A business colleague in Shanghai told me some months ago that in China you should always expect the unexpected. Well this afternoon, here in Akesu, China lived up to that phrase. On arriving at our hotel located in the main street of this busy city of 400,000 we asked the receptionist at the hotel if there was a cafe nearby where we could get a coffee. After some heated discussion with the other receptionist she left her post to lead us around the corner to a building and left us at the lift saying - take this up to the 7th floor and then you will find a cafe. When we arrived it was a rather up-market restuarant which not only provided coffee but through sign language we ended up with a splendid afternoon tea with cake, fruits and ice creams plus tea as well as rather good coffee. The staff were delighted that western guests had used their establishment so called in a photographer including a video cameraman and we think we may well be in the local newspaper later in the week. The young female waitresses were also very keen to have their photos taken with us.
The bill came to about £15 a head which is 10 times what we have sometimes been paying for a lunch but the whole experience was quite a surprise and was our first really extravagant excess since our journey began some three weeks ago.
Here are the pictures of the restaurant, the table and some of the staff and one including the proprieter and his wife. There is a final shot of four of us in the city square after our tea.
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