Pick a Sensible Fish

CiXi is associated in my mind with the Empress Dowager.  But I am in Cixi today.  There is a homophone-d locale, which has the same Romanized spelling as the Grande Qing Damme, located in norther Zhejiang.  We drove here last night from the Hangzhou Airport and things became rough and industrial as we proceeded, right before we crossed a boulevard and everything became glitzy.  I’d told my colleague that something like this would invariably happen, right before it did, and he was surprised by how accurate that prediction was. 

The Empark Hotel is rather fancy in an aspirational way, which is at odds with the $50.00. per night room charge.  We’d had some down time in the room, and I took myself a warm shower.  It isn’t the predictable familiarity of an American chain like Starwood, but it’s go what I need.  Down in the restaurant we all reconnoiter at 7:30PM.

Ningbo-cai for dinner,.  To order, you need to go up to the aquarium room and consider the tanks or the photographs of food on the wall.  I don’t really have any idea which fish to purchase.  They all look sad.  I’ sure they all have bones.  I pick a chicken dish, two cold plates and a green vegetable that she promises me is a lot like doumiao.  I task my colleague to pick a sensible fish.  And I try to order a scotch. 

They have scotch.  That's important.  But they must go to the bar downstairs to get the scotch. I ask for four double shots, one for each person at our table  What we are served in four wine glasses with the entire bottle poured into the four vessels.  “No.  What we wanted was a double shot."  The return with half sized glasses.  Later on, the bill we are charged for the whole bottle and have to argue that it wasn’t what we ordered.  It’s late and the young guy in charge is nervous. He may have to pay for the other bottle.  I suggest we speak with his boss.  But I’m not helping.  In the end, we cover half the bottle as suggested and call it a night. 

Friday 12/06/19