Well, there were five of them, so it's possible that they can get a cheap room and split the cost. But I still can't imagine how they can come out for less than what it would cost them at the youth hostel. Oh, well, it's their decision, but right about now I'm kinda wishing I had tried harder to talk them into coming back to Wudaokou with me. I'm not really worried about them, because they are young. They will find something--a tea house if nothing else. But I just have a feeling they are going to end up being relatively miserable for not much less than it would have cost them to have a nice comfortable bed.

The problem for me is that, since I am a foreigner, I have tended to defer to students on issues like this. The students I work with are pretty savvy, and they have an amazing sense for a good deal. But this time, I think I know more about what's up then those kids I met tonight. They are not from Beijing. And it was already about 7pm when I talked with them. Well, I gave them my email address, so I will let you know if I hear anything.