June 16, 2007
Dalian (CHINA)
Showing Friends Around Dalian and a Sichuan Face-Change Performance
I answered a call at 9:00am this morning from the group of Qingdao REU students who are visiting Dalian for the weekend. Despite being out on the town until the early early hours of the morning, I pulled myself together and arranged to meet them at Dalian's famous Xinghai Square. We spent an hour enjoying the fine weather (consistently upper-70s with a cool ocean breeze) and the kind of relaxed atmosphere one finds on Saturday-mornings at the park. Shortly afterward, the remaining REU students arrived and we formed a mob of 15 people - taking over buses, sidewalks, and restaurants in the process.
We ate lunch at a 6th story restaurant smack in the middle of downtown Dalian. Despite the fine interior decor and attentive service the restaurant was an unbelievable bargain at only USD$3/person. Unfortunately, ordering for a table of seven or eight people entails leaning toward the side of safety when selecting dishes. I often feel like I need to visit each restaurant twice - once to enjoy the company I am with and once more to sample the unique specialties that make new restaurants worthwhile.
After lunch there was the kind of indecision that inevitably strikes groups so large, so I decided to continue working on my Tokyo accommodations rather than tour the Xinghai waterfront. I have been been under a lot of stress over the past couple weeks as I struggle to organize the many logistical inconveniences in my life. It is the 'price of admission' for such opportunities, I suppose.
At
6:00pm I took a bus to one of China's famous Sichuan
restaurant chains - Ba Guo Bu Yi (巴国布衣）.
These restaurants specialize in 1) China's spiciest
dishes, and 2) Face-Changing (变脸）
performances. I first saw a face-changing show when I
was in
Shanghai, and I thought it would be great if the
other students had the opportunity to experience it. I
booked a reservation for the evening, but I never
expected we would receive VIP treatment in a room that
included: our own plasma-screen television, lounging
couches, private staff, and a bathroom complete with a
western toilet and (**shock for China**) toilet paper.
Sadly, the toilet mysteriously over-flowed at one point, but such things happen from time to time in China.
The actual face-changing performance paled in comparison to that of Shanghai - which included a full stage, fire breathing, bone-rattling music, and a twenty minute performance that had the entire restaurant on its feet. I have heard there are only a handful of "masters" who can effectively perform the mysterious face-change (the dancer wears a thin cloth-like mask that changes colors and design in a flash), and from tonight's experience they don't reside in Dalian!
After dinner we walked around nearby parks, and when a local gave me a free shuttle-cock I decided to knock it around for a while. A shuttle-cock is similar to a hacky-sack, but there are large feathers for balance and a spring-loaded surface for contact.
I opted not to go out with the REU students for a night of partying because I will meet a group of HP employees tomorrow morning at 7:20am. Scarlett was kind enough to put me in touch with her friend (an HP employee), but I am somewhat nervous because I have never met anyone who will be going. A wise man once advised me to "always do what makes me afraid," so off I go tomorrow morning.
** I will keep said person's identity secret to keep his/her ego in check **
