So, yeah, today. Today we went to Saga (pronounced "Saige" but not spelled that way, apparent. Actually, it's spelled "S@ga") again, so that meant another trek across this part of the city. We took Angel with us, who is Chinese. I'm not sure what her Chinese name is, actually.
After Saga, we walked around a bit and discovered:
Wal-Mart. Conveniently located in China.
Wal-Mart was supposed to be an interesting look at Western Cultural inroads into China, what it was, however, was mostly boring. The store is about the same as an American Wal-Mart, which I guess is saying something, but, oddly the prices are higher than you would get at any local market. They are not China's "Low Price Leader." Also, I guess it should be noted that the Wal-Mart was INSIDE a mall. Yeah. That was the strangest part of it for me. Not very interesting, I'm afraid. But, I did see these while I was there:
Happy Buns. These buns seem very happy.
The one thing that should be noted about Wal-Mart is the lack of air conditioning. This is actually pretty widespread in China, but since Wal-Mart is completely enclosed without a single window or outward-facing door, this was VERY noticeable. It was like an over-lit sweat lodge. I had a vision of the Wal-Mart smiley face. He told me I should expect low prices. Always.
The more interesting yin to Wal-Mart's boring yang would be our choice for dinner.
Pizza Hut. Hmm...the outside seems familiar.
Ah, Pizza Hut. I had been looking forward to finding one of these for some time. They have commercials for them here, illustrating their abundance of available side dishes. What I didn't expect, however...
Pizza Hut Interior. Well, that's different.
...is that Pizza Hut is a FOUR-STAR RESTAURANT in China. The place was incredibly fancy on the inside. Small tables, mood lighting, a hostess. I didn't really know what to think of it. And the menu items:
Pizza Hut Menu. A look at the first (of ten) page(s) of the Pizza Hut menu in China.
Lamb Shank. Pizza Hut offers many additional dinner choices.
Escargots. Yep, you can get an escargot appetizer at Pizza Hut.
They did, of course, have pizza as well. Some options were more foreign than others:
Stuffed Crust Pizzas 1. Two choices for additions to your pizza crust.
Stuffed Crust Pizzas 2. This pizza has pigs-in-a-blanket built right into the crust.
We looked over the extensive menu and settled in on a classic: A Supreme Pan Pizza. It arrived and we were very happy:
Supreme Pan Pizza. From the Pizza Hut in Xi'an.
Just like home. Well...almost. There's always an almost, isn't there? It should be noted that a Supreme pizza in China comes with everything you're familiar with...and pineapple. Not that weird, but it's a surprise when you bite into it without realizing it's there.
Hayden
I don't believe I've ever thought of Pizza Hut as either high class or diverse. That's kind of amazing.
ReplyDeletehey, do you think the Chinese look at you taking all these pictures the way we look at asian tourists doing the same thing here?
~:)