Dinner out

Tonight the IT manager in China invited us out to dinner. He's from Austin, Texas and has been here for two years. He picked us up at the hotel - actually, he and his driver picked us up. 3M does not allow non-Chinese to drive at all while they are stationed here. He asked me what I did today and I told him I headed to the Maglev and then to the temple. He replied, "So, you're adventurous, are you?" The first thing he asked me was if someone taught me how to cross the street here. (Seems like a simple task, but it's definitely NOT.) I told him I learn quickly and just tried to figure it out as I went. He said he had someone teach him. He learned quickly that you never run across the street to get to the other side quickly. The drivers don't know what to do and how to react to a running person, but they can navigate better when people walk. (They can better time their zooming in front of you without hitting you.) He said it sounded like I did pretty well. I told him that I wished I'd gone to the Chinese Gardens today as well. Then I learned that Suzhou, the place I'm visiting on Thursday, has the best gardens in China! I may have to delay our ride back a little. Anyway - we went to a dinner banquet hall. There was one room, just for our group (5 of us). I have never had a dinner, or service, like this before. It was amazing. There were several people just standing next to the table to quickly address any little thing we needed - and they anticipated our needs. We had 15 dishes, some big some small. The main courses were chicken and fish. They tried to order snake, which is supposed to be very tasty, but the restaurant was out. Just got back and will try to catch the kids on video before I go to bed. I have a VERY busy week ahead. We have 5 completely full days. I'd better get my rest.