After some snafu's with the airline and scheduling, with an overnight lay over in Seoul, Korea, I finally arrive to my destination - Chongqing, China. My future wife was there at the airport to greet me with a huge bouquet of flowers - we knew each other right away, and I smiled - she was more lovely in person than the pictures we had exchanged did justice. She had hired a cab driver who was waiting outside for us, and wisked us away to our destination, the Chongqing Hilton.
We could have eaten western style food in the hotel, but I wanted to eat something local, so she asked, using her electronic translator, whether I liked hot food - a resounding yes, and we were on our way to partake in the dish that Chongqing has made famous, namely hot pot. As lovely as I mentioned above, she was both sweet and thoughtful, having carried along western style utensils just for me, as I had quite a time with chopsticks. Though myself a vegetarian, the restaurant was quite accommodating, serving me my half of the spicy broth in a special 2 vessel cooking pot. I was hooked at first bite, and we enjoyed partaking in hot pot numerous times during my visit.
I mentioned the translator - we both had electronic pocket translators, which initially, made the trip easier, though I wish I had learned to speak more Chinese than my first level of Pimsleur CD's. Her English language skills did surprise me though, as she had been taking lessons on her own for quite some time.
Next stop - to meet her family and friends...
