Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 8:47 PM
Subject: China - Day 6
Today Sam, Larry, Raymond and I travel to Wuxi and on to Shanghai. Our flight to Wuxi was at 8:00 and we had to leave via taxi from the hotel at 6:15. Sam and I rode in one taxi and Raymond and Larry in another for the 45 minute trip. After last night’s festivities, everyone feels surprisingly good – even Sam who just looks at me and laughs, realizing I got him good last night. “Hey Sam, do you think she was able to get her homework done after we left?” “Shut up!”
Shenzhen International Airport is crowded – the ticket line takes nearly 20 minutes to get through and security even longer. The security check is thorough and gets a bit personal. Everyone gets wanded and the stone-faced security lady checks everywhere! It seems nearly everyone smokes here, but lighters and matches are prohibited on airplanes, even in checked luggage. The solution here; just before going through airport security, all of the smokers toss their lighters and matches into a blue barrel placed in the aisle for that purpose. These same people deplane at their destination and grab any lighter they like from the blue barrel there. Not a bad idea I suppose. On the way to the gate, Sam and I check our boarding passes. He is in seat 28A, I am in 28B. Hmmm – that sounds like a long way back in the plane. I am hoping it is a big plane, but no such luck. A rather old looking 737 – I didn’t even think that plane had a 28th row. But sure enough, there we were in the last row and me in the middle seat. The rows are about 3 inches closer together than on most US airlines and my knees are firmly pressed into the back of the seat in front of me. All we could do was laugh, especially when one of the largest Chinese guys I have ever seen took the aisle seat. We sat there pretty much unable to move for the two hour flight. A meal was served but it was nearly impossible to eat – not that the food was awful or anything, I just couldn’t move my arms. Oh well, as I always say – every flight that lands is a good flight and we did land!
The air in Wuxi is unusually clean today – the sky is nearly blue thanks I suppose to a strong steady wind from the northeast. I can see a mountain in the distance rising from the otherwise flat surroundings – I didn’t know there were any mountains here – I could never see that far I guess. We had a few hours worth of meetings with the staff at our Wuxi plant followed by lunch in the usual style – private room, lazy susan, you get the picture. This is the same place they fed me pig ears last time. This time is was something new I will try to describe – imagine taking the foot of a duck, webbing and all, removing the bones and what little meat might be present and cook what remains leaving a pale rubbery skin that still kind of resembles a clenched duck foot, has no real flavor, and is a bit chewy. I know I am showing some cultural arrogance here, but really, that cannot have much nutritional value and is about as tasty as a bicycle inner-tube. I ate two and smiled. Sam picked one up in his chopsticks, looked at it, and looked over at me with a blank expression. I just shrugged back.
The drive from Wuxi to Shanghai took around 2 hours. I have described driving here in much detail from previous trips so I won’t elaborate - its best to concentrate on something other than the road. I amused myself by ribbing Sam more about last night. “Sam, why was she going on about having a book report due?” “Shut up!”
It was nearly seven when we arrived at the hotel in Shanghai. Larry went on home, and after checking in and dropping off our bags, Raymond, Sam and I walked across the street for dinner (walked is a gross understatement – it is more like a live and dangerous version of the old arcade game “Frogger” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogger . The restaurant we chose is a Japanese style place with hibachi grills on the ground floor and a different venue upstairs which serves sushi, sashimi, and other Japanese and Chinese food. Raymond asked which we preferred – I felt I was pretty clear when I said “a chunk of meat cooked on a grill sounds pretty good right now”, Sam agreed, and Raymond, somehow missing this cue, led us upstairs away from the hibachis. I should have protested but I was too tired. Raymond ordered several dishes for us; some Salmon sashimi, tempura shrimp, sushi, and what looked like meat on a stick. I say it looked like meat, and it does – little bites of grilled chicken you would think if you saw it. I knew what this really was, but Sam went right for it. He took a bite and paused after starting to chew with a puzzled look he was attempting to mask. He commented to Raymond “This is good. What is it?” Raymond tried to describe it but the English words were escaping him. I waited until Sam took another bite and said “They are chicken knees”. Sam paused in mid bite for a few seconda, then continued chewing, trying to keep from laughing. Yes, a Chinese favorite – chicken knees. Specifically, just the cartilage from the knee and maybe a little meat and skin if you are lucky. I’ll bet the many KFC outlets in Shanghai serve them. I may have to check into this later.
We called it a night early. We have customers to visit in the morning and I need to get some ironing done.
Day 7 preview – the worst bar in Shanghai.
No comments:
Post a Comment