Fake Shrimp

There are vegetarian restaurants in China and we have found them. Here’s some fake shrimp as proof.

From Hangzhou

Chinese Business Dinner

I thought I had been in absurd situations before until I found myself in a business dinner with drunken Chinese men. Then you think to yourself “how did I ever get here?” It’s one of those rare experiences that is by invite only, and is rarely if ever experienced outside of China. It’s dinner, but dinner with a goal. And not the goal of teaching me the Chinese character for Jia (take) which the man next to me was very persistent in doing. The goal was to form a business relationship, hopefully by buying this man dinner. As surreal as the whole experience was I “think” it worked. I say “think” because I can never be certain in these situations. And it’s not just from the drinking, which there is a lot of at these dinners. (And not casual drinking, but college party chug your glass of beer with the guy next to you kind of drinking.)
I think these experiences are so unique because foreigners don’t often find themselves all alone with a group of Chinese business men doing what they do to seal a deal. Think of it this way, you act differently when with friends you have known for years then when going out with colleagues from work. With only one foreigner around everyone is free to be themselves, to be “normal;” Chinese normal, not western normal. No one’s behavior is bad, it’s simply different. In fact, everyone is usual quite nice seeing as I live in this country and have functional ability to hold a conversation longer than 5 minutes (on a good day).