Running low on face
I’m in the heart of Guangdong province at the moment, probably not the best place to be if this bird flu decides to mutate into anything more threatening. But I’m also in the heart of Canton, the weird food capital of China. I’m getting a little sick of it also. I’ve learned that even if you have a picture menu to refer to, you’re not necessarily going to get something edible.
Last weekend me and an Ozzy friend found ourselves in a place that seemed to specialize in intestines of all varieties. Pork tripe seemed to be the favorite, but fish intestine soup also appeared prominently on the menu. And I can’t forget to mention the boiled pig face. I’m a big fan of pork and all, and it might taste great, but I don’t want to have to eat my food to get it to stop staring at me.
So I played it safe and went with the chicken. I didn’t see any chicken feet in the picture (another Cantonese treat), so I went for it, only to be disappointed when my piping hot plate of fried chicken knuckles came. I’ve tried these in Japan, where you receive a small portion. They’re not bad and not great either. The Chinese must love them, though, because I got a mountain of them. I can’t remember any meat that I’ve ordered in a Chinese place here that didn’t have something strange attached to it. I appreciate the fact that they eat more of the animal and reduce waste, but I’ve realized if there could be one symbol of my wasteful western habits that I don’t want to give up, it would come in the form of a plump chicken breast, a pork chop, and a lean flank steak. Do your best bird flu, I’m still going to eat some tasty chicken meat once I find it.
Tags: China, China
Administrator
G’day mate,
You know, the thing that gets me with this “face” thing (not the pig face but the saving face) is the freakin contradictions (may be miss using this word but you’ll get my point) that it generates.
For example: They don’t like confrontation. A person who loses composure in public is said to be seen as losing face. And it is supposed to be bad to cause this losing of face. And i tell you this, I am on the edge, the very precarious edge, of losing face all over the place if these rude b*stards keep pushing in front of me at KFC, the ATM, the train ticket office. It never stops.
As for the bargaining. You can’t bargain everywhere. Stalls, absolutely. Shops, not always. Its important to remember that this is China. Even if they let you do the walk out, you’ll find that item a hundred more times by the time you have walked the block.
Oh and always start below 50% the asking price.
Keep smilin.