The adventures of a foreign devil in a foreign land called China. Includes commentary on travel, work, literature, movies, and the general situation in China.
We stayed in a cheap hotel in Shuyang (??), which wasn't the best decision, but we didn't know before heading out. We should've stayed in a guesthouse or converted tulou in Taxia (??) village. Taxia is probably the largest village in the area and is quite picturesque (it looked like at least one restaurant even had a menu). Overlooking the village is the Zhang ancestral temple, which is surrounded by dragon poles built to honor successful family members and provide aspirations for the younger generations. I probably could've spent a couple days in Taxia, staring at the architecture and the mountains, but we had the day planned for visiting all the sites. There are quite a few tulou that tourist stop at for one reason or other--the largest, the oldest, slightly different architecture, etc. There were a few that were definitely worth stopping in, like the oldest at Yuchang. Of course, after visiting so many tulou in Fujian in a day, it's easy to get tired. It's a good idea to take some time and wander off on the paths through the villages that aren't inhabited by tourists and watch the residents harvest rice and tea crops. And occasionally, a few water buffalo will stroll nearby.
The greatest difficulty Jia and I had on our trip to Fujian province was the food. We can always find food to eat, but it wasn't quite so easy in the countryside. None of the restaurants we tried had a menu. We were both dumbfounded--they expected us to go to the cooler, pick out what we wanted and tell them how to cook it. Now, we're not experts on Hakka (ke jia) food, so we couldn't just tell the staff what dishes we wanted. We ended up with some fairly bland dishes on those days.
At the first restaurant we stopped in, Jia looked in the cooler and hastily made the decision to leave. "It's all wild animals," she said. Apparently the animals in the cooler were cut up in any way, and sat atop all the vegetables. I'm just glad I didn't have a look.
Looking back, we should have consulted Mr. W about food as he is Guangdong Hakka and enjoys the food. Had we been prepared, we might have enjoyed eating a bit more. Instead we suffered.
The Fujian countryside is one of the best destinations of my three years in China (others include Jiuzhaigou and Xinjiang). I knew I'd be impressed by the unique Hakka architecture of the region, but I still wasn't prepared for what I saw.
Though it was a bit hazy during the morning of our journey, the air was certainly cleaner than almost anywhere I've visited in China. The Hakka tulou (?? earth houses) were more prominent in the scenery than I had expected--I thought there were just a few of these. These structures made of rock, mud, and wood were amazing to see from outside and inside. Best of all, the people were friendly and, even in the more touristy areas, not pushy when it came to selling souvenirs.
We avoided most of the crowds at the tulou as we departed early in the morning in a private car through the mountain roads. We weren't so lucky when we got back to Xiamen, where the streets were packed with noisy tourists for the Golden Week.My only regret was that I didn't change my camera settings and ended up with the stupid time stamp (with the wrong date) on all my photos. On some of them, I can crop out the date.
When we go on vacation we seek two things: culture and food. We had plenty of culture in Malaysia, and we had to balance it out with the local flavors.
The best restaurant we found was Baba Nyonya Cuisine in Georgetown, Penang. Really, the best food we had in Malaysia was in Penang--even the street food was wonderful. But this restaurant intertwined the quiet atmosphere of eating at home with traditional Baba Nyonya dishes and some of the best service we experienced in a long time.
It's located on Jalan Negore, a quiet street, at the end of a line of small restaurants that mostly served Chinese food. The interior is cozy and decorated in a Chinese style (as Baba Nyonya are Chinese decendents). But the food is nothing like anything I've had in China. They use a lot of red curry, vegetables, and fish in the dishes. While other restaurants on the street seemed a little crowded, this one remained quiet.
Being our final day in Penang, we went all out and tried almost every local dish we could. The cook/waitress answered all our questions about the food and made us want to try even more. We ended up ordering chai sim, curry capitan chicken, curry tumis assam fish (I think we ordered a second helping), Nyonya pie tee (also known as top hats), jeuhoo char, and inchi kaybin. There may have even been other dishes. It was more than enough for four people, but we ate it all because it was just so good. In all, it only cost 130 Ringgits, including fresh fruit juice and coffee.
It's time for the annual October holiday known as National Day. As everyone who works in China knows, we generally have to work the weekend before the seven-day holiday to make up for the time lost to time off of work. If you're confused by this explanation, you're not alone.
A couple years ago, I remember doing the math on the New Year's holiday. We had three days off in the middle of the week, but to make up for those three days off we had to work the prior weekend. So, really, we gave them time--we worked the two days we should usually have off in exchange for one extra day. I guess they were using the new math.
This year for National Day, Jia and I have decided to take a few days to tour around Fujian Province. We have a private guide and we'll get to stay in a Hakka village. I've been interested in seeing these Hakka Tulou homes for quite some time. This wasn't our original plan, but flights to Bali were a bit expensive for this week. I think Fujian will be a great substitute.
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