June 3, 2023 to June 4, 2023
W1, W2: 斗门
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I like Peter and his wife, Janet. I really do.
They're pretty cool people.
But—and I don't know how much of this is an adaptation to what will sell locally—the food at their "New York Café" is not what I've come to expect from foreigner-owned restaurants (even one in the farthest hinterlands of Nowheresville¹).
Out of the items I ate, I think the best-tasting one was probably the "Roast Chicken Caesar Salad." Not that (on account of the sesame dressing subbed for Caesar dressing, the lack of anchovies, or the addition of broccoli and chopped apple to a salad that wasn't Romaine lettuce) it was a Caesar Salad per se... just that it was a really good salad, and I really like salads.
The pizza was probably next best on account of the liberal use of yummy full-fat mozzarella cheese. But, again—and yes, I am aware that I am being a stuck-up snobby snob who, after two weeks without the slightest hint of Western food, has no right to be a snobby snob—it wasn't the New York Pizza it claimed to be. Instead, it was mozzarella and tomato sauce and tinned black olives on a pizza crust that very definitely wasn't the product² of months of practicing with different flours to get the perfect dough.
Obviously, not everyone can do homemade pizza dough or brick ovens, or even has the inclination to do so, but—much as I enjoyed having equally as much cheese as I had pizza base—I'm questioning if it was pizza base or prepackaged pita bread.
Even with my body indicating that I clearly needed all the extra rest and even with the client who handed Tibetan Medical Bathing off to me for editing being happy that I've actually finished another 20 pages of what's left, and without even getting into the annoyance of the couriers' failure to deliver my Taobao packages³, I'm not at all thrilled by spending two days in Doumen.
It's Zhuhai but only by the skin of its teeth.
Since I was last here in 2019, they've acquired a mall and a new McDonald's. They've also got what looks like their first newly built residential complex since the early aughts. But, with the exception of those two features and some "no driving on the sidewalks" traffic control fences that also make crossing the street a real pain in the ass, from the architecture to the traffic to the general vibe, it's like stepping back in time to an urban China of 15 years ago.
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In fact, moments after I say that very same thing on the phone to Mike while walking back to my hotel, I pass two streetwalkers.
In Haikou, the last vestiges of that trade being visible (outside of "spas" that clearly aren't spas) was in 2015. But, that was in one of the back alley areas that used to be specifically known for prostitution.
The last time I saw a streetwalker⁴ on a main street in Haikou (even at midnight on a Saturday) was before the first Beijing Olympics... which was, well, 15 years ago.
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¹ i.e., Doumen
² In Haikou, we have this foreigner-owned place called Roxy's, where the current status of the in-house hamburger buns and in-house pizza dough is the result of months of subtly changing recipes constantly tested out on friends and customers.
³ I do get my phone stand back though.
⁴ Not that I have any reason to be seeking out those sorts of services from a random woman, but you get to recognizing the look of a "bored but not paying attention to her phone" woman who doesn't want to be accidentally mistaken for someone that's waiting for a specific person.
Today's ride: 2 km (1 miles)
Total: 915 km (568 miles)
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