I booked a tour to visit the Dragonback rice terraces in Guanxi province. A few co workers were going up a day early to relax and I joined them. I’m not sure my cats trust I’m coming back…
We stayed at the Zen tea house. It is beautiful with many outdoor spaces and a beautiful room.
There was quite a lot of rain before we arrived. Lots of places were flooded by the Li River.
We booked a food tour with the hotel. They took us to the wet market first to talk about local produce and what is special to this province.
The first stop was fortune cake. It is like birthday cake here in China. It is sweet and tasty but not rich and overly sweet like Western desserts. It is something passed down from a long time ago. It is made from taro and brown sugar. Different herbs and ingredients can change the colouring. It is wrapped in banana leaves to bake. This man had been making it just like his grandmother and is one of the few still carrying on the tradition. She is in the poster behind him. It tastes like plum pudding. It is a steamed cake with the top part being stickier than the bottom.
We were showed sweet potato noodles. I have always wondered what they were made of when I have seen then before and never really tried any. We were given a couple nests as a gift.
Other things we looked at or asked questions about:
I pointed out these things and was told that these are water chestnuts. They are dug out of the mud along the banks of the river. The second picture is when they are washed. They were amazing. I’ve never had them fresh before. I’ll never buy canned again. They peeled them in front of us and we were able to try them. It was amazing.
Yes, they had live animals but they were all frogs, fish, turtles, crustaceans, and fowl. Yes there is a bunny there too. I wanted to buy them and set them free.
This is monk fruit. You cut it and boil it to make a tea. We were given that and spices to try when we get home.
This is Gingko fruit. It comes from the female tree. The seeds smell awful and need to be thrown away but the flesh is supposed to be tasty. A fact I know: Western cities plant the Gingko tree as the roots don’t destroy concrete but they have to plant the male tree so there are no smelly fruit.
We next went to visit the palace. Along the way we picked up snacks like dried taro which have the consistency of potato sticks, dried ginger, and biscotti made from moon cakes sliced very thin. We also tried red bean, pear and mushroom, and sweet potato snacks. At the palace the man who a couple centuries ago completed all 7 tests to be considered a wise man in China was honored. This takes your whole life and is tough learning and tests. Only a handful of people achieve such greatness and, in the past, one of the gates is only accessible to those with the great knowledge.
We visited the various gates and looked at the old sections that are about 600 years old. In the old part of the village the Chinese way of tearing down houses but keeping the brick to use in the new construction makes the buildings still look like they are old. But the guide pointed out walls that were original add not rebuilt.
We walked around the palace and to wooden dragon lake that feeds into the Li River.
We then walked to the other end of the lake and towards the tower to a vegetarian buffet operated by monks. It was a delicious meal. I don’t know the names of the dishes as he left us at this point but everything was delicious.
After dinner we walked around a bit by the lake.
Tomorrow we meet up with the rest of the tour group to go to the rice terraces. It was a fun day with a small group.
