Welcome to your next blog instalment of our journeys on the China BE trip.
After we had finished breakfast we embarked on a walk to the Farmers Market to get a feel of what kinds of foods the local Chinese people would be buying and selling in Yangshou. There was a plethora of vegetables and fruits on display that ranged from the familiar to the absolutely astounding. The smell of the produce was overwhelming and wonderfull at the same time. After we had finished looking at the vegetables and fruits we walked into another section of the large building. This section housed livestock and recently slaughtered and butchered meat. It was challenging for us to see so many animals in cages destined to became someones dinner. The smell here, unlike the aforementioned section of the market, was completely different and had some of our stomachs churning. It was a breath of fresh air, quite literally, when we finished the tour and left the building.
With the images of the market fresh in our minds, we journeyed to the countryside (15 minutes away) for our spicy lesson in authentic Chinese cuisine. Our creations consisted of pork dumplings, egg pork pockets, eggplant stir fry, lettuce stir fry and a stir fry of pork with carrots. We had to learn to use such equipment as a wok and a bamboo steamer. After a quick presentation by one of the local english speaking master chefs we were put to work to make our own lunches. First were the dumplings, we had to make the delicious mixture of pork, mushroom, spring onion and spices before placing them into the dumpling pastry. We all intricately folded our delicate artistry and sent them to the bamboo steamers. The next few dishes consisted of a beautiful relationship between local spices and fresh vegetables all tossed together until the crisp flavours melted together and danced upon our tongues.
Our next adventure of the day involved a leisurely ride along the Dragon River on floaty bamboo rafts. We took some sick pics and raced down raging rapids before it started to pour with rain. Truly an experience, water below us and water above us. The breathtaking views of the Southern Chinese mountains distracted us from our increasingly wet feet.
After a quick rest at our luxurious hotel we left for another educational outing to go experience the ancient art of cormorants diving gracefully to retrieve fish from the Li river. Unfortunately we were unable to see anything very spectacular as the water levels had risen from the recent unrelenting rains making the fish harder to see or catch.
As it was quite late after the cormorant fishing show we were given 45 minutes to find our own dinner in groups amongst the bustling West Street. As we have been in China for many days now and have tasted an array of many different regional Chinese foods, most of us settled into familiar territory and ate either KFC or pizza. It was a nice finish to a fulfilling day 🙂
– Shaya Zehtab-Jadid and Michael Terjung
