Pantomime Dinner and Zhe Dancing Shew!

We both loved hearing our guide Yue say "zhe dancing shew" so much that we've continued to say it throughout our trip. Unfortunately, he didn't attend the shew, or the dinner before it.

The restaurant we ended up at had no English speakers and no English menu. We had no guide and not even a guidebook, which would have had a basic dictionary.

Thankfully, we are creative and unashamed Americans, and the restaurant staff was good-natured and willing to help. We didn't get very far making barnyard noises (yes, this actually happened), but once we noticed a few pictures of dishes on the walls and pointed to some stuff in the tanks in the back , the meal was soon underway.



Here's a picture of at least half the staff, crowded into the back of the restaurant. They are meeting to decide just what the hell to feed us.



The fish came fried, with no sauce. We were able to communicate our desperate need for sauce, and out came this magic little cup of hot peppery, gingery, soy sauce-based stuff, which we dumped all over the fish. The sauce transformed the fish into something very delicious.



Other dishes included a seafood soup (the clams we picked out of the tank in the back) and sauteed mushrooms and long beans.



The dancing show was painful at times, and mediocre over all. The highlight was this absurd fruit plate. Chinese fruit plates often include cherry tomatoes. I do not support this.