Oysters on the Half Shell

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Today, China was at its best.
On both ends of the food spectrum.

I started out my day by heading to Shangri-La with Stacy and Alison. Shangri-La is as fancy as it sounds. I felt underdressed. But this is China, so who cares.
They have a brunch buffet... with western food. All you can eat for three and a half hours for $30. Expensive, yes, but really, look at my pictures and tell me you can do better in the States or Canada.
For all that time, I drank real coffee (an expensive, hard to find, luxury item in China), and feasted on: made from scratch waffles with cherries, whipped cream, and sliced almonds; made to order pasta, shrimp, caprese salad, real swiss cheese, seasoned french fries, shrimp roles, pumpkin cream soup, crab, sushi, skewers, perfect fish, oysters on the half shell with tomato garlic salsa, 2 kinds of chocolate fountain with fruit and sweets, and desserts that I can only dream about. And that's only what I ate. Alison and Stacy both had stuffed beef tenderloin, pork dumplings, sausages wrapped in succulent bacon, real salad (hard to come by here), foods I can't describe or name, and oolong tea made with whole tea leaves.
They have so many (English speaking!) staff that you can't carry your own food to your table, nor stand around waiting--you must go sit down, or run the risk of getting someone in trouble. When you got up to get a new plate, not only was your place cleared, but they refolded your napkin in a triangle and set in on a plate that seemed to have no other purpose.

Sufficed to say: we came; we conquered; we ate.

And we were so close we could almost touch Hong Kong. Had we been thinking this morning, we would have brough our passports.

After all of that, we were tired (think Thanksgiving food coma) and went home to nap around 3-4 (ie. we left at 3, got home around 4).

I messaged Bart a bit after 8 to ask if he was tutoring in my area tomorrow am and would be breakfasting across the street. He's now moved his tutoring gig to Friday nights, but invited me out to Hua Qiang Bei, an area known for its electronics. He asked if I wanted to meet up since he was shopping for a new cell phone. I sprinted for the bus like I've never sprinted before--at least, not since elementry school. I didn't know I had it in me!
After some confustion, which included a lack of text messages, a lack of correct information about which subway stop I should get off on, etc, I finally made it. He already had a new phone (his developed an attitude and would only let him text message, no calling allowed!). We walked for a bit, and then went in to check out translators. I'm in the market for one. Some are pretty cool-- you can use a stylus to write the characters and it translates for you. They're not cheap, but it would be very useful and practical. And really, if I'm going to really learn this language, I need all the help I can get.

The store closed and we left, found a corner store that was closing and got 2 beer for Y10. We sat outside, sipped, realized we were running short on time to catch the last subway home, and left. In China, there is no open container law. You can walk down the street, beer in hand, drinking, and it's ok. You might get the occasional odd look, but that's mostly because you're white and you're not using a glass.

We made our train. The one running the opposite direction had stopped running, so we were lucky.

We got off at our stop and started walking. Not too far from him there is a very lively neighborhood. I was still quite full from brunch, but who cared. We found a street food vendor with a good variety and beer. We ordered some grilled chicken skewers and ...grilled oysters on the half shell. The oysters were better than the ones I had at lunch and only Y2 a piece. That's right, 2/7 of a dollar a piece. Eat your heart out. I did.
We (well, Bart) had originally ordered 4 skewers and 3 oysters. I wanted more, since he had eaten more than I. He said, "Sure, but you're going to have to work for it." We looked up oyster on his translator, and I did it. He told me he was proud. I think I believe him.
In total, we spent Y25 fro 8 oysters, 4 skewers, and 2 liters of beer. Go for it, do the math and hate me.

We left, wandered, bought bamboo (Y2 for one, which we had cut in half and was still huge). I guess you chew on it, and then spit out the roughage. It was different, kind of tasty in a ... different sort of way. Bart didnt' care for it, but I liked it.
We wandered, ran across a few... places with girls waiting for "dates" and wandered some more. Some of the girls looked bored, some looked timid. Bart (jokingly, folks) asked me if I was interested in one of the girls, the one laying on the sofa. I told him I didn't like her tights and fishnets would have been better.

We walked back to the main road, where he helped me figure out how to say where I live (since I'm next to a big shopping area, it's easier to use that when talking to cabbies, and I only know the English for it). I actually talked to the cabbie, and tried to negotiate, but he talked really fast and used words I didn't know, so I asked Bart for help. I got home, safe and sound for Y25, a fair price.

Tomorrow I'm meeting Bart for lunch and to go to the company he "doesn't" tutor through. Because we don't do that. That's against the rules. And this will be the last you hear about it from me on here.

I want more oysters. I think Grandpa would be pleased.

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Photos

Let's Eat!
me and my crab

Mr. Crab, aka, brunch
I think he's saying hello. And please don't eat me.

My dessert plate
Chinese creme brulee, a cherry and cream and crust delight, and a mandrin orange and raspberry experience with orange flavored decoration

Regular and dark chocolate
You could dip pineapple, marshmellow, puff pastry, or fudgie brownie

The waffle, pancake, and dessert chef makers/servers
These guys kept everything filled (dessrts) and ready made to order (waffles and pancakes).

Stairs to the lobby
We watched many people on these stairs and on these balconies. It made for some intersting and enteraining viewing while we dined.