Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A Quarter Century
Around 1:00 AM our train departed for Jinan. Francesca and I had gotten quite tired after the long day, so sleep was not a problem, even with snoring Chinese people all around. We arrived that morning around 8:45 AM and made our way straight to the Home Inn, a pretty decent hotel Francesca had pre-booked. We both ended up lying down for a while. But since we hadn’t had anything to eat Francesca went on a mission to find food. She returned a good 30 minutes later with a big bag of goodies. We shared a sumptuous sweet & sour fish with rice and fish and pork dumplings. The fish was especially yum, even though eating it with chopsticks was quite a challenge. I also got some really cool birthday cards! I love surprises!
After our brunch Francesca more or less passed out. I let her sleep and spent some time working on our blog, which we’ve had a bit of trouble keeping up with. Blogger is actually blocked in China, so posting has to happen through my mother. Furthermore, we don’t have that much time to write since we do so much and spent much of our time either out in the city or talking to our host(s). It was nice to get some work done! In the mean time Francesca had woken up and disappeared to plan the evening.
Late in the afternoon we had a lovely shower and got dressed for things to come. Francesca had left me completely in the dark, but I knew I had to dress nicely. Around 6:00 PM we stepped outside the Home Inn and found ourselves a taxi. With the help of written out directions we drove in an unknown direction. Roughly 20 minutes later we arrived at this gigantic building with traditional Chinese architecture called Yu Chi Palace. Ah, dinner for two!
A little bit of confusion arose when we entered and Francesca said she’d reserved a table. The receptionist kept saying our room was ready. Instead of asking more questions we just ended up following the hostess and it didn’t take long for the riddle to be solved. We had our private room with a table set up just for us! We later learned that this is in fact the way the entire restaurant is run. Pretty cool to have your own room and your own waiters! We did get a little bonus though: birthday balloons which the staff had hung up all around our room. We saw the room was called ‘Yi Dian Yuan’, which, we later learned, means something along the lines of ‘Western Eden.’ We’d gotten this room because it referenced the West. Laowai (foreigners) were apparently quite rare at the restaurant as we were giggled at and pointed out by some of the staff outside the hotel.
The waitresses brought us several snacks to start off with. We were unsure what to think of the large selection of unknown vegetables and yellow plums, but the peanuts were a good appetizer. Next came the difficult task of choosing our main dishes. Since the restaurant only served family style we had to find some dishes that would appease both our appetites. One of the waitresses recommended sweet yams in honey with watermelon, which we both thought sounded delicious. We also ordered a large bowl of sautéed chicken in sauce that came with bread rolls. A bit of an unknown was the swan egg with garlic flavor, but I was ready to try something exotic. We also got some drinks and eagerly anticipated the arrival of the food.
It didn’t take long for the honeyed yams to arrive. We had a bit of difficulty picking up the slippery pieces of yam, but they were well worth the effort. We both really loved the combination of the sweet yam with the honey, and the watermelon soaked up the honey perfectly as well. The rest of the food didn’t take long to arrive either. Soon we were both dining in heaven. Francesca was making little sandwiches with her bread rolls and chicken, whilst I tried the swan eggs. I tried the first one and thought the strings of see-through food were noodles. I got confused but enjoyed the flavors. Swan, not sure though? Francesca tried a little as well but didn’t find the food to her liking. I ended up eating both delicacies! I later asked the waitress and she explained I’d just finished two swan sliced fetuses. Excuse me?
An hour into dinner we had another amusing incident. I was fishing around in the bowl of chicken and found a rather large piece that I put on my plate. It felt hard, but since the Chinese don’t debone their chicken (ever!) I figured it would just require a little more work to get to the meat. As I put the chunk down I saw a little face staring at me… I’d gotten the head of the chicken! Unfazed by this new challenge I picked up the head, ate the gizzard and the other loose skin. Francesca had a try because I asked her to, but she was too scared! Did make for an amusing picture! And if you thought I stopped at the gizzard, think again! I had heard before the brain is considered a delicacy so I broke open the skull and ate the contents of the skull. Not bad!
Francesca had figured out by then we’d literally gotten the entire chicken in our bowl. She fished out the kidneys and heart which I also devoured. Kidney is not as scary as it sounds, but the taste is not to write home about. The heart was a little squishy, but quite flavorful. We managed to finish pretty much all of the food and absolutely loved all of it. Francesca did have one little surprise in store for me! A delicious fruit cake (no cake, all fruit) appeared on the table! The heart-shaped pieces of watermelon were huge and were accompanied by slices of orange, as well as cherry tomatoes and a lychee. I’m pretty sure I ate the majority of the watermelon!
Sadly, birthday dinner had to come to an end. However, we were not done with the restaurant. One of the waitresses thought it would be cool to show us around the restaurant. She took us to a gigantic chair in the lobby where I got to play king. We also had our picture taken in the kitchen. We were surrounded by glass tanks and aquariums filled with fish and turtles. The walls around us were literally covered in photos of the different dishes the restaurant served. No wonder ordering had been such a daunting experience! Francesca and I also got to see the private rooms for business meetings and even the wedding room. Our tour of the place ended here and we said our goodbyes to the wonderful staff. They’d arranged a taxi for us which meant we were swiftly taken back to the Home Inn.
