Corpus Christi - Houston - Toronto - Beijing

Sitting on my Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing reminded me of how much Chinese I really don't know. I sat down next to two Chinese businessmen. About 3 hours into the flight I gathered the courage to ask them if they were from Beijing (in Chinese). I really have no idea what the reply was...
I seem to have no problem being able to make myself understood, but my ability to interpret what people are saying in Chinese in return is dismal.

It reminded me of the mistakes I've made in the past. i.e:

1. Instead of asking for a bunch of bananas (xiāng jiāo - 香蕉) I accidentally asked for a bunch of pandas (xióng māo - 熊猫).
   And vice-versa when I asked for the Banana Fuwa instead of the Panda Fuwa. or ??
2. For about 6 months I asked for taxi drivers to take me to Frog University (Qingwa Daxue), instead of Tsinghua University (Qinghua Daxue).
3. I'm pretty sure the entire year I've been asking for a bowl of tampons (I read in the Lonely Planet Chinese Language Guide that it was miantiao), instead of a bowl of noodles (miantiao, different tones)
4. I'm sure there are many more that I don't know about!