China, Days 3 & 4: Fish Heads, Fishing, and Fishiness

Okay, I just thought that would be a funny title - and in truth I guess you can find all three in this post.

Days 3 and 4 in Dalian, China have been fairly relaxing - our family spent some more time at home or just doing a little shopping, and less time eating huge meals. Recently, I had dropped in weight back down to about 145 - but after a few days in China, my weight has jumped back to about 150!

On Sunday, my Dad's secretary Toni and her husband took us out to have a "hot pot" lunch where you cook your own meats in a large boiling pot of water. Half was non-spicy and the other half was fairly spicy. I think because of the tameness of the spicy foods here, I'm actually beginning to appreciate spicy meals!

One of the specialties of this hot pot restaurant was the... fish head, which I will say I have never had before. They literally cut fish heads in half, and placed it into the boiling pot. The servers would then fish them out and serve them to you. I definitely avoided the eyes and I guess the brain, but did eat the rest of the head (which is supposed to be the most tender part of a fish by the way). This was definitely a meal I would not find often in the United States - nor would I try to I think. Otherwise, we had lots of lamb and other meats, and the meal overall was extremely good! =)

Next, we went to a local place for some shopping. I'll have pictures eventually on facebook of the shopping experiences, but I can just say the shops and thew ay they were oriented really reminded me of Chinatown in how they were packed in. As always, there are TONS of fake items as expected. For example in the photos above, you can find some Converse All-Stars, fake enough that you can tell they literally seemed to stick the logo on the shoes. Then there are Dolce & Gabanna shoes.

Even as left the shopping area and took a taxi, I looked below my feet to find... you got it... LOUIS VUITTON FLOOR MATS! Amazing, right?

We ended the evening with a nice bowl of Laksa (Singaporean style with coconut) noodles that my dad cooked (from prepackaged powder) at home.

On Monday in Dalian, we actually ate at home. My dad had made some stewed Ox Tail with a pressure cooker (amazing how quickly it cooks things) and the cook had helped with a few veggie items. Basically the whole company (only 3 others anyhow) came over and ate lunch before we headed out.

We got a small tour of my dad's office - which is located in central Downtown Dalian, in a new building in town that was still practically empty. What's interesting is that the zone is basically both residential and commercial, so while for my dad is his company this was their office, next door someone was using their space as a home.

On the bottom floor of the office are shops for Louis Vuitton, Armani, etc. Amazing because I wonder how people sell the real purses when it seems like fake ones supposedly float around town underground all the time!

Hmm... who's drinking on the job? (Coronas on the door shelf)

My dad and Andy, the driver/computer tech/etc.

My desk doesn't look anything like this back at home. =P

Afterwards, we spent some time touring around Dalian and visiting the beach. My dad noted that this area we went to is basically a "Camp David" of China - a spot for the President and Prime Minister to visit in off times. There were some great views of the shoreline and things all around. We also got a chance a windy road with some nice views, and stopped to check out some individuals doing some fishing off the cliff. Amazing that they can fish from so far up!

 My mom went searching for rocks and brought 3 back with her.

This is a famous quote by Mao Zedong - I have no idea what it says though!

Talk about a traditional looking phone booth!

Some nice views that I picked up just here and there on our route.

Here is where they were fishing from way up high. As you can see, it's a long way down! From the last photo, you can't see the fish, but it's actually IN his left hand. They certainly weren't catching for food as much as they must've been catching for fun, at least considering the tiny size of the fish he had caught. We watched him put this one into a bag with at least a dozen others!

Finally, we ended the day by going back into town and doing a little more shopping. My mom found a few souvenirs for friends while I found this hat. Russian style... or Chinese style... either way my Dad said it would look more realistic if there was a big red star on the front of it.

Well, Day 5 has been uneventful and we're heading off for lunch and then Beijing soon! For now I'm all caught up and I guess you'll hear from me later!

China, Day 2: Noodles & Hot Pot

I am actually just barely trying to catch up in my posts about the trip so far as I'm already in Day 5 here in Dalian, China. However, the last two days have not been as exciting necessarily, and so hopefully I will be able to condense them in the next post.

On our second day here though, we again had quite a lot of food! We woke up at a fair time (10am or so on a Saturday) and I've been happy to have felt not too many effects of jetlag despite the 16 hour time difference! Perhaps this is because we flew out on a red-eye flight and I felt like I got a fair amount of sleep, and thus with the time changes, I felt like I landed when I woke up (plus or minus a few hours =P).

