The Indian Contractor visits Vietnam and China on a Shoestring

Well, what can I say... Here I was, pampered with every comfort of home and weary from long travels. I finally started drinking milk and replenishing my calcium that was lost through long walks and dark coffees..

Fruits were aplenty. Especially the Huge chinese peaches that can be eaten with the skin! Then came the cherries that were sweet as grapes! As if that was not enough there were green apples from New Zealand.

I woke up at noon and felt very tired. Tired after a long days sleep! So I slept again and woke up at one thirty. By this time Gilbert was getting ready and asked me to join him out. I asked him where he planned to go and he gave me an answer that sent shivers down my spine. It was something I had not forgiven the Japanese for. It was called Karaoke.

Even though Gilbert was one of the most hospitable guys I knew, I had to refuse his kind request. But my decision would not stand and I joined him, his brother and my travel companion to the karaoke lounge.

Worse still it was raining outside. It was very irritiating because this rain was neither a downpour nor a drizzle. It was too heavy to walk uncovered but too light to open an umbrella! We walked uncovered and took a cab to the central part of Pu Dong area where there was a huge open space with some interesting stuff like a huge sundial. Had the sky not been overcast we could have got some nice shadows on the sundial. But the whether was only getting worse. We took a few pictures here and went to the lounge.

Another product of the lethargy was the increased use of taxi as a means of transport.

The karaoke lounge was a big room that had all the equipment for making noise. Lound Noise.

The only consolation was that gilbert, his brother and my buddy were musically inclined hence I managed to sit for a few hours in the room and listen to the Chinese songs they sang. With drinks and peanuts is was a cozy place. At about 5 we went for dinner. We met up with Gilberts dad who brought us to this steamboat place. The food, once again was great. In spite of being a vegetarian I am able to get good tasting food that most others miss out. If someone did a Vegetarian tour of Vietnam and China they'd be surprised to find out that the food one gets tastes superb!

I just ordered everything green on the menu and boiled it with chili and garlic... then I mixed the boiled veges with my mushroom soup and it was a blissful experience after that. Then gilbert suggested we try out some of the local drinks. I agreed. He ordered what was called "Xiao Hu Tu xian"(literally translated to mean "little intoxicated fairy"). This thing was rice liquor that had 35% alcohol and just smelling it made the head spin. It was delivered in very small glasses. And drinking it in one swig gave the throat a burning sensation. I am not a drinker of alcohol so this was a weird experience. I made a mental note to drink plenty of water before sleeping! Apparently there was a more powerful concoction that had 56% alcohol but I decided to stay away from it. The guy I saw on the Beijing train eating the chicken leg was drinking the latter. No wonder the entire compartment smelled of the stuff.

The plan after that was ambiguous. We had no idea what to do. So we decided to check out the shanghai night life. Gilberts dad dropped us off at the Pu Xi side of town near the Bund where all the clubs were located. We walked around and had a few drinks before turning back home. My buddy was'nt feeling too well so we decided to return home. Me and gilbert were still not sleepy so we ate some cherries and apples before dozing off at sunrise!