Our hotel was outside Xian’s city walls. We had a view of the battlements that were centuries old. At night, the walls and towers were outlined with white Christmas lights. I ached to get up there and walk those walls. It was 1999, and I’d wait more than nine years before that happened.
Our second day in the city, we walked from the hotel into the city to a Xian restaurant. I went in first and the hostess, who didn’t speak a word of English, handed me a menu written in English.
This is a different restaurant from the one I mention.
My wife, dressed more like a Chinese peasant than an American, came in after me and she was handed a menu in Chinese. My wife glanced at my menu. She took it out of my hands and gave it back to the hostess.
“We’ll use the Chinese menu,” she said. The prices in Mandarin were less than half the English version. A stunned look appeared on the hostesses face. It was a Candid Camera moment, and it was all I could do to avoid laughing.
See I ate no Dog, I Ate no Cat, Guest post by Bob Grant http://wp.me/pN4pY-8y
iLook China 