Hard Enough

Miss me ????

Well - I was in China
And as I found out to my disappointment, China has blocked the "BLOGGER" or "BLOGSPOT" site.
(Heyyyyyy - they have even blocked Wikipedia)

Arrrrrghhhhhhhhh - no blogging for me
I felt decapitated
It is at times like this that I realize how much the freedom of the Internet has become such a part of me ....
And when it is taken away
It is really weird
Scary actually ...

Anyway - I was in China on mission for my office
I had to visit a factory which was about one and a half hours away from a major Chinese city center
A very dark and dreary industrial zone

My hosts were beside themselves in trying to please me
They conferred upon me the status of "honored guest"
Accordingly they fed me like a king ...
Only the best for me
And the "best" in their eyes included such honorific cuisine as pigeon, duck, snake, rabbit and turtle ...
Not exactly my cup of tea

But -uhhhmmmmmmm - I was an honored guest
I really had no choice except to just bear it and grin
Not only that, I had to finish everything on my plate - lest I inadvertently insult their sensitivities

And so it was that for the first time in my life I had not just turtle soup but turtle meat
The whole idea of eating a "turtle" just boggled my mind
I tried to block off mental pictures of cutie little "pet turtles" ...
And having done that, I had to contend with the concept itself, of having to swallow "turtle" as food

I know it is considered a "delicacy"
And the intent of my hosts were noble
But I just really had difficulty with the idea

Nonetheless ...
I slowly chomped through the rubbery meat
And chewed on the slimy gelatinous film that had formed on the shell as it was cooked
Then - I slurped my way through the oily soup down to the bottom of the bowl
Yummmmmmmmmm
Not ....

Perhaps as some consolation - I was told that eating turtle was not only beneficial to the immune system and health in general but that it was also an aphrodisiac ...
Ohhhhhhhhh great - an aphrodisiac
Only problem was that I was traveling alone ...
And uhmmmmm
It is hard enough to be alone ...
But it is even harder to be "hard"... alone !

Toinnngggggggggggggggggg