Sometimes you just need to groove.
Ah, a day off at last. I decided to sleep late and go late to the Shanghai Museum. It was SO NICE to be able to sleep in a little. I goofed around until lunch time and then RSR and I decided to go down to our provided lunch. Total strike-out, that one. Yet another family style Chinese meal consisting of things which we couldn't identify with people who may not necessarily be our favorite people to deal with. Don't get me wrong-- as I've said before, I'm all for trying new things and participating and experiencing new cultures, but after a while your taste buds get a little tired of the shock of these things and we all know I get really sick of socializing after a while. Alone time has been at a premium this trip and these guys don't help sometimes.
RSR had gotten to the market to exchange her dress and we headed down to meet up with the crew for the museum. This was one of those bizarre occurrences where one after another we just started picking up people for the walk over-- it morphed from a two person stroll to a nine-person tour trip, with me in the lead. How the f*ck did that happen?
The museum was amazing, and we ran into the rest of the klatch there and decided to hook up later for a trip to a local dumpling restaurant that was supposed to be fabulous. I had benGi feeling a little vague all day so I took a time out in the museum's tea house for some jasmine tea and a cream puff with strawberries (the best shit you will ever eat-- if you're in Shanghai, run, do not walk). Finally, Bass Boy and I moseyed on back toward the hotel by way of the underground shopping mall under the park. He found some seriously fabulous shirts while I hung about vaguely and then we ambled back to our respective rooms to gear up for dinner. Still no shoes and I have no hope of finding clothes here. Apparently Asian women don't come in my size. Fuck.
The dumpling place? UN. FUCKING. BELIEVABLE. Seriously, I think I may never be able to eat dumplings anywhere else again-- these were just too good, and I think I'm ruined for life.
After dinner we popped into the Paulaner brew house next door and Cello Chick and Groovemaster D promptly dove into liter-mugs of beer. Holy fucking balls, Batman, that's a lot of beer. I stuck to a wheat brew and was happy to do so. One beer turned into two, and then three, by which time my sugar was crazy and I was falling asleep on the table and getting more than a little snarky. I chugged a coffee, which was great but functioned more like high-octane rocket fuel, at which point everyone decided to go home and go to bed. Fuck. I was not pleased-- it took two sleeping pills to get me off to dreamland after I walked in and woke up RSR, who was nursing a serious sore throat. (I felt so terrible about that-- not only was she feeling bad, my snoring was loud enough to penetrate her earplugs the night before... I could have crawled in a hole over that one.)
The moral of this story is don't stay out late unless you're willing to take a cab home by yourself, and don't drink coffee before going to bed. Last off day before going home tomorrow, which is also the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Hooray!
