food – Page 5 – HurricaneMaine

Furong ancient town, Hunan

We traveled to a remote area halfway from Zhangziazie on our way to Fenghuang ancient town. It is not as popular as our ending destination and it is for this reason it is quaint and worth a stop to see as it is not touristy.

Furong Town is also known as Hibiscus Town. It was originally Wangcun Village but changed after a popular and award winning movie Hibiscus Town that was filmed here. It is found in the Western Hunan Tujia and
Miao Autonomous Prefecture.

Today the old town is a mix of Tujia (original people here)
and Han Chinese people. The town is beautiful. The scenery is lovely with cliffs and a waterfall to the You River.

Lunch was amazing. We are just outside of the gates of the old town. The potatoes are unbelievable and the spice here in Hunan is hot but so delicious.

Pickled daikon with red wine vinegar and tofu with lots of chilies.

The typical Tujia “Diaojiaolou” building is high on the cliff for easy defense against invaders.

This “Xizhou Bronze Column” marks the ceasefire after a long war. It is inscribed with over 2300 characters of the story of the war and teens if ceasefire.

The waterfall was closed but we went around the one side where there was no guard to go behind the waterfall. It was so hot that standing under the water felt great and just what we needed. I was waiting to be going out but we made it through without interrogations.

Some of the others on the tour “saw” us.

Behind the falls are statues of native Tujia people.

At the top of the falls.

From there we had another 2 hour ride to get to the next ancient town. As buses are not allowed into the town, we had to transfer to a shuttle bus. Unfortunately they did not know what to do with foreigners as covid-19 restrictions have changed. Finally they were able to straighten out whether it was safe to let us enter.

Dali, Northern Yunnan Province

This was the first time flying since being back in China. I planned this trip with Morgana, Tricia, b and Daniel. I met Tricia at an event last year and she messaged me about getting together for a dinner. I now have a wide circle of friends from other schools who have similar interests.

We were tested again for covid 19 as it was recommended to have a test completed within 7 days of travel. By the way, this is my 8th virus test. Many Chinese hospitals will not test foreigners and the one international clinic charges 10 times as much. We found a clinic that would test us.

We flew into Dali and a driver took us to Old town. Dali Ancient Town is one of the most famous ancient towns in China. As a major stop on the Ancient Tea Horse Road, or Southwest Silk Road, it is a town full of historic sites and traditional culture.

In search of lunch, we wandered the stone paved streets of the old town. We looked at the traditional architecture of the Bai ethnic minority. We stopped at a restaurant to try their local food and found snacks to take on future hikes.

On the corner of the foreigner street. Yes, that is a McDonald’s.

This night club we intend to go back to tonight to hear the live music.

All three places looked so inviting for one reason or another. This giant Teddy bear wins the prize for the day.

Hidden Hotel guest house and the map

Our guest house is very beautiful. There is a central garden courtyard with a stream that had crayfish, crabs, and fish.

The Bai architecture has three buildings forming a U shape with a fourth wall forming a screen. The courtyard is in the middle. The houses are built of brick and wood. Bai houses are decorated with black tile paintings, woodcarvings, and crafted marble objects.

The map they gave us covers many of the places we are going. The old map feel is genius. The square is where we are staying and we plan to view all the places inside this square and sights outside. The area is 3 square km or 1 square mile inside.

People

We were exhausted. School just ended and this year everyone was on edge and pulling double duty. School itself is always such a race. The first few days of vacation seem normal but then you crash. That was today. All of us just needed to lay down. I napped for three hours. When we woke up there was a different vibe in the streets. There were lots of vendors and we decided to do what I love, just eat street food.

Top of the picture is rice roll, the middle is a sticky rice cake with apple pineapple glaze, and the bottom is fruit we can’t identify except for the big one which is a wax Apple.

We ate some of the street food along the way then took the rest to this little night club we had seen earlier.

History of Dali

In 738, the Nanzhao Kingdom was established with Dali as its capital.
In 937, the Kingdom of Dali emerged.
By 1000, Dali was one of the 13 largest cities in the world.
In 1253, the Mongols conquered the city and ended the Kingdom of Dali.
In the early 1400s, the old Dali City was rebuilt by the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), and it still stands in a similar layout today.

Zongzi

Zongzi is a special treat available during dragon boat festival. It is made of sticky rice with different items in the center. It is shaped into a pyramid and wrapped with lotus or corn leaf. It is steamed.

They can either be savory or sweet. The popular savory flavors are red bean or some meat like pork or chicken.

This one is red bean. The sticky rice is so delicious and I’ve found through travels in Asia that sticky rice fills you up longer than plain rice. It is yummy.

The sweet zongzi have dates or some fruit on the inside.

If you read my last post, you will see why this is associated with dragon boat.

Starbucks had a limited special on ice dumplings. They are wrapped in a leaf but are pretty interesting. Instead of rice, it is made from gelatin and flavors like strawberry and coffee are inside.

They were good but filling!

Friday night hot pot

There is a restaurant along our running route we have been wanting to try. Nicole and I finally stopped to try it.

After some translating app use, we ordered the broth for the hot pot. I am certain it is not vegetarian but good nonetheless. I’m not worried about broth.

The heating is in the center of the table.

The food choices were fabulous. A lot to choose from.

Veggies, mushroom, tofu…

Assorted meats. You grab skewers of mear or trays of seafood along the bottom to take back to the table.

They count everything up in the end.

You start adding your pieces to the hot pot as you go.

The dish in the lower left on the above picture is additional items to flavor your broth you put in your bowl. Garlic, chilies, sauces…

Fun and yummy. Items to add are at the end of the table and you add to the broth as you go.

I know there is bit out on other places of the world but this was really fun. When we would run by we would always smell curry. Turns out it is probably not coming from this restaurant. More exploring to do!