The Beiwai Neighborhood

All the photos in this post were taken by my son Matt when he visited last week. He also did quite a lot of audio recording, but I'm not sure yet how to link those files. Above you can see a corner that is near the neighborhood near the east end of the Beiwai campus. This was taken about nine o'clock on a weekday evening; what you see are mainly fruitstands, foodstands, and other small vendors. This is at the rear of the campus, away from the huge Third Ring Road, and it's much more a neighborhood than the heavily-trafficked Third Ring, which is a busy multi-lane boulevard (we have an underpass, so we don't have to cross it) and feels quite local. Even so, it's full of good restaurants.

In the photo above, you can see the pineapple rice that is a signature dish at Dai Ethnic Restaurants. About a ten-minute walk from our dorm are two that are next to one another. You can also see a shadow of one of the waitresses, who is wearing an ethnic outfit, a patterned cotton short-sleeved blouse and long skirt made from a fabric that is reminiscent of batik. The rice is mixed with fresh pineapple and steamed in the hollowed-out shell. It's delicious! Tim tells me you can find this in Naperville at the Joy Yee Noodle Restaurant on Ogden Ave. near the intersection of Naper Blvd. One of these is enough to serve at least four people as a side dish.

The foodstands stay open pretty late; people can grab a bite to eat on the way home from work, or on their way out for the evening. This stand serves steamed dumplings. The lighted stalls keep this section of the street lively and comforting even late at night.