- sorry for the delay - solid meetings at work all week...
Monday, November 10,
2014
At breakfast in the hotel, the dining room manager made his
daily stop at my table to see if there was anything that I needed. I talked about the fantastic buffet that I
had last night there – particularly the seafood. He thanked me and stated that he would be
sure to bring me a delicious Vietnamese lobster tail for me to try the next
time I choose to dine in – how nice!
I’ll tell you this, if the hotel wasn’t grand enough on its own, the
service here is simply the best I have ever received. From the moment I exit the elevator near the
lobby, no less than 5 workers greet me, some by first name. Kind of nice to be one of the first from our
company to do an extended stay here – as they are really taking care of me here. I really do feel fortunate to get to
experience this.
For lunch, three of us ate in the software park facility at
a newer restaurant. Of note were the
cool bamboo cups – they can’t last all that long, but are pretty neat. The food was standard faire with beef slices
and beef lung. Other bowls were pork
chunks (w/ plenty of fat), cabbage like leaves, and another place of green
veggies – all fairly tasty.
After work, we took a cab to the Wanda mall near Winson’s
home where we went up to the 3rd level where maybe 40 restaurants
were located (yup – it’s a big mall, and less than one year old too). The menu looked more like a small book, with
no less than 50 full color pages of a wide variety of foods. This place had an interesting twist in that
they put a large hourglass on our table after we ordered and Winson explained
that if the food was not delivered in time, it would be 50% off. Needless to say, the food was promptly
delivered and no discount was earned.
For dinner, we started with some spicy stomach and believe it or not,
the meal got better was we went along.
The next item to arrive was a hot and sour soup – very close to US
style, although a bit tastier – my son Adam would have eaten the entire
bowl. Next was another large soup bowl –
this time absolutely loaded on top with very hot spices (I recognized them from
previous dinners). I was all set to say
that I would be unable to even try the soup as it would have killed me on the
spot – but, just then, the waiter came by and carefully scooped out all of the
hot spices as it was explained that is standard for this dish at this
restaurant. He loaded my place with what
was buried in the soup – some sort of white material, but I couldn’t be sure
what. Winson explained that it was just
a white fish. I gave it and go, and
while at the upper end of my personal spice/heat limit, the fish was actually
quite delicious. Finally, the plate that
I picked out arrived – actually in a small wooden bucket – it was shrimp coated
in some cooked syrup with various spices.
The flavor ended up being a very nice BBQ taste, with the only possible
downsides being you eat the shrimp whole (except the very end of the tail) –
shell and all. Of course, the entire
head of the shrimp was there too – the tastiest part, actually – no kidding! This was actually one of the very best meals
of my trip so far.
Walking through the mall we stopped in a Chinese book-type
store and some interesting memorabilia was acquired. We then went through the equivalent of a
Super-Walmart and headed to the grocery section to have me pick up some snacks
for the hotel. It is there that it
really hit me… This mall, just one of
many huge and brand new malls in Dalian, are of a caliber that we just do not
see any more in the US. It is actually
beginning to remind me of Singapore – things are brand new, surprisingly high
quality, with an excitement and energy in the air that we are simply lacking
back home – sorry all – you just have to see this place to really believe
it. Sure, the majority of the city is
not this nice, but that is true of most places in the world. The point is, there is a fabulous wealth
growing in this city – and, of course the country. What I see here is a hunger in everyone to do
their best knowing there is a personal reward for doing so – weather it be
wealth and even health. While the young
dominate the mall scene, the older are out in huge numbers exercising, almost
constantly – either walking up the hiking trail that I tackled over the weekend,
or swimming in the sea at sunrise outside my hotel – this place is not for the
sedentary. I am noticing the large
numbers of high end cars – not just high end car dealers – the marina full of
yachts, the expensive condos going up everywhere. Anyway, I picked up some dried fruit, and
some almond snacks and left the gleaming mall to take a taxi back to the hotel.
One out of place note with regards to exercise that I must
mention… With the large number of old
folks out and about exercising, I noticed an interesting thing; that is, I
fairly regularly see the over 60 group on walking trails doing something
peculiar – walking BACKWARDS. Strange,
but true, it seems that they are attempting to preserve their body by walking
backwards to wear different parts. Weird.
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