Chuck surprised us today. He got his hair trimmed, that I knew about but today was as he put it Old Man day at the hair salon and he got color in his hair. He went out this morning to have breakfast with Johnny and he played Gangnam Style and Johnny and everyone else in the place knew the song, some even danced along with it. He got the hair color later when he went to the hair salon for a trim. Once there he saw other men getting color put in their hair and he decided to go for it. He was dying his hair in GA for a while but then stopped so this was unexpected. Nate opened the door for him today and he was speechless; not a normal thing for him either.
We went to Wanda Plaza and walked around on the third floor looking for a place to eat. We saw lots of restaurants that had lines of people waiting to eat there, always a good sign. We choose Ulike, a traditional noodle shop that was busy but not so busy that we would have to wait in a huge line for food. The noodle dish that we all got was very good and very spicy. My mouth felt like it was going to spontaneously combust from the spice. I also got a side dish of broccoli lightly steamed with garlic and butter or a light oil and served chilled. It was yummy. Chuck got a side that looked like parsley and some very hot and spicy black stringy thing. I’d say that they were saffron because of the shape but saffron is a yellow color so that is out, but that is what the black strings looked like. I forgot to take pictures of the food before we started eating so I don’t have a picture of the sides (they went fast) but all three of us got the same noodle dish. It was supposed to be stirred up so the broth at the bottom of the bowl will coat all the noodles. However, doing that made the entire dish way too hot to eat. A server came and mixed Chuck’s and he had a rough time eating it after that. Then another server came and wanted to mix Nate’s and mine. I put my hands up and covered both dishes and shook my head. He motioned that the dishes needed to be mixed (not on your life) and I motioned that I understood but we were eating them without stirring. That I paid for it should be enough to let you know that I will eat my food how I want. True to form, after the first round of drinks I went back and got more. The cashier wanted to have her picture taken with me. I guess they heard my songs on Youku.com…LOL I have pictures of the two servers that wanted pictures with me and then got our second round of drinks. After drinking two rounds of soda with our lunch we took a walk through the rest of Wanda Plaza, but as we were leaving I turned around and my new friend the cashier was waving and I waved back.
We were not disappointed on our walk. On the fourth floor of Wanda Plaza is a KTV or Karaoke TV and it is hugely popular in China. On the fifth floor is the IMAX box office. They have one on the third floor that has the times and everything but this is where you go to see the movies. They also had nice bathrooms. Still the squat toilets, but instead of just the porcelain hole in the ground it has a little hood over it so that when you use the toilet it stays in the toilet. This bathroom was well lit and not smelly. I had to use the bathroom on campus the other day and we were at the food area. That bathroom didn’t have light (it was 6pm) or if it did have light it was sound sensitive and who are you going to talk to in the WC? It was also less than nice smelling, not as bad as some I’ve come across but…
Anyway that is our Wanda Plaza adventure for today. As we were leaving today we waited outside of Starbucks for Chuck, a guy was whistling, Happy Birthday. I was taken back, that isn't a Chinese tune, but I think it was very fitting on this the 1st birthday of Wanda Plaza. Tonight for dinner we went American and made Mac & Cheese, fried canned meat (like Spam) and Pringles. Everything was manufactured here in China and since there is no mac & cheese box mixes like in the US we made our own cheese sauce with cheese from the dairy case here and pure milk. The pasta is bow tie pasta that is on the shelf here, not in the Foreign food isle but with all the other pasta that is eaten here. The Pringles are Chuck’s nod to home, but they were made here in China using potatoes from here.
We went to Wanda Plaza and walked around on the third floor looking for a place to eat. We saw lots of restaurants that had lines of people waiting to eat there, always a good sign. We choose Ulike, a traditional noodle shop that was busy but not so busy that we would have to wait in a huge line for food. The noodle dish that we all got was very good and very spicy. My mouth felt like it was going to spontaneously combust from the spice. I also got a side dish of broccoli lightly steamed with garlic and butter or a light oil and served chilled. It was yummy. Chuck got a side that looked like parsley and some very hot and spicy black stringy thing. I’d say that they were saffron because of the shape but saffron is a yellow color so that is out, but that is what the black strings looked like. I forgot to take pictures of the food before we started eating so I don’t have a picture of the sides (they went fast) but all three of us got the same noodle dish. It was supposed to be stirred up so the broth at the bottom of the bowl will coat all the noodles. However, doing that made the entire dish way too hot to eat. A server came and mixed Chuck’s and he had a rough time eating it after that. Then another server came and wanted to mix Nate’s and mine. I put my hands up and covered both dishes and shook my head. He motioned that the dishes needed to be mixed (not on your life) and I motioned that I understood but we were eating them without stirring. That I paid for it should be enough to let you know that I will eat my food how I want. True to form, after the first round of drinks I went back and got more. The cashier wanted to have her picture taken with me. I guess they heard my songs on Youku.com…LOL I have pictures of the two servers that wanted pictures with me and then got our second round of drinks. After drinking two rounds of soda with our lunch we took a walk through the rest of Wanda Plaza, but as we were leaving I turned around and my new friend the cashier was waving and I waved back.
We were not disappointed on our walk. On the fourth floor of Wanda Plaza is a KTV or Karaoke TV and it is hugely popular in China. On the fifth floor is the IMAX box office. They have one on the third floor that has the times and everything but this is where you go to see the movies. They also had nice bathrooms. Still the squat toilets, but instead of just the porcelain hole in the ground it has a little hood over it so that when you use the toilet it stays in the toilet. This bathroom was well lit and not smelly. I had to use the bathroom on campus the other day and we were at the food area. That bathroom didn’t have light (it was 6pm) or if it did have light it was sound sensitive and who are you going to talk to in the WC? It was also less than nice smelling, not as bad as some I’ve come across but…
Anyway that is our Wanda Plaza adventure for today. As we were leaving today we waited outside of Starbucks for Chuck, a guy was whistling, Happy Birthday. I was taken back, that isn't a Chinese tune, but I think it was very fitting on this the 1st birthday of Wanda Plaza. Tonight for dinner we went American and made Mac & Cheese, fried canned meat (like Spam) and Pringles. Everything was manufactured here in China and since there is no mac & cheese box mixes like in the US we made our own cheese sauce with cheese from the dairy case here and pure milk. The pasta is bow tie pasta that is on the shelf here, not in the Foreign food isle but with all the other pasta that is eaten here. The Pringles are Chuck’s nod to home, but they were made here in China using potatoes from here.