Hot Springs and Spicy Food

Yesterday, my friend said, "tomorrow is Thursday so...I can't drive."

Apparently, there is a rule in Beijing to reduce traffic and pollution. This month, everyone with license plate ending with number 8 cannot drive on Thursdays. Since a lot of Chinese people like the number 8, indeed there was less traffic this morning. This rule is enforced with cameras on the streets, which are able to recognize numbers. You get fined for breaking the rule.

It was supposed to rain today with thunderstorms, so my friend and I decided to go to the hot springs. Our Chinese friend recommended one, called Shun Jing Hot Spring, which had a groupon deal. It has a plaque from the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest spa resort. It is enormous, and walking through the various tubs reminded me of some of the tourist attractions in Beijing--everything was farther than expected, and we got lost inside. It was a really great experience though.

First, the deal included the buffet lunch, which we didn't know until later so we were pleasantly surprised when we did not have to pay for lunch. The buffet was very good, with a wide selection of vegetables and healthy dishes, along with things like meat and hot dogs. There were plentiful seafood options and abalone too. They had an "Italian" section with pizza and chicken wings.

There is a beautiful pool with koi fish inside, and the pools are very zen with round stones to sit on. There weren't a lot of people, so we had plenty of space and were often the only ones in the pools that we used. Some of the pools were closed though, not sure if it's because it was the weekend or because it was during the day. There were pools of pu-erh tea and pools of chinese medicinal herbs which are supposedly good for the body. One area was called the pool of "kissing fish", and it contained the fish that eat your dead skin. It was only 7 dollars or so, so I tried it. I didn't like the sensation, because fish are kind of slimy, and they are small so it's not so different from feeling like hundreds of insects are on your body, nibbling at you. It tickles but doesn't hurt. I'm not sure if my skin was that much nicer afterwards either, but maybe I needed to stay in longer. I mainly left because I felt cold, since the water temperature is lower so the fish can survive. My friend commented that it smelled like an aquarium so she didn't want to participate. 

You could easily spend an entire day there, since there are resting areas. We left though, because she had to catch her flight. After washing up, I took a bottle of what I assumed was body lotion, and started using it.

"Is that body lotion?" My friend asked.

"Yes," I said confidently.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Of course, what else would it be?" My reasoning then had been that it came in a bottle with a pump and was creamy, and there wasn't anything else that was like lotion and a luxury resort must provide body lotion so this must be it. The two of us smeared it all over ourselves. 

"It smells funny," she said.

"I think it smells nice," I replied. 

Since she was so worried, I finally went to ask a worker what it was, and as it turned out, it was a leave in conditioner for hair. I apologized profusely to my friend as we both had to go back and reshower. 

It ended up being really hard to get a taxi from the resort. We went to visit a friend of ours, who works as a teacher and program assistant for international students. She was at the hospital because one of her students had an emergency and needed surgery. As a result, she wasn't able to hang out with us, so we went to meet her quickly for dinner by the hospital.

I realize that I might think the cafeteria at my other friends work place is so amazing because there just isn't as good chinese food in New York--at least, not so cheap and accessible. The restaurant that we went to by the hospital was amazing. It was a Halal restaurant so when we stepped in, we were greeted by the smell of cumin. Their specialty was land kebabs with cumin.

I liked that their menu had pictures, and ordered a spicy soup with thick, square noodles made of bean flour (or maybe potato). It is now my favorite dish. It was spicy in the Szechuan style. My Korean friend plucked out a small, black peppercorn and said, "don't eat this, it makes your moth numb."

On the contrary, I actually really like that. The sauce comes with peanuts and cilantro. It's not easy for me to post photos, but this dish is so good that it deserves to have its photo published. The noodles were chewy and flavorful, and the perfect size to fit entirely in your mouth. As for the other stuff, the lamb was very good, at a dollar a stick, and the vegetables were amazing as usual. We ordered tofu skin with celery, cucumber with garlic, and something green I don't quite recognize in a sauce I don't know, but it was good.

Later I met my Chinese friend, and she had food too. Barbecue fish they call it, also spicy--an enormous fish is baked with cellophane noodles and fish cake. I wish I had taken a photo of that as it was really impressive looking. The fish was slightly charred, in a good way. I've been so happy with the food in China. 

A food street

"Kissing fish"

Really good noodles