Huanying!

Welcome to the Golden Koala

Last week I arrived to China (Wuhan, Hubei province) just in time for the May Day holiday and the opening of the World Expo.  The airport in Shanghai was full of kids with their Haibao (the mascot of the World Expo) plush dolls, bags, key chains, phone charms and just about anything that can carry an ink print or be shaped into the Gumby-like shape.  The layover in Shanghai was much easier this go round as I actually read a diagram of the airport layout (China Southern is in terminal 2) which limited the wondering around I did last time.  A second win, the plane arrived on time.  My last China bound flight squeezed me too close to my connection and left me standing in front of some blank faced Air China workers trying to tell me the next flight to depart was the following morning.  This time the only snag was the 240RMB (about $35) charge for my luggage.  Total weight was over 20K so they charge you.  U.S. travelers, sound familiar?  Yep, another wonderful idea export from the States. The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful.  The boxed meal served on the less than two hour flight (Shanghai - Wuhan) served was my first China ‘born’ meal and happily received by my time confused lunch, as I was probably eating this as dinner around 6:00 AM East Coast Time.

Back street leading to the Golden Koala.

This weekend we had dinner at a friends new restaurant (the Golden Koala)  in a side street near the University district in Wuhan and I snapped a few photos for the new owners.  The food was extremely tasty… the best ‘baby lobster’ (crayfish) I’ve had outside of the South and the new menu items (a sweet and sour like pineapple pork, a sweet frog soup with little frog men swimming the backstroke, and pork ribs) they are thinking of adding was all well received except for the plum sauce on fish.  That was a little battle in the mouth no one wanted to fight.  The place is going to be there for at least another three months.  Lets see if it has a life past that.

A view of some closed shops out the window. Maybe not the best sign about the location?

A few back the other direction.

For those who may try to call my US phone number… it is no longer in service.  The best form of contact with me is via email.