11 April 1999 – We went with our translator Mr. Yuan to a small-restaurant (seating for 30) and enjoyed a great meal. Beer, not bing (cold), steamed rice, spicy chicken with peppers, lamb with Chinese mushrooms, spicy fish (the entire fish including the head and eyes, cucumbers in hot sauce and vinegar (tasted a little like Southern bread and butter pickles), eggplant and another mixed vegetable plate.

In the restaurant, I noticed a young attractive woman who seemed to be running the place. Jim said she was the owner, and I didn’t believe him. Mr. Yuan asked if she ran the restaurant and the lady (who we called ‘miniskirt’ since she wore a very short black leather skirt) said not only did she run the restaurant, but also she established it in early 1998. 30 years old, she had at least 10 people working for her. They all came out of the kitchen at 9:10 p.m. and together ate dinner of fried rice with bean sprouts and pig’s knuckle. No one ate fish, which the server recommended to us as the house specialty. Since we were in a desert, perhaps the fish was too expensive for the owner to feed to a hungry crew.