A Little Korea in China

I went into Chengdu again today. Mrs. Wong and I managed to make it onto the bus. It took us an hour to get to our destination, but luckily today was a cooler day, so we didn’t bake in the heat. Having taken the bus all the way to Chengdu, I suddenly feel a little more comfortable with the bus system here. I now know that if I get on the 309 or the 319 going east, I will end up at the bus station in Chengdu. Then, to go home, all I need to do is get to the bus station and get on either bus and it will take me straight home! Huzzah for simple bus routes!

This is me. 

On the bus.

I am smiling because I finally managed to secure a seat. Usually the bus is packed with almost nowhere to stand. However, the closer you get to Chengdu, the emptier the bus gets. Meaning, seats open up.

Mrs. Wong and I were going into town to meet up with Mr. Wong and some of the other teachers for dinner before going to the English corner. We got to the restaurant early, so we walked around the shopping center for a little bit. I am amazed at how many different places there are to shop here. We passed some wonderful little bakeries, and lots of expensive shops.

We then went to the restaurant, which turned out to be one of Mrs. Wong’s favorite places to go out to eat. Having never experienced Korean barbeque, I too was excited.

As we sat down, I noticed a grill sunken into the center of the table. We were then able to get up, walk around to different bins around the room and pick out whatever food we wanted to grill and eat. There were all kinds of meat, seafood, and vegetable options. There were also trays of food that had already been cooked along the wall. I decided that since this was a new experience, I had to try everything.

In this photo you can see the three things I decided to grill: onions, meat (it was labeled “brains,” but anyone could see that it wasn't, in fact, brains), and green beans. I also got some of the prepared food on my plate as well. We put the oil (in the container, to the left of the grill) on the food items, and then set whatever we wanted to cook on the grill. We were also given bowls of sauces and spices, but none of them tasted very appetizing to me.

This is a photo of the most delicious noodles I’ve ever eaten. I don’t know what kind they are, nor do I know what kind of spices were on them. All I know is I went back for seconds. Also on my plate are mushrooms wrapped in bacon, and a snail. I had never eaten a snail before, so I decided that today was the day that was going to change. However, once I got the meat out of the shell, I cringed. I said “It just looks unnatural.” My coworker then replied, “Actually, I think it’s just too natural. I could easily see that in a pile of leaves.” He did have a point. I didn’t eat it.

I am now going to take a moment to say I hate metal chopsticks. They are terrible. If I am given wooden ones, I am a chopstick master. Given metal ones and I am lucky if I can get anything into my mouth. Metal chopsticks are difficult to grip, and it’s near impossible to successfully pick up anything off of your plate. Especially if it is a slimy noodle.

To finish off our meal, we also had ice cream. However, the restaurant tricked me. I decided that I wanted a little bit of vanilla as well as chocolate ice cream. My first bite of vanilla definitely wasn’t vanilla. It was like a very bitter pineapple. Then I turned to the chocolate. One spoonful had me grasping for my water cup. It tasted like something that was trying to be mocha, but miserably failed. My coworkers told me that it was, in fact, supposed to be chocolate, but I didn’t believe them. It in no way resembled chocolate, except in color.

In the end it was a good dinner. And, it only cost 65 yuan ($10). This is a pretty good price, considering it was a buffet. I think I’d like to go back there sometime. However, I still have many other places I’d like to explore first.