Another Buck Adventure

Our local team took out to Dinner last week. We went to the Sichuan Opera Hot Pot.


Of course we had to mess with Buck just a little bit talking about how spicy it was and how the meal consisted of Pork brains, Cow Stomach and Trachea, and Jellyfish and all that. He was worried. I think he pretty much decided he wasn’t going to go until I confessed that we would only be ordering “normal” foods and then went on to describe the show that comes with dinner.

This particular location does a great show with musicians, magicians, Kung Fu demonstrations, the “rubber band” lady, and culminates in the Mask Changing Dance. So after a more lengthy discussion I convinced Buck he really did not want to miss this and that if he found the food unpalatable, he could always eat something later at the hotel. He decided he would go.

It was great, of course.

I had forgotten that this specific Hot Pot location also brews their own brand of beer, so we also had a good dark beer with dinner. All the food was “normal” for the foreigners and we had shrimp and beef and pork and fish and vegetables. We also had some stomach, but I think Buck passed on that. Our newest arrival here, Shawn, had to take some chop stick lessons so he could eat, because in the world of Hot Pot, there are no forks and knives since you have to reach into the Pot and grab your food to pull it out to eat and “pincers” work far better than “stabbers”.

At any rate, we managed a good dinner and Buck even enjoyed the heavier beers.

And then the show started.

The magician’s sleight of hand wasn’t the sleightest you might expect and we could see some of how he did his tricks, but he was engaging with he audience, so we really didn’t care. Vanishing eggs up his sleeve sort of thing. The best part of his act was that he needed an audience volunteer. Everybody at our table immediately pointed at Buck and, sure enough, we had him on stage in a flash. The trick was that Buck was to give the man money. Buck handed him a $20 USD Bill (which the magician enjoyed getting). He then proceeded to fold it up to a tiny little wad and then unfold it revealing a black piece of paper and then reverse that back into money. Of course, with the lights and self consciousness experienced by Buck, he doesn’t see how this is done. So they generally messed with each other as the magician continued to make Buck’s money disappear and reappear and Buck was looking up his sleeves and in his coat and probably wondering if he would get his money back or maybe even if he was going to make it off the stage. It was truly a hoot! We all really enjoyed that and Buck did too. The Chinese audience also seemed to enjoy the American on stage.

The show continued with a comedy skit, some acrobatics by the rubber band lady (not sure how she can be that flexible), and ended with the always crowd pleasing mask changing. During this final act, the man walks off the stage and changes masks right in front of buck and even though he was only 2 feet away, you still can’t figure out exactly HOW he does that without you seeing. He is the true magician.

An entertaining evening and once again, Buck becomes famous in China.

The Mask Changing Man

Ouch!