I read this while traveling to China for work; it was the PERFECT book to read under the circumstances. Time travel, being in a strange land, endless self-referential wordplay, all were enjoyable, funny, and cheered me up when lonely/wanting to kill my coworkers for ordering such weird food. I read the end, a climactic New Year’s Eve blowout, on New Year’s in Shanghai. I really enjoyed this, even better than Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.

Highly recommended, but only if you can stand and enjoy absurd humor.

I just spent a couple weeks in China. Real Chinese food is so diverse, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could dislike all Chinese food, but a lot of it is pretty weird. I’m willing to try anything, so I ate jellyfish, goose tongue (actually many types of tongue, and liver), chicken feet, sea cucumber, squid, bird’s nest, etc, etc. The worst thing I ate was just some sort of fried beef with jerky consistency. It took 15 minutes to chew… 15 agonizing minutes.

On the bright side, I didn’t get sick (despite eating fresh fruit against dire warnings – but I did NOT drink the water!) and I can now use chopsticks. I recommend Peking Duck (if you’re in Beijing), and rice noodles/cakes. If you like watermelon, you’ll love China as it’s the dessert served with almost every meal. Be careful about buying food from street vendors, especially bottled water – their bottles are often found on the street and refilled. Anything from a store should be fine.