Advertisement
Dinner at McDonalds while I’m in China!? Why yes you have lost my interest in continuing the night with your dinner party. I think I’d sooner eat at a Chili’s in Mexico, oh wait that scandal of a memory actually happened. Fortunately for me this time around no such indignity would be repeated as I follow directions and signed up for the optional evening trip to visit the Red Tent Night Market in Guilin. With those who went we graded some dinner along delicious street (not sure it this is the true translation or a tourist defined name) downtown beforehand. We were also fortunate enough to catch the hotel waterfall in operation, it only runs at night for a relatively short duration. What happens is the hotel, which has an all glass slanted front side, just runs water from the top to the bottom as a city attraction. It was pretty neat, apparently it attracts a lot of people to the location for the start of the waterfall. Which I think would be cool to witness.
So it went down a little like this. Everyone was gathered downstairs in the lobby space planning to go to this night
DSC04005
Chinese yuan market visit but no one except me in my group had signed the sheet intending to go. At the expected departure time no péngyou came downstairs to meet us and guide us through the public bus transportation ride. A couple minutes go by then a small group lead by Chinese péngyou’ Icy (English name) came down. She recognized me from another prior outing and informed me she was leading the night market visit and asked if I was coming with her group. Having not had dinner yet I still wanted to do that so I was trying to figure out what the VT group was doing for food. My thinking was we could all just tag along regardless of the fact that they hadn’t signed up and just find dinner once downtown. However someone had it their head that making a night out of going to McDonalds would be a better idea and apparently everyone else was too easily swayed, it’s almost tragic. And like a levee once broken the flow can’t stop and only grows bigger. They’ve all returned to McDonalds a few times, hit up a KFC twice or more, and there’s been chatter of going to Pizza
Hut. Granted the Pizza Hut here is nice, unlike any in American, it’s actually a rather upscale sit-down place. I’ve only pasted it once but looking in it had white clothed tables, sparkling glasses, and enough silverware to send Jon Stewart into a rampage. In any case I hear they have some unique pizzas but overall the quality is no different than in America. Come on people I know we’re eating noodles and rice every day, multiple times generally, sometimes even in the same meal, but really you’re going to go out for American fast food in China. I’ll admit I’m not psyched by every meal either, but I just already do my best to avoid fast-food in the states so while I’m here I really have no interest.
So everyone left the building at the same time. The VT crowd went ahead to McDonalds and then returned to CLI, exciting right? Well I think I’ve played the part of the cultural experience snob here online enough, I’m sure they all had their fun. I mean I just got a bowl of noodles on delicious street, maybe a visit to Chinese McDonalds would fill in part of the cultural experience who am I to judge?
After grabbing food I walked around with Icy and the five other people with us through the night market. Looked at a bunch of different things trying to get my bargaining game set right for the seven story market we visit in Beijing were as my roommate says the legends are born. I don’t know I’m probably a little too easy going. Maybe it’s just because when I think about it it’s like it was in Mexico, “I’m just flushed in Yuan”. Nah, not at all.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.044s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb