5. First Breakfast

I woke up around 3am to do some writing, went back to sleep and woke up again a little after 6:30am to get breakfast. When I walked into the living room and looked out of the window, I noticed smoke stacks less than a mile away belching thick white smoke into the air. Visibility was next to zero beyond their gaseous emissions. The sky was a heavy blanket of suffocating smoke... and yet the pollution index said we were at 77. Hmmm.

When I looked down toward the front of the hotel, I noticed a funeral processions of black automobiles arranged at the entrance with a bouquet of red and white flowers on the hood of one car. Ominous.

Dow shung how (my phonetics) means "good morning." 

I had my fingers crossed for sausage patties, scrambled eggs, and the fair usually made available at Marriott properties in the United States. I knew it was a long shot, but hoped it wouldn't be all bean sprouts, noodles, and raw vegetables. I know. That's so stereotypical in the most ignorant of ways; but it's okay to be self effacing and honest about ones presumptions, as long as your willing to be corrected.

What did I try new today? Lotus root. Looks like octagonal slices of Swiss cheese, but has the consistency of watercress, and tastes a bit like raw potato. Edible. Had egg fried rice, bacon, fried egg, watermelon, cantaloupe, fried noodles, chicken sausage, apple juice, sliced potatoes, grape tomatoes, meat and veggie filled dim sum. They also offered corn on the cob, pork sausage links, porridge, pastries, various sauces and breads, and some other stuff that didn't leave an impression. 

Dea said she wouldn't allow me out again without ironing my shirt. I tapped my fingers on the table. I asked if I looked bad before we came downstairs. I should have known better than to trust the word of two hungry women.

After breakfast we went to take a look at the workout room and got on the elevator with a guy who knew what the procedure was for operating the elevator, but couldn't quite get it to work. I ended up helping him out and didn't get even an appreciative glance. Now that I think of it, he could have been an assassin with the funeral procession which could have been a ruse to get rid of the body. Hmmm...

Everywhere we went smelled like cigarette smoke despite the no smoking signs. The workout room smelled like cigarettes. The recreation room with an array of video game consoles and a chess game, smelled like cigarettes. The hallways smelled like cigarettes. The friggin elevators smelled like cigarettes. I felt like I was stuck in the burnt out basement of an old seventies bar on the south side of Chicago in the middle of August. I have to believe it is really quite alarming to anyone who appreciates fresh air. 

With full stomachs and the onset of emphysema, we headed back to our room to take a nap and dream about blue skies.