Hot Pot and Alice Bar

Thursday night I went out to dinner with a guy from Goodyear. We went to a "Hot Pot" restaurant. It's like Fond Du (I know I just killed that spelling). When I was at work Jerry set it all up for us. He called the restaurant, made a reservation, and wrote something in Chinese on a piece of paper that he said would make sure the taxi driver got us there.....OK!

So that night I went with Gregory. He's a Frenchman over here. He works for Goodyear in Engineering. He's 26 or 27. He sounds just like the Merovigian when he talks. I had him say, "No, Morpheus, the Key maker is mine, and I see no reason to give him up." It's great! Just like he's there....now if we could only get Monica Bellucci to show up. Ahhhh, dare to dream.

So we get in the cab, I give the guy the piece of paper-ZOOM we're on our way! It really wasn't that far away...we could have walked, but neither one of us knew what we were looking for...so you really can't.

We get inside and I realize we have no way to say we have reservations. The place is packed, so we need to let them know. I quick call Jerry, give the phone to the hostess, problem solved.....or so I think. She takes us to our table.

Now, it seems whenever they see a couple Ex-Pats together, they bring in reinforcements. It's crazy! You get like four or five servers coming up to your table and just kind of listening, then talking in Chinese, then listening...then talking in Chinese. It's hard to identify the leader.

They (All 5) bring a menu over together. They give it to Greg....it's in Chinese. BUT!!! There are pictures. So Greg is trying to show me the menu, one of the waitresses is trying to grab the menu, and I'm trying to hear Greg. This goes on for about 3 minutes, then I say to Greg, "Let's see about getting a beer, it'll make things easier." Greg is all for that!

So I work on getting beers, that's like throwing a wrench into the gears. ERRRRRRRRRR. Everyone looks confused, then a light bulb goes on, "AHHHHH Tsing Tao"

I say, "Duiy". Which means correct. (It's like saying Duane, only take out the N) So we get some beers! Hooray! Now all of the sudden an English menu appears! Now we're in business. The only problem is we don't understand how it works. You have to order the marinade first. They have a bunch of choices we pick a spicy red one and a white substance. It's on a different page...it didn't have a translation...so we just rolled with it.

Then you have to order meat and vegetables. We couldn't figure out if it was for each of us, or we were going to get a whole plate of meat...it was all lost in translation. (We're on our second beers now...the one guy is a helluva beer runner....serious...good man)

We decide to just order a bunch of stuff. We get: beef, chicken, some kind of meatball things, mushrooms, a leafy vegetable,....and I think that's it. So FINALLY we're done ordering. WOW! Took two beers...I knew getting those first was huge!

**Quick side note: The apples and strawberries in Dalian are FABULOUS! The strawberries are soooo sweet and delicious. The apples are perfect. Jerry says Dalian is know for both...they are the best I've ever had! Damn good! Sorry, I'm eating an apple, thought it was worth mentioning...back to the story.


So the they bring out the marinade and start it cooking. Then the food comes out, all raw. The marinade (Spicy) has chili peppers (I think) floating everywhere. The stuff heats up quickly, but we're not sure if we are suppose to put the food in or not.

So I re-assemble the dream team. They all shuffle over (Everyone in China shuffles, they don't walk...it's crazy) I gesture at the hot pot, the meat, then me, then her, and shrug my shoulders.

She says something like, "Chu sung chow shi fa hu ta me sha kian"

I look at her, "Right! Now, about this marinade." Greg starts cracking up. Eventually I just take a piece of meat and flop it in the spicy stuff. She looks at me horrified and fishes the meat back out. Then just stands there with the rest of the dream team...no one is talking. So Greg and I talk for a minute...they just keep standing there. Then the spicy stuff starts to boil...THE TEAM BREAKS INTO ACTION! Another beer BAM! Meat in the sauce BAM! Chopsticks BAM! It's all coming together.

She cooks some of the food and puts it on our plates. I look around the room and no one else has anyone doing this for them. So I say ok and Chi-Chi (She She), which means thank you.....They don't leave. Finally after she served us a couple times, she decided we could drive the car. So we were able to make the rest. It was GREAT! I'm definitely going back. The meatball things were really good, because they were easy. They sunk to the bottom, but started floating once they were done.

So we finished our meal and went to a bar called Alice Bar. There we were meeting up with a couple of Maintenance Managers...Big Boy and Richard. We got to the bar around 9:30. This place was GREAT! You walk in and go up to the 3rd floor by elevator. We walk in and it's looks like a place you'd see in a spy movie.

There is American music playing and a bunch of Philippine girls skantly clad dancing on a stage. It's like a poor mans Stomp The Yard. We see Big Boy and Richard at the bar, so we go over and sit next to them. We then get a table and the entertainment starts.

There are people all over. All of the sudden some more girls get on top of the bar and start dancing on poles that are mounted to the bar and ceiling. They are dancing like strippers but keep all there close on. It has the feel of European Vacation when Clark takes his wife to the French strip club place and tells her it's a famous French show. It's hilarious, everyone does keep their close on though.

Then all of the sudden a couple of white girls appear in costume (Meaning not much on). They look Russian, I ask Big Boy if they are, he says yes, there are lots of Russians in Dalian (First I've seen, but ok). They start dancing on the bar too. The music was actually really good. They mixed it up pretty well. Then the music stops.

On comes a Philippine band! They were pretty good. They played Sublime Santaria, which surprised me. We were approached several times by women of the night. You get use to that. If you're going to be out in China, they are going to approach you. You just tell them no, and they leave for a little while...then check on you later. (Talk about customer service)

The band would play about 4-5 songs, then take a break...out come the dancers again. This time they played YMCA. It was hilarious! None of the dancers understand the letters, so they all just kind of hold their hands above their heads and motion them around...some get the Y right, some get the M, nobody gets the C, and an occasional A makes an appearance....Most just wiggle their hands above their heads. Pretty funny, we all had a good laugh about that!

Around 11:30 we called it a night and headed for hotels. Richard and Big Boy are a riot. But it was a pretty tame night at the bar...had to work in the morning.

Greg and I are going back tonight. It's Hawaii night...gotta see what that's all about.

More later!

The Panda