Drinking From The Ganges

Photo Link:

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj159/Rbalthazar/India%20and%20Nepal/?action=view&current=23753a00.pbr

Imagine sitting in a hi-chair, your parents, brothers and sisters sitting down for Sunday dinner;  Pot Roast, mashed potatoes, veg, rolls, etc. is being put on the dinning room table before you, while your mother forcefully shoves spoonful after spoonful of creamed carrots, pureed pears, and creamed corn from a glass jar with a face of a baby on it, that somewhat resembles you!  You see and smell all the colorful spread before you and just want to shout out ‘please pass me the mash potatoes, roast beef’…. but cannot talk (given your age), so you begin to point, but everyone just looks at you, smiles, pinches your cheeks and says ‘oh you so cute’!  Not at all catching on to the fact you would really like your mother to stop force feeding you food from a glass jar, that for all you know could be pureed baby, as the picture on the jar indicates. 

Now imagine, you at sixty-five years old, recovering from a stroke.  You have lost the use of some faculties, such as the ability to speak.  You decide to go shopping at your local shops and as you go around you begin pointing and gesturing at items you would like to buy, because you cannot speak (you know them by sight, know how to say them, but cannot).  You become frustrated, by the fact you cannot ask for what you know you want and know how to say, but cannot!

Now, take these two scenarios, put them together and this was my first introduction to China!  A country populated with a billion plus people, who all speak the most spoken language (mandarin) in the world….and not much else!

China was the first country I have been to that my lack/or inability to speak the language and their inability to speak English has ultimately left me to regress back to a baby or live in a world where I know what I want, can identify it by sight……but do not have the capability to speak it.  However, like all things in life, this too will work itself out….therefore my journey through China continues.

As stated above very few people in China speak English and if they do it is very few words. As a traveler you really have to use your resources when traveling around.  First, when I found someone who spoke/wrote English (which was usually in the hostels), I would have them write in mandarin directions, so I could give it to taxi drivers .  Because, the taxi drivers DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH (by the time I left China I had pockets full of small papers with mandarin directions on them)!  The next challenge was ordering food, most menus are not in English and generally no one in the restaurant speaks English (hence the challenge).  There are several ways around this; first, I would look inside the restaurant to see if it was populated by people and if so, I would go around look at what they were eating and point to dishes that look good (sometimes not knowing exactly what I was ordering, which ended up being a good dish or an “unidentifiable” meat-which for China happens more often than you can imagine). 

Second, if the restaurant is not populated and I could not point at dishes people were eating, I would go back to the kitchen and just start pointing at meats, veg, noodles, etc. and see what comes out (its always a gamble, but you must be open and willing to eat any and all food). 

The third way around this is what I think is the most brilliant of creations…..’The Point It Book,” (many backpackers had these books) just as it sounds, you point at whatever veg, meat, noodle, drink, chilies, garlic etc. you would like to order.  However, once again, it requires an open mind and willingness to eat what comes out, because these are items and what they make with the ‘pointed’ items is entirely up to them.

And finally, If all of the above fail, which is possible….I would take out a pen and paper and use my best drawing skills to draw farm animals, vegetables, noodles, etc.  If you enjoy acting, drawing or challenges….then you will defintly enjoy eating in restaurants in China!

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