Friday, I worked my shift and looked forward to a nice goodbye dinner with my lovely manager Linda. Lunch was busy, and I helped a couple guests with their food orders and of course got to talking with them. I do so enjoy the conversations I have with the foreigners that come through Shangri-La. I get so much encouragement and positive feedback from them about my decision to come all the way out here, and stay away from home this long. I get to hear about their travels and war stories of being successful business men, or how they survived flying back and forth from home so much. It really does make what I do worth while.
When lunch ended I headed home to 'have a rest', watched some tv and did the normal linger online hoping someone wasn't tired and needed to chat at 3am thing. Around 5 I headed back to work.
Within 15 minutes of being at work, I ate two silkworms and made a baby go into hysterics. I don't think the two events coincided.
First off I didn't even do anything to that baby other than say hi, and maybe ask what his name was. Pretty sure when a baby waves at you, its saying 'hey be my friend'! Plus also, he did at some point tell me he liked me! So it kinda blew my mind when I walked away, came back out of the kitchen, and he dissolved into frightened tears when his eyes fell upon me.
I hid from that baby for an hour, too afraid to walk past his table lest he become beside himself again.
Silkworms are covered in a brown casing that much resembles wriggling poop. The first time I held one it was quite still, and I was not freaked out. The second time I held one "Twist and Shout" must've been playing in there, cuz that little dude was rockin' out. I freaked out.
It's a delicacy here to roast and salt this little guys, then delicately suck them out of the cocoon. I would advise not looking under the shell, and just closing your eyes while popping the whole thing in your mouth. Texture wise, I'd say its a cross between fried eggs and tofu, with a taste of...meat-ish. I enjoyed it, and as for the health benefits its got a ton of protein. So just for that...I'd eat one everyday! (Ok...not really)
Then, after much waiting and anticipation I got to "have a taste" of Nishimura's more popular dishes like grilled flat fish, salmon sushi, a sashimi set, some really intense wasabi that makes you wish your sinus never existed and soba noodles, which are cold served with a raw quail egg in a soy sauce. I feasted, drank the smoothly deceptive plum wine that went down like apple juice (but didn't have the effects of it).
Overall, I rate the food there from a scale of "1-YEE-UMMY", as a "YUMM"! *
Today we explored a new territory of China that we dared not thus far. We decided to go get our haircut. I don't know about you, but getting my hair cut in a foreign land (and its vital that all instructions are clearly understood), is a bit nerve wracking. Luckily for us, the place we ended up going to was also half a spa and they sedate you with hand and arm massages (then if it is a train wreck, you won't notice in your relaxed haze), a good shampoo and a nice beating on your shoulders with a hair brush. I'm not saying I hated it. Our attendees were these cute little metallic uniformed gals who giggled at our antics, and hit us on the arms with gentle yet decisive fists. I had no idea that we would get a full work up, so everything they did was a surprise and it made me startle into laughing.
I'll act it out in person at a later date, upon request.
The actual haircut was quick and, I think, very good. My guy did a once over, assessed my layers and quickly put my hair back into a groomed and healthy state. He even styled it, which was the undoing of our afternoon plans thereafter. My hair looked too good to do anything besides find a nice restaurant, sit there and have a fantastic head of hair. I have to enjoy these moments while they last, and let me tell you- having nice hair here is almost impossible without a personal assistant.
Before we head back to the States, we are planning on visiting again just to enjoy that cheap luxury one more time.
I also took more pictures of the places we go to, because I realized you have no idea what I see when I talk about Greenwich or what a lounging cop looks like. Also, I think I'll need to be able to see them again at some point...I might miss this place someday.
Tomorrow is my last day for Nishimura, then on to my third to last rotation: two weeks in Shang Palace. Time is a flyin' now.
*(official scale and trademarked) (patent pending)
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