Wow, it has been an unusual couple of days as we adjust to Tianjin China. The people are wonderful but there are so many exotic and different things I don’t know where to start. I will tell you very few people outside of the hotel speak any English which adds to the adventure.
We are staying near the financial district at the Sheraton Tianjin but we are surrounded by gardens and the parks are near by. It’s a wonderful hotel with a variety of restaurants along with a pool, small grocery mart , a spa and a wonderful very patient staff. The spa display caught my eye as they advertise the special face creams they carry is made with snake venom. Could that be the new botox?
On our second day after walking the food stalls and markets with hits and misses we made it back to the hotel and decided to stay in. Simple hors d’oeuvres at the club lounge at the hotel, but then decided to stretch our legs we went for a walk. After a short stroll we stumbled across smoke billowing out of an alleyway smelling of charcoal and fresh grilled meat. We make our way to a small opening outside of a home/ small restaurant with half a dozen tables scattered about . We collected a few stares but with gestures and smiles we were ushered in past the grill and given menus. We discovered early on not to expect any menus in English unless you were at the hotel and look for menus that have pictures , but not here. The owner saw our confusion and grabbed my hand and took me to the cooler with skewers of meat and ….who knows what. As Greg sat at the table and watched me with a grin; the cooks and servers played an international game of charades with me as we "mooed" and "baaahhed" our way to figuring out what I should order. I pointed to various body parts so I could decipher if I was eating heart, muscle, liver but at times I gave up and just randomly grabbed skewers to be grilled. Our favorite was the goat liver and the least favorite was what we think was spinal cartilage but I really can’t say- it was chewy and not very flavorful but interesting.
Our new motto- follow the smoke!
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