Some items you may find interesting about our trip…
All of our breakfast meals have been in the hotel’s restaurant and have included typical western selections, eggs, bacon, ham, fruits along with typical Chinese selections, Wanton soup, fried noodles, etc. One Chinese selection that has been offered every morning we have, and will continue to turn down – Pig Blood Soup! Yuck.
Dinner last night had some unusual selections that we also decided to skip, such as Turtle Soup and Steamed Snake in Spicy Sauce. The Turtle Soup was a bowl with the turtle still in the shell. The Steamed Snake was large slices of snake that didn’t look to appealing.
Room service also has traditional western meals, cheeseburgers, fries, steak, etc., and the typical Chinese meals, sweet and sour chicken or pork, etc. Some of the "other" selections we don’t have courage to try are Braised Edible Bird’s Nest, Shark’s Fin with Rice, Marinated Goose Web, and Braised Sea Cucumber in Mushroom Sauce. Yummy!
In order to keep the electricity on in the room, you must leave your room key card in a slot next to the door. It took us several times of entering the room and having the electricity shut off before we promptly started putting the card in the slot. You only have about 1 minute to put the card in the slot before the electricity turns off. Escalators are also set to conserve electricity. If no one is on an escalator it moves very slow but as soon as you step on it, it will take off.
This morning I had to make a grocery-shopping trip. I’m still not getting used to folks cutting in front of me while at the counter but at least I don’t get irritated; it is their custom. While in the grocery store, I got mobbed by a group of about 6 young Chinese girls. They were so thrilled about trying out their English speaking skills with me. It was quite amusing and made me feel like I was a rock star.
In China, teachers give English names to the students when they start taking English lessons, which I found interesting. I thought it was pretty impressive that here I am in a Chinese grocery store talking to these young ladies who were so eager to try their English with me, yet when they asked me, "Do you speak Chinese," sadly, I could only say no. China obviously is encouraging their people towards learning English, which is a smart move on their part.
When ordering a "pot" of coffee, it is best to order 6-12 since a pot of coffee is about the same size as a regular coffee cup.
Perhaps the strangest item of all is split pants for toddlers. As you can see, the split pants worn by this little one is a bit unusual for us. The idea is it enables the little one to do their thing whenever they need and walking barefoot in the park is not advised.
