Wuk in China

Hi all,

We have been to Mt Emei and had a “fun” time - we were only there from late sunday morning until early monday afternoon. After arriving we found some fairly budget accomodation and spent most of the day relaxing although we walked around the base/entrance to the mountain a little.

That night we had my new favourite chinese meal (for the third night in a row) - sichuan hotpot (huo guo).

A hot pot is exactly what it says it is - HOT. In the middle of the table you have a gas flame much like one you would find on the average australian stove. Underneath the table is a gas bottle which fuels the flame. Anyway… on top of the flame is placed a large steel bowl 2/3 filled with water that is packed with chilli, spices, herbs and other things to give it flavour. If you want to have a less spicy bowl then a smaller one will be placed in the middle of that one and that bowl might only have herbs and spices but no chillis. Each person is given a little bowl of their own filled with some tasty fluid - into which you add salt, garlic, and herbs (according to your own taste)

OK now I imagine you must be wondering what exactly is eaten in a Sichuan hotpot - but that is the beauty of it. You pick from a menu of all sorts of different cuts of meats, (this may include eels and other fish, pork, beef, duck, the list goes on…) Apparently all sorts of delicacies may actually be eaten in a hotpot including offal, ears, noses and other equally delicious sounding treats. Various vegetables and fruits (lotus, baby bamboo shoots, chinese greens etc and even slices of melons) can also go into the hotpot, and these are quite delicious.

In any case, the whole affair is quite enjoyable, the various dishes are placed there on the table and it is up to you to grab whatever you fancy with your chopsticks, dip it into the hotpot and leave it there to cook in either the spicy broth or the more mellow broth in the middle. When the food is cooked you remove it from the hotpot and place it in your little bowl (the one I described earlier) and leave it to sit there in the flavour and cool down. Yet another great thing about this dish is that it is much more hygienic than sharing a banquet because both the food and the chopsticks are placed in boiling water before entering your mouth, whereas a traditional chinese meal involves everyone eating from the same plates in the middle.

Enough about hotpots - except to add one last thing - beware the chilli! Not only is it extremely spicy (Sichuan is famous for for having the hottest food in China) but if you keep cooking too much in the spicy section of the hotpot then I guarantee you will have intense stomach pains the next morning and you are also highly likely to have diarrhoea. But I think it’s well worth it :p

On the monday morning we woke up at 5am because we were getting picked up from our hotel at 5:30am to be taken on a group tour up to the top of the mountain to see the giant buddha. (there are also many other famous buddhist temples and natural wonders to be seen) Unfortunately we were locked inside and we had to yell out for several minutes before one of the housekeepers woke up and came to let us out. By that stage we had missed our ride but we rang the tour company and thankfully the taxi came back for us. We were then driven to a central bus station where we were going to get onto the bus which would take us up to the summit. At this point I discovered I had diarrhoea as a result of being too ambitious with the chilli section of the hotpot. (and I will take this opportunity to say Hooray for chinese toilets)

We then took the bus up the mountain, at the halfway rest spot I had to visit the mens room yet again, once we reached the top I had the same problem, and it was at this point that we decided it was not worth the hassle. I was not sure if my stomach pains / diarrhoea was going to subside anytime soon and the weather was atrocious, it was raining and the cloud was so thick that visibility was down to 10m or 20m. Haixiao was not happy with the idea of staying at Mt Emei and I did not particularly mind if we stayed or left either. I am more interested in doing tourism at Beijing and possibly Xian than at a remote mountain with Buddhist temples.

Since Monday we have mostly just been relaxing in Chengdu and it has been quite pleasant (aside from an initial argument we had when we first got back to Chengdu) - Haixiao is sadly not fond of the idea of being away from ‘home’. I thought it would not be a problem at all because she has spent most of the last 4 years at her dormitory in Zigong however that was a fixed location and she was familiar with the place and the people there. *At least* it seems that as long as she feels that the place is ‘her own’ then she is content, so when she visits Australia it should not be too hard for her *fingers crossed*…

I am having a great time here but I am definitely starting to miss everyone back in Oz. Mt Emei was a disappointment but we still got to see some beautiful countryside and some of the natural beauty of the mountain (as well as two or three old temples) In the last two days leading up to our ill-fated trip to Mt Emei we did some clothes shopping - I got three t-shirts and Haixiao got a summer dress and top (all of which cost 260RMB/$45AUD in total). Also her parents took us to a carnival/theme park located in Chengdu. The theme park was called ‘Floraland’ and it had some nice garden areas as well as a ferris wheel and lots of other cool rides. Haixiao and I took a ride on the ferris wheel and also on two of the more ‘thrilling’ rides… one of which was actually very scary and it took a lot of cajoling and caressing for Haixiao to be brave enough to go on the ride with me. As we left the ride we discovered that they had a photo of us for sale and it had actually turned out to be a fantastic picture. I am smiling and laughing but Haixiao is screaming and looks very scared. I will get a copy of the picture up on the site as soon as I can.

Since arriving back in Chengdu we have done a little more shopping (mostly presents etc..), we have visited a traditional chinese street with lots of lanterns and has been dollied up for tourism purposes, and we have also lounged around and watched movies and just generally relaxed. (it is good to be able to properly spend time together since Sunday when we left her parents place)

Sincere apologies for not being able to post any new pictures but I have taken a lot of good photos and I hope to be able to post them either tonight or thursday night at the latest, I will let you all know when I do.

I really am missing you all lots and I hope things are going well back in Australia. Haixiao and I are getting to know each other better and we the spell has been broken (ie we know things are not 100% perfect between us) but we are both committed to putting in the effort to overcome the obstacles we face (distance, culture, her parents restrictions etc etc).

We have decided I will be postponing my return by around three weeks, I intend to come back soon after the first weekend in August. (anyone in the weed crc that may be reading this - if my help would be valuable from around that time then I would be extremely pleased to oblige)

Take care and all the best, I will see you all in a little over a month.

Will

P.S. more pictures tonight or tomorrow i promise!