Las Vegas: Taiwan-Style!

It was an exciting time here at the homestead. We got up late, did a little laundry, and went to Las Vegas. No, not that Las Vegas (because then we would be home now because there is no freaking way we would ever come back here--wait, that sounds harsh. What I mean is once we get home, I am staying home, possible forever), the Las Vegas Buffet Restaurant in Taizhong. We had been repeatly asked out by a student's father and could no longer put it off. Back in October or so, we translated an abstract for him into English and he wished to show his appreciation. As it turns out, it wasn't even his abstract, it was his sister's husband's abstract. Supposedly, we did a good job. Anyway, he took us--along with his entire family including his elderly parents--to Las Vegas. We'd actually ridden by it on our way to Tiger City, so I cringed when I saw it because I knew it was going to be very expensive. As I have previously mentioned, very expensive always means very exotic and that is bad news. I actually panicked at first because all I could see was seafood: shrimp, sashimi, a thousand kinds of fish. Luckily, we found some pork and some Thai noodles and things were looking up. Then the "guests of honor" dishes started arriving. Giant prawns in strange sauces and batters with their giant eyes looking at you, salmon fillets, shrimp rice lettuce wraps, pork belly and honey waffers, Japanese soup, peppered beef, Peking duck in some crazy sauce with cucumbers and a miserable attempt at a tortilla. Some of it was good, the prawns I successfully ignored by eating other things at the time they were presented. The raw tuna belly almost did me in, but I managed to force it down with extreme effort. What was killing me, was that when we could get away and select our own food, it was killer good. It was a swank-tastic place, but you got some real bang for your buck. The requisite ice cream buffet was 12 flavors of Haagen-Dazs. There was a salad bar. Not a genuine Western-style one, but one none the less. There was an entire table of fresh fruit--all of it actually ripe--with fresh fruit juices next to it. There was lemonade, which until now I had heard only whisperings of being available. I could have had Kobe-esque beef if I had found it before I was so full I thought I was going to explode!