Our first destination Saturday was to a nice noodle restaurant in Dalian where they make all of their own noodles in house. Again, the menu was pretty much just a big room where you walk around and look at all the items they make and pick the ones you want. Aside from noodles, we had a number of side dishes with the meal - like dumplings (I'll have photos on facebook at a later date).

Here, they are making two different types of noodles by hand.

Sea Urchin? Anyone?

At this point, I was politely asked not to take any photos in the restaurant - the second time actually since I had been told the same thing the night before. It only applies to the menu portion of the restaurant, but afterwards, my dad and Andy took me around and told me to take photos. It was much easier for them to wave off the servers then - I guess it all depends on your attitude and how you ask? Again, I'm a bit hesitant in China and try not to piss anyone off - might be cause my Chinese is extremely poor. =P

Top: Scissor-Cut Noodles (direct translation) - they literally cut the noodles out using scissors from a small block. It was interesting to watch...

Bottom: One-Strand Noodles (the ones that I had) - you can barely see in the photo, but they literally take a very thick strand of noodles, then stretch it thin as they throw it into the pot. You can see the thick strand on the left and the fast moving thin strand on the right. The noodle is literally one single strand in a bowl.

Top: My bowl of noodles after adding some sauce and meat.

Bottom: Me trying to show that it really is one strand of noodles - my dad challenged me to find one end and eat my way to the other end. Suffice to say, I couldn't untangle the whole bowl.

My parents and I in the restaurant - you can see a whole bunch of different teapots in the shelves behind us.

After our lunchtime noodle adventure, we actually headed out and did a little grocery shopping at a place called Metro. Andy noted to me that things are a little pricier here, but my Dad shops here mainly to find imports of things he enjoys, as well as because it's like a Super Walmart in that it has literally... everything. I saw things from toilet scrubbers to Tabasco to... frogs.

As you might guess, the tanks above are turtles and frogs - and they're not in there to be raised. No we didn't buy any...

After shopping, we visited a more touristy site in Dalian - a commemoration to I think 100 years of... the city? It was freezing cold that day and so I didn't pay as much attention as they talked about where we were going. I just snapped some photos and we walked around a little bit. This was probably the first point where I began to question whether I'd have enough warm clothes in layers to survive a visit to the Great Wall later this week (still wondering). More photos on facebook later.

The above photo is of my Dad's rented company car that Andy drives. I guess as business improves in the next year they might buy a car instead. Believe it or not, there are no car rental programs really in Dalian, at least not for the long term, and so this is actually ridiculously expensive. I'll try to do a post on cars, parking, traffic, and more later.

After traveling around a bit, we actually headed over to the movie theaters - where we watched the movie 2012 (in English with Chinese subtitles) in a fairly packed movie theater. The movie was pretty good actually, albeit extremely unrealistic obviously in the way the family escapes... everything. What was interesting at the movie theater was that so many people love Hollywood movies and therefore will watch them in English and have to read the subtitles.

Also, seating was done in a way that would make tons of sense even in the US. Instead of a mad rush to get into the theater and pick the seat you want, seats are actually assigned when you purchase your ticket, much like a concert typically in the states. Even so, everyone seemed to pack the line to get in and get a seat, but at least you can rest assured knowing that you can show up 5 minutes before and still have the seat you bought your ticket for. Movie prices are still about $8 or $9 US, though again that's a bit more in Dalian considering the standard of living.

After eating, we enjoyed another great meal in the city - a special "spicy food" place called "Mala 100%". For those who speak Chinese, the word might make sense. For those who don't, it translates to something like "numb & spicy". I discovered though that people in Dalian, China don't eat very much in spicy foods, and so I found it all to be quite bearable - perhaps it's the training from all the Korean food I've had in California. =P

No "live" menu ordering this time.

In the photos above, a lot of the food was actually cooked in boiling bowls of oil (it's not soup). When you pulled the shrimp out example from the big bowl (photo 1), it was crisp and spicy. The enoki mushrooms that came with it were extremely good (photo 2). Photo 3 was a bowl of fish in oil again, though it was originally cooked with a huge number of chili's that were scooped out into the bowl on the right. Finally, there was a huge crab that was one of spicier items of the evening, though since you get the meat in small amounts, it was definitely bearable.

We ended the night visiting a spot up in the hills overlooking downtown Dalian and got a nice nighttime view of the city.

On the way home, we passed by this big lighted ball in the middle of a large traffic circle. They asked that I take a photo, so I did. Check out the huge lighted KFC on the right though. =P There are lots of KFCs here!