Eric's Beijing Diary

This evening I had dinner with a classmate of Leander from his university days in Chengdu. Anita picked me up and took me to a restaurant nearby. Sichuan Province is the home of the famed Sichuan Hotpot, and she wanted to treat me to the pride of the province. But I insisted on treating her, because she really was going out of her way to do this. She asked me what I wanted. I told her she was a lady, and if she picked something she liked, I would like it too. Many times when I go to eat with students, they ask me what I want. But I really don't know. I'm just not familiar with the names of all the dishes. And I usually get a better deal if I let them choose. That's one important problem with eating at a restaurant in China. You have to know how to order. Without the skill of someone who knows how to coordinate a meal, the experience is just not the same.

We feasted on fish heads, cow innards and bamboo. If you have never eaten (or helped to eat) a Sichuan hotpot, believe me, it is exhausting work. The food is very hot, in every sense of the word. They bring you a big pot sitting over a fire. In many cases, there is a hole in the middle of the table where the gas burner is located. Otherwise they will bring you a portable burner. Most of the time, the pot is divided between a spicy section and a non spicy section. Pepper is not spared. Before I had eaten for very long, the sweat was pouring down my face. Westerners tend to cringe a bit at the idea of eating fish heads, but the meat is actually quite tender. I decided to forego the eyeballs, though. I can have Jello anytime.

After dinner we went to the park and sat under one of the many gazebos by the river. Someone brought us two cups of tea and a thermos. I handed him 10 yuan. All the tea you can drink for 75 cents. Anita's father is a police officer. She struck me as being very well read, and her knowledge of history was impressive. She was very curious about Christianity. She wanted to know about Jesus, because her English teacher had been talking about Him. She said, "My English teacher asked me if I wanted Jesus to change my life, but I said, 'No,' because I don't know what I would want to change." Anita is a thinking person. She is very friendly and expressive. She kept apologizing for her English, but it was actually quite good, given that she is not an English major. When I told her of my desire to do something about the problem of primary education in the countryside, she was very sympathetic, because she grew up in the countryside of what is now the Chongqing political region (Chongqing was formerly part of Sichuan Province).

Labels: Chinese Cuisine, Summer 2004, Travel Sichuan