Happiness in the tummy

Ah yes. Happiness in the tummy. That is what I currently have. Tonight, I had Chinese hot pot for dinner.

For those that have not had Chinese hot pot, I weep for you. It's kind of like fondue...at least that's what I've been told, as I've never actually eaten fondue. But I digress. The Chinese name for hot pot is huǒ guō, which I believe translates to "this food is so awesome you must eat it until you are unable to do up the top two buttons of your pants". Basically, you get a big pot of spiced stock/broth in the middle of the table. The pot simmers away, and you add thinly-sliced meat, vegetables - whatever you decide to order - and cook it there at the table.

I went along with three other guys from work, and we absolutely went to town. We had beef, lamb, mushrooms, noodles, bean shoots, sausage and a few other things. One item that I was a little hesitant to try was 'blood tofu'. This is a tofu-like substance which is essentially comprised of the blood of different animals, such as pig, duck and cow. Mmm...blood. Believe it or not, it actually tasted pretty good...although that might have been because I had covered it in chilli before I ate it.

Anyway, we stayed there eating for almost two hours, and along with the beers (you can be arrested if you have hot pot and don't drink beer with it) I ended up consuming far more than I should have. Although the restaurant was only 3km from my apartment, it took me a good hour to waddle home, holding my belly and groaning. Was it worth it? You know it.

In other news, I may be going back to Australia sooner than I expected. Like 7 months sooner. Yesterday I attempted to get a resident permit to allow me to stay here for the rest of the year. I had a girl from the office along to help translate for me (thank god she was there or I would have gotten nowhere fast). We first went to a police station, where I got in trouble because I didn't register with them within 24 hours of arriving in the country. Turns out that if you aren't staying in a hotel, you have to register with the local police station. I'd never had to do it before because before this trip, I was always staying in a hotel. So they yelled at me for that.

From there, we moved onto the consulate/embassy/government building where they do visas etc. We rocked up at 2:30 and got given a ticket with the number 497 on it. We looked up at the screen to see what number was being processed: 324. Damn it! We ended up having to wait more than one and a half hours before we finally got called up...only to be told that I wasn't eligible for a resident permit due to the sucky type of visa that I'd been given in Australia. They said the best they could do is a 3-month single entry visa, which will expire in mid-May. At that time, I have to get the hell out of the country.

As it turns out, this could work out well. Looks like the customer wants to go on a bit of a junket over to Australia sometime in May, and they want me to go over with them and show them around for a week or so. So it looks like I'll be back in Melbourne early/mid May for a week or two. Then it's back over to Shanghai...possibly only for another three months. It looks like rather than trying to get me a long-term permit, the company may be happy to simply fly me back to Australia for a week or so every 3 months. If that is indeed the case, I am not complaining.