Memorable Meal

I have thousands and thousands of photos from my time in China. Last night, with not much to do, I decided to start with the first picture I ever took here and work my way forward. It was pretty interesting to see how my discretion with the camera changed over time. At first, it seems I was only interested in capturing tourist sites such as Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl Tower and Yuyuan Gardens, Hangzhou’s West Lake, and the Great Wall in Beijing. As the days passed, my eyes apparently became more and more in tune with the human element (by far the most interesting part of China). I started photographing, for instance, locals sleeping in the most uncomfortable public places in the middle of the day, taxi drivers wearing white gloves, and street vendors preparing their stock. As I took time to get to know people, what I saw began to transform. I was hooked. I quickly learned the difference between tourist and traveler and decided to become to latter. My journey hasn’t ended since.

One of the wonders of travel is eating like a local. I don’t mean eating food that is prepared local style by a nice hotel or delivered to you by some tourist company; I mean getting down and dirty where there are no signs or guides. So on October 22, 2004, about a week after my initial arrive in Shanghai, I sat on a stool in a small hole-in-the-wall and ordered this:


What could it be? Well, it was certainly more exotic looking than the dumplings I ordered for my first ever meal in China. I had no idea what the three dishes sitting in front of me were. All I knew is that the characters in their names looked beautiful; that’s why I pointed to them and said 我要, ‘I want.’ I nibbled reluctantly at first, but found there was nothing to be afraid of. The new tastes and smells were exhilarating! The dish all the way on the right, however, I couldn’t finish. There was almost no meat on those fragile little bones. I paid the bill and brought the receipt back to my Chinese-speaking brother, anxious to find out what was sitting in my belly. “This can’t be right,” he said. He asked to see a picture of what I ate, which only confirmed his suspicions. “Dude, you just ate cat paws!” I’m sorry to all the animal-lovers out there (I’m one as well), but I had no idea what I was eating. And if it makes you feel any better, cat is not delicious so I won’t be eating it again.

So yeah, be a tourist and you may be able to avoid such an experience. But be a traveler and make memories that few have; memories you are guaranteed never to forget.