Beer and barbeque

               Asia is really showing me how to do it right. Remember that flashlight restaurant on the Li River I mentioned before? All week I was walking by it and wanting to go sit at those tables on the edge of the water and have some dinner in the dark, but it felt like something I needed to do with other people. I wasn’t feeling like asking anyone, so I ignored the urge to go. Last night I was wandering around feeling mildly bored. I’m booked for three more nights in this hostel. I still feel like I’ve got some doing nothing to do, even so, I’ve been feeling a little bored. I was walking around trying to get re-curious about this little town I’ve walked around four hundred times in the last four days. Then I passed by the riverside flashlight restaurant again, and this time I said, let’s do this.

They didn’t have a tourist menu, only one in Chinese, so there were no westerners down there. The menu was big, but they said they only had beer and barbeque. I think the rest was too difficult to try to explain. I ordered a beer and barbeque. The beef showed up raw, with a cup of oil, a brush, and a grill. DIY barbecue by candlelight! Wielding a pair of disposable wooden chopsticks over the flames, I began my cookery. About two minutes in, my candle went out. Through the blackness it was difficult to see what was raw, cooked, and totally crisped. Regardless, it was delicious.