Back in Town
So I'm back in Seattle now.
Tonight I watched a friend play a nun in a local production of "The Sound of Music." The entire musical was very well done, I thought. My favorite part was when Liesl climbed into Maria's bedroom, after her torrid midnight rendezvous with the postman/closet-Nazi Rolfe. She was drenched from the rain, and as she climbed awkwardly through the bedroom window, I was reminded of a scene from "The Ring," when the antagonist climbs out of the television, wet locks and all. I laughed.
There were several other funny moments (intentional or not) throughout the musical, but I'll just share one more. At the very beginning, as the pit orchestra started playing, it was apparent that not all the sections were playing in tune. And after hearing a few, mmm, jazzy chords, I had to look down and stop myself from laughing out loud. A friend seated next to me (also a musician/pitch snob) was doing the same. But while we merely smiled in condescending judgment, a Chinese woman behind us actually voiced her thoughts out loud. Some of the sentiment is lost in translation, but she basically muttered, "Aiya, how could the music be so bad? This is worse than a children's band." Ouch. It really wasn't that bad, and the pitchy punishment didn't last.
Speaking of outspoken Chinese people, I had a great time in Hong Kong and Chengdu. Even though my race was questioned constantly by the people I met. "Are you Korean? Japanese? Surely not Chinese..." And this would be after I spoke Chinese. Sad.
Here's a small selection of photos from my trip.
This was the seafood menu from one of my dinners in Hong Kong:
(Click on it to view the full-sized picture.)
On the bottom right: "Crispy yuppies topped with golden garlic, chili & onion." How appetizing...I always wanted to know what yuppies taste like! Also note the "Crispy soft shell crabs with Szechuan red pepper." I would've preferred "crab" singular, but what can you do? I ordered it anyway.
Behold, said crabs:
You can just barely make out pieces of crab drowning (burning) in the lake of fire. And I still don't understand the choice of presentation. My coworkers and I named this dish the Little Red Riding Hood Basket of Death. Dude, that dish was spicy.
Here's a picture of my favorite building in Hong Kong, the Bank of China tower designed by world-renowned architect Ieoh Ming Pei. The view from Kowloon, across Victoria Harbour:
Look how it dwarfs the Bank of America building to the left. (I am not making political commentary here.)
After Hong Kong, I flew up to Chengdu, China. And what's a visit to Chengdu without seeing the local pandas?
"Mmm, bamboo..." This one was a bit of a messy eater.
And here are the red pandas. I personally would have named them "raccoon foxes," but what do I know? Cute little monsters.
Eating...sleeping...yeah, that's the life.
Now time for me to take a lesson from the pandas.
