From the Road

From the Road: Off the Map Excursions (part 1 of 2)
September 12, 2004

I woke up this morning to cloudy, gray, cold skies. This wouldn't have been so bad, except I didn't bring the warmest of clothes with me. But, with several layers on (including the coat I bought last week), my traveling companions and I ventured out around 7am.

Our first form of transportation for the day was a taxi to the bus station where we caught our bus pretty quickly. It was a large, coach bus, but there were only a few people on it. This is unusual because the drivers usually wait for the bus to fill up before leaving, wanting to make as much money as they can. Along the way, we stopped at another bus stop or two to try and get new passengers or to get gas. Whenever you stop, these ladies with baskets of sticky rice and hard-boiled eggs come around trying to sell their goods. Cries of “mai ji dan” can be heard as they compete for your business. If your bus has windows, you can just buy them through the window and it saves them the trouble of having to get on or off the bus. Disposing of your egg peels or trash is no problem…just throw it out the window or onto the floor. The concept of trash cans isn't as strong in china. They have them, but most people don't see them as a necessity.

As we drove, we saw many things along the road. We are in one of the poorest provinces in China, but there is much new development happening. One moment we would be driving along in the middle of nowhere, and then see a huge highway being built with an extravagant suspension bridge. It just didn't seem to fit, but is typical of the rapidly expanding Chinese landscape. As I travel all over the country, everywhere I go is canvassed with construction cranes.

The terrain here is interesting. The mountains looked funny…like someone had just dropped these anthill-looking rocks on the ground, making mound-looking mountains. We drove past miles and miles of fields and rice terraces. I can't imagine the amount of work they do to maintain them.

For the next leg of our journey, we caught a smaller bus out to another city. It was a “country bus”, with seats for about 16. However, they can always fit many more people and dongxi on board. One man was carrying a large fruit tree with him. Another loaded on a big sack and basket of fresh meat, which was leaking blood out of the bottom onto the floor of the bus. Suffice it to say I kept my toes as far as possible from that. The ride was bumpy and cold, but I learned that in winter it is nice to have lots of people on the bus because the body heat makes it warmer.

About 5 hours after leaving the hotel, we arrived in a quaint little town, which had stone buildings and paved streets along the main road. We were quite the sensation, as they rarely get foreign visitors to their place. We wanted to eat lunch, so began looking for a place to dine. We asked one lady if there was a "hot pot" restaurant nearby, and she pointed us next door. While a man was cooking outside, I got the feeling we were looking at someone's home, not a real restaurant. However, they invited us into the one-room structure and sat us at the only table inside (don't "restaurants" usually have more than one table?). The hotpot stove felt great!

This was my first hotpot experience (although it is popular all over asia), and it was quite delicious. In the middle of the table is a coal heater where you place the big wok. You start with the broth, then put in the meat to cook. After it has cooked enough, you begin to add whatever other ingredients you want. Dofu, veggies, etc. From there, you just use your chopsticks to pick out what you want, dip it in the hot sauce and eat it! It was absolutely delicious and made for quite the experience.

Now, eating hotpot in China is an ordinary experience. Eating hotpot in a town where no foreigners ever go is quite out of the ordinary. From the moment we entered the "restaurant," people began to line up outside to see the newcomers to town. Every few minutes the owner (or perhaps a friend) would bring in a child or two who perhaps just wanted to see who was inside. I'm sure that our generous hosts will be the talk of town for years to come.