Adventures in Driving

So, this was a big week for me.  I (finally) worked up the courage to drive solo from the Embassy back to my home in the suburbs 30-45 minutes outside the city.  And it was a success.  Which means I didn't hit any other cars or people or tuk-tuks or bicycles or scooters or motorbikes or any other permutations of the not-sure-what-they-are-but-they-definitely-aren't-cars that populate the roadways here.  I've "only" had my car since June (ha) so clearly some solo city driving was well overdue.  Chris has been doing this somewhat regularly since June so it was definitely time for me to do so. The good thing is that having done it once, I do think I can do it again.  And honestly, it wasn't as bad as I feared. I've been a passenger in a lot of cars at this point and driven enough solo around my neighborhood that I'm not completely shocked by the behavior on the roadways here. There don't appear to be many rules governing traffic flow here. There are, however, zillions of cameras watching you so you don't want to break any of the non-rules on camera because you WILL get a ticket.  Got that?  The main thing to remember is that your goal is to go from Point A to Point B without hitting anything or anyone. If you get that part down, everything else seems to fall into place.

My readers back home in America might wonder why on earth driving solo is a big deal. I mean, I've been driving (gulp) about 25 years.  That said, I've spent much of it driving my large, safe car around a fairly orderly city that I know really really well. I do have my large safe American Toyota minivan here, but the rest of the game has changed. China shockingly isn't the worst place I've ever driven -- Naples, Italy still holds that honor -- but it is definitely a tricky place to drive. Plus, I spoke enough Italian to manage the situation if I had ended up in any type of car accident in Naples. I was also a LOT younger and didn't have 3 kids in tow. Here in Beijing, while my Mandarin has improved a great deal, it remains very toddler-like. Knowing my numbers, colors and phrases like "where is the bathroom" or "I don't eat meat" is all well and good, but of little use if I end up involved in a traffic accident. And we have been warned that hitting another car or a pedestrian or a biker can result in a confrontation with an angry mob that might potentially encircle and trap you.  Gulp.  That scenario remains my biggest fear whenever I hop in the car and head into the city proper.

If you are curious, here is a clip of what Beijing traffic looks like.  Seriously.  Pretty much every intersection has folks desperately trying to cross the street in their conveyance of choice.  This clip is filmed from a pedestrian standpoint, which is absolutely terrifying.  It is also pretty terrifying to be in a vehicle since pedestrians and scooters and motorbikes come within inches of your car. Oh, and there is the fact that if you don't pretend like you are going to hit these people by inching into the intersection, you will never ever ever move.  You'll just sit there until you grow dusty and die.  Or something like that.  

Perilous driving aside, our car has been here for 3 months and I will tell you that driving is worth the trouble.  Since I was very young, my car has embodied freedom for me.  Freedom to leave a situation I don't like, freedom to get things I want, to go where I need to.  Freedom to get outside of the crowded city.  This remains the same here in Beijing.  I really feel a lot more settled with my car along since I can easily pick up the kids from school no matter what the weather is like or visit restaurants I like or bring home my own groceries. The best part -- although we still use shuttles and public transportation some -- I haven't been in a Beijing taxi cab in several months.  That, my friends, is something worth celebrating!

Hou Hai and the Hutongs

In today's post, we revisit old territory.  We have been to Hou Hai before, back in February when it was about 20 degrees and we had been here for 2 weeks.  Today, we had a high of around 90 and were able to take advantage of the boats and other types of summer fun available in the Back Lakes district of Beijing -- although we did not swim there as many Beijing residents apparently do!.  Hou Hai is the largest of the 3 man-made lakes in this region.  In the winter, you can go ice chair skating here while in the summer, the area is filled with teahouses, bars and cafes where you can sit al fresco and enjoy the lake breezes.  The area also has a large swatch of well-preserved hutongs, which are now filled with shops and even restaurants.  We had lunch at Hutong Pizza, a pizza joint that was indeed located in an old courtyard area.

Since it was a lovely day in Beijing with good air quality, there were tons of other people also enjoying Hou Hai.  Once we managed to park our monstrous beast of a car (always the most challenging part of any excursion), we had a very nice day here.  I highly recommend it for visitors to Beijing since, whether in winter or summer, there is plenty to do here.  Chris and I like to browse the many shops lining the hutongs, but the kids not so much.  There are several preserved Imperial Palaces in the area where you can get a sense of how the wealthy families lived in pre-communist China. You can also hire a bicycle here and tour the hutongs on bike. Chris and I have this on our agenda for a day when we do not have the kids along. Mostly because there are many, many other kinds of traffic -- including cars in places one might not expect them -- and I wouldn't feel good about every one's safety.  It was perilous enough walking through the streets.  We were all a bit twitchy as we listened for the honking of a horn or the almost-silent sound of an electric motor.  You can easily get pedicab rides of the hutongs here as well.  We chose a boat tour since it was high summer and we thought it would be cooler. We hired a boat that came with a pilot, but you can also pilot it yourself.  The crowded lake resembled a bumper car venue in some places since there were lots of inexperienced boat captains trying to squeeze through narrow channels. 

This chicken was right outside the pizza restaurant.  We didn't touch it;)

The Altar of the Fire God is a daoist temple located right by the lake

The boat provided this giant duck to lure us in....