Dinner!

My second day (actually, it was still technically my first since I arrived so late/early), was mostly logistics. I had to open a bank account, shop for a phone, get a computer, etc. After opening my account, I discovered that they had something that I really missed in the states. The debit card! They system is called EPS and I used it to fix the problem at the hotel. Finally, things were going my way. When I got back, there was a message from V. He is a manager at the local HK branch of my old company in Japan. I met him a few years ago on a business trip and we hit it off right away. Great guy. He invited me to dinner that night with his wife, A , who taught me how to lose to her at mah jong a few years ago. I met up with him at TST and said he'd loan me his phone while I was here. See? I told you he was a great guy. Anyways, he helped me pick up a rechargable sim card and then headed out for dinner. His place and my place is very close so we headed back, picked up his wife, and went to the restaurant. It was a place in the local shopping mall that specializes in Shanghai cuisine.....and it was one of the best meals I ever had. Ready? Here we go. We had dumplings in sauce, cold chicken noodles with peanut sauce, Shanghai crab with vinegar, shark fin soup, crab dumplings, shrimp fried in duck egg sauce, warm noodles in peanut sauce, something from the ocean in oyster sauce, fried ice cream, sesame pastries, ginger tea, jasmine tea, and a very delicious plum wine. We ate so much food so I'm sure I missed a couple of dishes above, but it was heaven. I was actually full after the Shanghai crab, but everything looked so delicious, it would have been a sin not to try them all. In the end, I ate so much that it hurt...but it was a good hurt.

Anyways, V and A invited me out this wknd to an all day birthday party for V including a beach barbecue, tennis, dinner (already salivating), and karaoke. Life is good when you have good friends.