My first day out - Feb. 19

Doug just got back from the gym and told me that it wasn't so cold outside. Maybe we could walk to a restaurant close by and try their food. I was ready in a jiffy. I had not been outside the walls of Fuda Hospital since we arrived on Feb. 6 and I wanted to see what the neighborhood looked like.

The nurses told me to dress warm so I put on all the sweaters that I brought. Most of the shops were still close --- today is the last day of the Chinese New Year Holidays. A few shops were open --- most of the things on display were winter wear though.

We got to the restaurant and they had dishes on display. Problem is we could not tell what the ingredients were --- especially the meat ingredients. We did not want to end up with pig's stomach or something similar to that! The menu did not help either because it was all in Chinese. The receptionist got us the youngest waitress who understood more English than she could speak. She recommended a dish that had like 5 kinds of mushrooms. We saw a group of people who had ordered siopao so we pointed that out to her too.

We took our seats and the waitress gave us our plates, bowls, chopsticks and poured some tea into our cups. She put down a small stainless steel bowl. She motioned to Doug who was quick enough to realize that she wanted us to pour tea into our dishes and chopsticks to sanitize them. We then poured the tea into the steel bowl. I would have been happier to have a sponge and dishwashing liquid but when in Guangzhou, do as the Cantonese do!

We were happy with what we ordered and walked out to the front of the restaurant. It was then that we realized they had the more exotic dishes on display. They had crocodile meat, eel and turtle. I noticed that even in the menu of the restaurant that services the hospital, they have dishes with frog and snake. One day, I ordered soup with lotus seeds. I was shocked to find out that lotus seeds look like little eyeballs! It was kinda freaky eating soup with eyeballs staring at you! I did try a few lotus seeds and it tasted like chickpeas but I could only stomach a few. No thanks!