Chinese Restaurant Dinner

Linnea seems to prefer Chinese food so we have been trying to eat authentic Chinese food at least once a day. Tonight on our last night in Nanjing based on a referral from our guide we went to a Chinese Restaurant that is adjacent to the bridge in the main square by our hotel. We had our guide write out what we wanted in Chinese characters to make it easier to order. In fact we had her write the name of the restaurant in Chinese characters so we would know we were at the right place. When we arrived at the restaurant we were not sure it was the right place so we showed our note and they confirmed it was the restaurant we were looking for and escortated us up to a table overlooking the bridge and the lighted Dragons on the river - it was a beautiful view. When the menu came - althought there were pictures in it - there was no English writing on it so there was no way to tell what type of meat each dish was so we gave them our note. After a few rounds of going back and forth they delivered our food which was very good.

During this time at a table right next to us there were three older Men who were talking exuberantly in Chinese and Jia Lu was mesmerized by listening to their language - just as she is with our guide when she talks Chinese to her. After a little bit the Men began making funny faces at Jia lu and making her laugh, all of us enjoyed this interaction very much. At the end of the night as they left their table they all said "Bye" to us and smiled fondly at Jia Lu. We saw them again as we left the restaurant and they excitedly said "Hi" to us again as we left to head back to our hotel. These were the only two English words we heard them say all night - So I am not sure what they were talking about but they and Jia Lu sure seemed to enjoy the interaction and we enjoyed watching it happen. -- Paul