We finally settle into the hotel around 2pm. We’re all bonkers tired from traveling the past 30 hours but figured we needed to try and stay up so we could adjust to China time which is 16 hours ahead of PST. The area around the Conifer hotel is definitely not touristy – it’s very much a local ‘hood. Below the hotel is a ’super market’ so we head there to stock up on bottled water. Right away Mom and ‘Sis start shopping for ’stuff’ (which is to be expected as they have both elevated shopping into an Olympic sport.) The market was unusual to say the least…it was a subterreanean maze of ‘departments’ wholy unrelated to one another, all patch worked into one store. Each aisle it seemed was manned by a very attentive uniformed worker ready to spring to your aid in case you might have a question about the tube of toothpaste you just casually glanced at. The worker would immediately and loudly banter on and on…what I guessed was a sales pitch to the merits of that particular tube – I really didn’t know since I couldn’t understand a word of Mandarin. All I could do was smile shaking my head and back away. After that, I was careful not to touch or look at anything I didn’t have any intent on buying. And if there was something I wanted, I just figured I’d better grab and run. I didn’t get to tour the entire market – probably for the best as I was a bit spacey. I figure I’ll have time tomorrow to really check out the food sections.
We head back to the hotel and wander around til dinner. I check out the business center in search of internet connectivity. I luck out and find they have 2 computers complete with IE though in chinese. The connection is pretty slow but not bad for Y20 per hour ($2.50). We decide to have dinner at the hotel since we had no idea what the ‘hood had to offer. The Chinese restaurant on the 4th floor was closed for a wedding so we head to the ‘Village Coffee Shop’ to check out their buffet dinner for Y68 – with all the warm beer you can drink! The staff descend on us and hover over us like mama birds for the rest of our meal. We were tired and hungry so tried not to let the fact that there was only one other table bother us. The spread was in fact quite impressive – razor clams with garlic noodles, crab coated in some hot looking red stuff, chicken & abalone soup, 2 kinds of prawns, sichuan style fish, chicken and lamb, duck, rabbit, a dozen or more vegetables prepared various ways, lots of fresh fruit, a whole table of desserts and even pizza. Once we filled our plates we finally notice the place is decorated in a quite homey, Amish kind of way complete with pictures of the Pennsylvania countryside. Wow, look at those amber waves…We almost didn’t feel like we were in China.
Finally, we all grab our glasses of warm beer and toast to Patty and Vince’s last dinner where they can eat simultaneously. Tomorrow they will be parents to a 10 month old!
