I’m not wild about Chinese food but there’s so much to see in China. This trip I went to Guilin to raft down the River Li.  I found an incredible deal at the Shangri-la Hotel and treated myself to the 5 star experience in room and service but decided to forego the $22 breakfast buffet and the equally expensive dinners.  Instead I munched on crackers, cookies and health bars.

Drinks were pricy too so I “indulged” in a bottle of the local red wine at a near-by store. It said on the box (bottle was inside) that it was “perfect for a gift when invited to dinner”….oops!  First of all, it was white, secondly I had to spit out the first taste and not because I was trying to get a “sense” of it.  It tasted like it should be put in a car’s engine.

However, the local beer was pretty good and I found a place that served something resembling a pizza.

On the return to Shanghai via the 10 hour bullet train I could no longer sustain myself on the snacks I brought along (plus I was out of most of them) so I purchased one of the meals.  Of course there are no utensils other than chopsticks and needless to say, I’m inept in their use.  I didn’t need to break them apart, as I used them to scoop and discovered that when really hungry the food tastes great!

Didn’t feel so good the next day….