KLB - Beijing (8)



If you think it's all fun, fame and glory having a blog, think again. I already did this post and I swear, on the very last sentence I hit something by mistake and Explorer froze and crashed. Now I have to do it again!



OK, here it goes. This is what I got for lunch yesterday while Jake was at work. Chow Mien, da bao (to go). I also stopped next door while the food was being prepared and picked up another movie. On the way back I got that ice cold Coke just outside Jake's building at a little store. A mountain of noodles, a movie, a bottle of Coke - all for $2. Just noticed there's only one chopstick sticking out of the bowl? That's how talented I've become with them. I only need one.



Later, I met Jake and his friend Steve from England who took us to a restaurant with pictures on the menu. "Any place that has pictures on the menu in China is a place I frequently visit," he said. It was good, too. We ordered about 5 or 6 dishes. The one in the center is some kind of delicious fish soup. On the left is beef and onions still cooking on a stone plate. Everything was delicious, including the fruit with sweet custard sauce. Very nice!



Today, the stomach was a bit off again, go figure. A lot of bubbling and grumbling, so it was pizza. Ham and mushroom. Just down the road is a fantastic authentic Italian restaurant. Sometimes we eat there on the nice outdoor deck, other times we order for delivery. They have 25 kinds of pizza and an amazing...



Lasagna! This was the best lasagna I've had in Asia, and maybe ever, sorry Mom! It was excellent, even if it was a bit greasy. Who cares! I'm on no diet. With all the runs last week I've lost a few kilograms. (There's a bright side to everything!) They even give you the dish it's cooked in. Western food here is much cheaper than Korea, but still quite expensive for China. The large pizza was $6 and the lasagna was around $5. Worth every yuan to me, of course!



Finally, here is a picture of Jake and his girlfriend. She's 22, a university student, very pretty and has a really warm-hearted personality. Not only that but this girl thinks nothing about making dinner, washing the dishes (she feels bad leaving them for the maid), giving Jake, that slimebag, a long massage (and whatever else he wants!) every night she's here and just being sweet and kind to him in general. Now, let me clarify: she doesn't just do all these things because she's unempowered as a woman and hasn't seen enough Oprah yet. No, she simply is a sweet and gentle femine creature who genuinely enjoys selflessly pampering her lover. According to Jake, Chinese girls are just like that. Women of the world, take note!

OK, so I sound jealous. The truth is, I'm not. I'm not ready to dive into another relationship, to be sure. And, I'm actually very happy for him. After hundreds of girls and one or two relationships gone kaput, "I've finally found one I can actually think about marrying, dude," he said to me with a straight face. "She's a keeper." He's quite a character. I've been taking a lot of notes...