Since Jinan didn’t have much else to offer we decided to skip town for a day and worked on our plans for the day of the tomorrow. My 25th birthday had a quiet ending, which was lovely after all the antics of the previous weeks. I am now officially a quarter century old!
P.S. Thanks to everyone for their lovely birthday-wishes, be it through mail or Facebook. They were all greatly appreciated!
After our brunch Francesca more or less passed out. I let her sleep and spent some time working on our blog, which we’ve had a bit of trouble keeping up with. Blogger is actually blocked in China, so posting has to happen through my mother. Furthermore, we don’t have that much time to write since we do so much and spent much of our time either out in the city or talking to our host(s). It was nice to get some work done! In the mean time Francesca had woken up and disappeared to plan the evening.
Late in the afternoon we had a lovely shower and got dressed for things to come. Francesca had left me completely in the dark, but I knew I had to dress nicely. Around 6:00 PM we stepped outside the Home Inn and found ourselves a taxi. With the help of written out directions we drove in an unknown direction. Roughly 20 minutes later we arrived at this gigantic building with traditional Chinese architecture called Yu Chi Palace. Ah, dinner for two!
A little bit of confusion arose when we entered and Francesca said she’d reserved a table. The receptionist kept saying our room was ready. Instead of asking more questions we just ended up following the hostess and it didn’t take long for the riddle to be solved. We had our private room with a table set up just for us! We later learned that this is in fact the way the entire restaurant is run. Pretty cool to have your own room and your own waiters! We did get a little bonus though: birthday balloons which the staff had hung up all around our room. We saw the room was called ‘Yi Dian Yuan’, which, we later learned, means something along the lines of ‘Western Eden.’ We’d gotten this room because it referenced the West. Laowai (foreigners) were apparently quite rare at the restaurant as we were giggled at and pointed out by some of the staff outside the hotel.
The waitresses brought us several snacks to start off with. We were unsure what to think of the large selection of unknown vegetables and yellow plums, but the peanuts were a good appetizer. Next came the difficult task of choosing our main dishes. Since the restaurant only served family style we had to find some dishes that would appease both our appetites. One of the waitresses recommended sweet yams in honey with watermelon, which we both thought sounded delicious. We also ordered a large bowl of sautéed chicken in sauce that came with bread rolls. A bit of an unknown was the swan egg with garlic flavor, but I was ready to try something exotic. We also got some drinks and eagerly anticipated the arrival of the food.
It didn’t take long for the honeyed yams to arrive. We had a bit of difficulty picking up the slippery pieces of yam, but they were well worth the effort. We both really loved the combination of the sweet yam with the honey, and the watermelon soaked up the honey perfectly as well. The rest of the food didn’t take long to arrive either. Soon we were both dining in heaven. Francesca was making little sandwiches with her bread rolls and chicken, whilst I tried the swan eggs. I tried the first one and thought the strings of see-through food were noodles. I got confused but enjoyed the flavors. Swan, not sure though? Francesca tried a little as well but didn’t find the food to her liking. I ended up eating both delicacies! I later asked the waitress and she explained I’d just finished two swan sliced fetuses. Excuse me?
An hour into dinner we had another amusing incident. I was fishing around in the bowl of chicken and found a rather large piece that I put on my plate. It felt hard, but since the Chinese don’t debone their chicken (ever!) I figured it would just require a little more work to get to the meat. As I put the chunk down I saw a little face staring at me… I’d gotten the head of the chicken! Unfazed by this new challenge I picked up the head, ate the gizzard and the other loose skin. Francesca had a try because I asked her to, but she was too scared! Did make for an amusing picture! And if you thought I stopped at the gizzard, think again! I had heard before the brain is considered a delicacy so I broke open the skull and ate the contents of the skull. Not bad!
Francesca had figured out by then we’d literally gotten the entire chicken in our bowl. She fished out the kidneys and heart which I also devoured. Kidney is not as scary as it sounds, but the taste is not to write home about. The heart was a little squishy, but quite flavorful. We managed to finish pretty much all of the food and absolutely loved all of it. Francesca did have one little surprise in store for me! A delicious fruit cake (no cake, all fruit) appeared on the table! The heart-shaped pieces of watermelon were huge and were accompanied by slices of orange, as well as cherry tomatoes and a lychee. I’m pretty sure I ate the majority of the watermelon!
Sadly, birthday dinner had to come to an end. However, we were not done with the restaurant. One of the waitresses thought it would be cool to show us around the restaurant. She took us to a gigantic chair in the lobby where I got to play king. We also had our picture taken in the kitchen. We were surrounded by glass tanks and aquariums filled with fish and turtles. The walls around us were literally covered in photos of the different dishes the restaurant served. No wonder ordering had been such a daunting experience! Francesca and I also got to see the private rooms for business meetings and even the wedding room. Our tour of the place ended here and we said our goodbyes to the wonderful staff. They’d arranged a taxi for us which meant we were swiftly taken back to the Home Inn.
Since Jinan didn’t have much else to offer we decided to skip town for a day and worked on our plans for the day of the tomorrow. My 25th birthday had a quiet ending, which was lovely after all the antics of the previous weeks. I am now officially a quarter century old!
P.S. Thanks to everyone for their lovely birthday-wishes, be it through mail or Facebook. They were all greatly appreciated!
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