A City of Two Tales, Beiging
Reef Fish
full of extreme contrasts, such as the meticulously clean restrooms
in modern hotels and the Beijing Airport as opposed to the hole in
the ground and no toilet paper facilities at one of the world's
greatest Tourist attractions of the Great Wall of China!
Food is another contrast. The cruise ship booked out one-night
stay in Beijing at one of the "5-star" hotels, the New Century Hotel
on the South side of the city. After our Great Wall tour, we weren't
all that hungry to want to spend 168 Yuen (plus 15% taxes) at the
buffet in the hotel (which comes to $21 USD per person plus
15% tax plus tips), my wife and I decided to venture to one of the
"local" restaurants (only half a block from the hotel), where the
only patrons (besides us) were Chinese and the menu was
completely in Chinese.
I was intrigued by the posted signs on the window outside of the
restaurant listing a number of dishes for 8 Yuens (almost the
exact equivalent of $1 USD). I immediately vetoed my wife's
idea of eating KFC chicken across the street! We didn't come
all this way to Beijing to eat Kentucky Fried chicken!
So, we fearlessly stepped into this local restaurant because
while my Mandarin is also as bad as the India Indian's English
in English, I can read the menu very well because that's the
common lauguage among dozens of dialects in China before
Mandarin was declared the official spoken language, while
90% of those who emigrated into other countries all over the
world speak Cantonese!
At that price, I figured the servings must be small -- besides,
I wanted to order something with chicken, beef, pork, and bean
curd -- so those were FOUR dishes I ordered, including the
well-known Ma Poo chicken dish in the US (hot pepper, with
peanuts, and diced chicken). To make a long story shorter,
that ONE dish would have filled us, and it was the most
delicious Ma Poo Kai Pen I've eaten in some time. The four
dishes (costing $4 USD) had enough to feed at least 8 very
hungry people, and as a result, we left 90% of our ordered
fook uneaten though we managed to finish about half of the
chicken dish!
That's a stark CONTRAST of the cost of FOOD between
those eaten by the locals and those eaten by tourists!
Well, it's time to catch the red-eye flight to go home, via
Cleveland and Atlanta!
-- Bob.
Uncle Peter
"Reef Fish" <Large_Nass...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1151823030.2...@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
> > At that price, I figured the servings must be small -- besides,
> I wanted to order something with chicken, beef, pork, and bean
> curd -- so those were FOUR dishes I ordered, including the
> well-known Ma Poo chicken dish in the US (hot pepper, with
> peanuts, and diced chicken). To make a long story shorter,
> that ONE dish would have filled us, and it was the most
> delicious Ma Poo Kai Pen I've eaten in some time. The four
> dishes (costing $4 USD) had enough to feed at least 8 very
> hungry people, and as a result, we left 90% of our ordered
> fook uneaten though we managed to finish about half of the
> chicken dish!
>
And, you're proud of the fact you were able to waste enough
food to feed "8 very hungry people"? How sad.
Reef Fish
What is sad is that someone like yourself can't think of anything
better to comment than the frivol you spewed.
That was not the first time, nor will it be the last time that I've
order more food than I can consume.
What make you think the food was wasted? Did it occur to you
that some of the workers there may take the left over food back
home for a feast by members of his family?
In any event, people in improverished countries don't WASTE
food like those in your neighborhood of Las Vegas. They
usually find ways to feed others or animals. The fact was that
I had paid for my food but I am under absolutely no obligation
to consume it, and I couldn't care less what some Uncle Peter
thinks about it.
-- Reef Fish Bob.
Ray
We made the same mistake in Hong Kong recently. We ordered Dim Sum
(they didn't have trolleys at this little locals only place) in the
quantities that we were used to in the US. For the four of us, there
was enough for us to share with the two more tables! And the flavors
were far superior to ANYTHING that we have found in the US or in the
Hong Kong tourist restaurants for that matter.
--
Ray Contreras
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Ray
> And, you're proud of the fact you were able to waste enough
> food to feed "8 very hungry people"? How sad.
>
>
Jeeze ... if he had eaten all of it, there wouldn't have been anything
left for those "hungry children in China" my mom always told me about.
How sad!
Reef Fish
Ray wrote:
> Uncle Peter wrote:
> > And, you're proud of the fact you were able to waste enough
> > food to feed "8 very hungry people"? How sad.
> >
> >
>
> Jeeze ... if he had eaten all of it, there wouldn't have been anything
> left for those "hungry children in China" my mom always told me about.
> How sad!
Thanks Ray, for your note of sanity to Uncle Peter.
My follow-up is mainly to correct MY typo of Beiging for Beijing
in the subject. :-)
-- Bob.
Uncle Peter
Bobbo, I'll bet you're the #370 guy I see in the Princess
buffet lines, balancing four plates full of food, while
wending your way to the table. But, I'm sure the
starving crew takes your leftovers back to their quarters
to enjoy! You sure like to give it, but you can't take it, eh?
Uncle Pete
Reef Fish
It's Dr. Bob, to YOU, too.
> I'll bet you're the #370 guy I see in the Princess
> buffet lines, balancing four plates full of food,
Having made a fool of yourself in your comment about the
$4 for four dishes I ordered in a local restaurant in Beijing,
you now turn to your impertinent and irrelevant #379 guy.
> while
> wending your way to the table. But, I'm sure the
> starving crew takes your leftovers back to their quarters
> to enjoy! You sure like to give it, but you can't take it, eh?
>
> Uncle Pete
Do you mean the guy like you who weighed 379 lbs? Sorry,
that's about twice my weight. As for food on the Princess
buffet, I have posted more than once that I LOST weight in
some of my Princess cruises, because as good as the food
on the Princess is (compared to some other crummy ships
that YOU like to cruise on), NEITHER eating nor drinking
is what I go on cruises for.
Get a LIFE, Uncle Pete. I pity and feel sorry for you.
-- Reef FIsh Bob.
Uncle Peter
>
> > It's Dr. Bob, to YOU, too.
>
Whatever, Booboo.
Uncle Pete
>
Uncle Peter
>
> Uncle Peter wrote:
>> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nass...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1151823030.2...@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
>> > I've
> order more food than I can consume.
>
NO DOUBT!!
> What make you think the food was wasted? Did it occur to you
> that some of the workers there may take the left over food back
> home for a feast by members of his family?
How thoughtful of you!
>
> In any event, people in improverished countries don't WASTE
> food like those in your neighborhood of Las Vegas. They
> usually find ways to feed others or animals.
Or OBESE tourists with a "yen" for buffets... You couldn't
afford the better dining establishments in LV, except for the
food courts or the buffet at the Klondike.
> I had paid for my food but I am under absolutely no obligation
> to consume it, and I couldn't care less what some Uncle Peter
> thinks about it.
Another UGLY AMERICAN leaves his mark on the world.
>
> -- Reef Fish Bob.
>