New Friends, Dinner, A Little Luck, & Culture

Alright gang, this posting is a little long, but it tries to capture the details of the day. I was pretty lucky all day long.


Background
Today is my last full day in China, Alec left this morning and I have no real plans for the day. I checked out of the hotel around 1PM and checked into the Park Plaza at 2PM. The Park Plaza is really nice and is priced at 1/2 the cost of our original hotel.

I am hoping to catch up with Billy and Kate later on today. They are staying an extra day and are pretty cool to be around.


Lucky Story # 1

I happened to be checking out of the hotel at the exact same time as Billy and Kate. Guess what, they will be checking into the same hotel that I am checking into. This was not planned. They reserved their room months ago, and my room was booked this week without any knowledge of their booking. In addition, the bell hop was pressuring me to check out of the hotel. Yes, I was late checking out, but did he have to wait outside my room ? Nevertheless, Billy, Kate, and I share a cab to the Plaza Hotel in Beijing China ( I give this hotel a big thumbs up). Meeting up with Billy and Kate made the rest of the day easy. We didn't have to coordinate schedules or anything like that.

Picture Below: Picture of the bellhop waiting outside my room and creating a sense of urgency for me to checkout.




Lucky Story # 2
Billy is still alive after eating starfish. Read the next post to understand this one a little better.

From Food Market

Lucky Story # 3
I am always lucky to have classmates from Harvard Business School around. Having Kate around assured me that the rest of the day was going to go smooth. Having type A personalities around assures me that every detail will be taken care of.

I had only one goal for the day, which was to be at Beijing's Famous Silk Market at 7PM. I needed to pick up some dress shirts that I had made. Kate planned our entire day (museum, shopping, dinner, night water cube visit) down to the last minute. It worked out so that everyone was able to accomplish their goals for the day.

Picture Below: I survived another tough negotiation at the Silk Markets. This negotiation was tough. These girls would not take no for an answer. I worked my magic while Billy took photos of the harassment.




Picture Below: Picture of the art museum that we toured on our last day in China.


Picture Below: Ron (me) imitating the Buddha.


Lucky Story # 4
We are all still alive. Our classmate, Tian Tian, recommended that we eat at Xi Lou Hutong, Courtyard 28. It sounds like a great recommendation. Key word, "sounds" like a great recommendation. I forgot that Tian Tian is hardcore. She is originally from China and is one of the most hardcore personalities that I've met.

I was thinking nice western food, but I should have known better when the taxi driver didn't know how to get there. Xi Lou Hutong, Courtyard 28 is "Authentic Chinese Food" and is located in the bowels of a poor, run down Chinese neighborhood. This neighborhood has a shared bathroom and shower complex because the area is too poor for people to have running water.

We venture down a dark alleyway, through run down homes, and find a very nice looking restaurant in the back of the area that I described. By the way, Kate is fearless, she is walking through this area alone and ahead of both Billy and myself. No American female in their right mind would do such a thing. The restaurant and the neighborhood do not seem to fit one another.


Billy and I are a little nervous about eating at Courtyard 28. They had to show us a business card in order for us to know that we were at the right location. The menus are written in Chinese; no english, no pictures. I don't know about you, but it is hard to order when you don't know the language and can't see what you are eating.


Billy and I need pictures. Hell, we even needed pictures to order from the menu at McDonald's earlier today.


Billy and I decide that we will have drinks and get out of dodge. Kate on the other hand is a little more adventurous. We see other people in the restaurant that appear to speak both English and Chinese. They were shocked to see us there! The ring leader of the group immediately asked us, "How did you guys hear about this restaurant?" We explain and he is like, "Wow, tourist never come here. The food is good and if you need help ordering, let us know."


Those weren't the words that I was hoping to hear. I was ready to order drinks and leave, but as you can see, it didn't turn out that way. You can see the pain on Billy's face (picture below).



Lucky Story # 5

From Friends met a...

We met up with David, from the Pentathlon event (picture above: Ron, David, and Kent). This story shows that our day was meant for a blog. I received an email from David earlier in the day. I responded and told him that our group was eating dinner around 8PM at Xi Lou Hutong, Courtyard 28.

Around 7PM, we realized that we were going to be late. I emailed David to let him know that we probably wouldn't get there until 9:15.

We get to Xi Lou Hutong, Courtyard 28 at 9:15 and there is no David. I figured that he already left or never showed up. Around 10:30, we leave Xi Lou Hutong, Courtyard 28 and plan to go to the WaterCube. Unsuccessfully, we stand on the corner for a few minutes trying to flag a taxi. Then a taxi pulls to the corner to drop off a passenger and we attempt to get the taxi as the passenger steps out of the cab. I realize that the person stepping out of the cab is David!!!!

Wow! Pretty freaky! If we were one minute sooner or later, we would not have seen David. Had we decided to eat elsewhere, we would have missed David.

I introduce David to Billy and Kate. We decide to go for drinks. We walk to the next neighborhood over and chat for a while. To my surprise, David brought both Alec and myself a gift. He brought us a very nice chopstick set. Man, I am floored by David's generosity and thoughtfulness.


We talk with David and he tells us about his life, family, ambitions, friends, and culture. Kate, Billy, and myself are in complete shock and awe about the evening. I am grateful that David persevered our late arrival to dinner and decided to comeback to meet us once he received my email about dinner. David also accompanied, Kate, Billy, and myself to take one last look at the WaterCube (remind me to get some pictures from Kate and Billy -- this is when my camera's battery died).