A long trip from Beijing to Wuyuan (To be continued)

Written by Ms. LILY Apr 11, 2013 02:13
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I have been very busy recently. I feel like I am a robot who wake up at 06:30 every morning and then go to work. When I get back home, I rest again and then go to work when I wake up. At weekends, I can’t sleep late because I have to go back to my mom’s home to take care of my baby. What a busy life! Unfortunately, busy life can’t make me forget unhappy things. Maybe, I need a break.

Yes, I need a break. I went into my boss’ office and pled him to permit that I could take a rest. He frowned a bit but agreed. Cheers! But I didn’t make any plan yet. My husband said “It doesn’t matter. Perhaps, we may go to visit your elder brother and his wife.” “Yes, yes. My brother is at his wife’s old home. They are in Jiangxi now. When we get there, we may take a chance to visit Wuyuan.”

My sister-in-law’s home is not far from Changsha city though it is located in Jiangxi Province. So we decided to reach Changsha by air first and then take train to my sister-in-law’s home.

Itinerary:
Day 1 2013.02.17
Beijing-Changshai-Pingxiang
Day 2 2013.02.18
Pingxiang – Jingdezhen
Day 3 2013.02.19
Jingdezhen – Wuyuan
Day 4 2013.02.20
Wuyuan (Rainbow Bridge-Sixiyan Village) – Hefei
Day 5 2013.02.21
Hefei – Beijing

Feb. 17
Our flight takes off at 07:55 today. Last night, we got back home at 01:30 and packed up some clothes. The alarm clock woke us up at 04:40. We just slept for less than two hours. We didn’t have time to sleep. It was a bit late. We rushed out and took a taxi to the subway station. My husband had the backpack on his back and two boxes of dessert in hands. Why did he carry two boxes of dessert? My mother-in-law prepared the dessert as gift for my sister-in-law. She asked us to bring it to them. In fact, my brother asked me to bring him two bottles of medicated wine made by Tong Ren Tang. I promised him but we didn’t buy the wine in Beijing because we couldn’t bring so much gift. My husband googled and found that Tong Ren Tang had branches in Changsha. Then we decided to buy the wine when we got to Changsha.

We took subway first and then changed airport express line to the airport. Suddenly, we noticed that the airport and planes were covered by the heavy fog. It’s likely that our flight might be delayed. Bingo! When we boarded the plane, the steward broadcasted that the plane couldn’t take off on time because of the fog. It wasn’t a big deal. Both of us were sleepy. We just wanted to sleep. We didn’t remember when the plane took off and when we had breakfast. My husband was woken up by the voice from the broadcast. He pushed my arms and woke me up because the plane was about to land at Changsha airport.

It was sprinkling when we got off the plane. I was a bit upset. My husband comforted me “Cheer up! Format your brain and forget all unhappy things. We come here to relax ourselves.” He’s right and I felt better. Our flight was delayed for two hours. We took the airport shuttle bus to the Changshai Railway Station, bought the train tickets to Pingxiang and deposited our luggage at the cloak room. Then my husband suggested we feed our stomach at Wangfujing. I have heard of famous Changsha snacks many times. This time, I was going to taste them all.

where to taste the local snacks? Huo Gong Dian (Fire Palace), of course. It was originally a temple built to worship the God of Fire. Every year, a temple fair was held on June 23 (Chinese lunar calendar). Thanks to the temple fair, the vendors gathered together to sell local snacks. Gradually, it has changed from a temple to a restaurant that specializes in Changsha snacks and Hunan cuisine. Chairman Mao once visited Huo Gong Dian and ate some Hunan dishes there.

My husband and I just tasted some typical Changsha snacks, including Smelly Tofu, Long Zhi Pork Blood, Sugar Coated Glutinous Rice Balls (Tang You Ba Ba), Sisters’ Rice Balls (Zi Mei Tuanzi) and Bean Jelly.

It’s getting late. My husband urged me to buy the medicated wine. I almost forgot it. We caught a taxi to a Tong Ren Tang branch and got back to Wangfujing again. I was confused why we got back here again. My husband said we almost missed another delicious dish. What? He said that one of his colleagues came to Changsha for a business trip. He strongly recommended Griddle Cooked Bullfrog to him. This time we came, my husband decided to enjoy it with me.

We reached the restaurant past 19:00. It’s dinner time. We couldn’t find a table but I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to taste the bullfrog. So I came to a table and asked if we could share the table with her. A girl said “OK”. Nice! We ordered Griddle Cooked Bullfrog and started to chat with them. They told us they were locals in Changsha and came to this restaurant frequently. Why? The dishes here are very delicious. They knew we were “outlanders” but were curious how we knew this place. My husband told them his colleague recommended this place to him. I should say the bullfrog was very nice. Two of us ate it up.

My husband and I took a rest at the restaurant and then we took a taxi to the railway station. We took back our luggage and entered the railway station. We didn’t buy the hard seat tickets because they were sold out. My husband bought two hard berth tickets for us. How wise he was! I went to sleep immediately when I lay down. We arrived at Ping Xiang after one hour and fifty-one minutes. After walking out of the Pingxiang Railway Station, I saw my brother and his wife wait for us. We chatted for a second and my sister-in-law suggested we have a midnight snack together. OMG! My stomach was still full but I couldn’t decline her invitation. She brought us to a grill run by her friend. The roast pork spareribs were delicious. And the fried rice noodles were nice too.

My sister-in-law brought us to a hotel in the downtown area. She told us that it was a bit cold at her home and was worried we might bear the coldness. Thus, she booked a room and wanted us to have a good rest.

Feb 18
It was drizzling outside when we got up. We checked out and went to my sister-in-law’s home. Her dad told us that there was a restaurant that specialized in cooking free range chicken. I couldn’t wait and told my husband I would definitely taste it. We chatted for almost four hours and then went out to taste the free range chickens. Bad luck! The restaurant was closed. So my sister-in-law suggested we dine somewhere else. She asked me if I dared to eat snake. To be frank, I hated eating snake but I didn’t want to let her down. I told her “It’s ok.

Just after a while, my sister-in-law brought us to a restaurant run by her old schoolmate. She ordered a table of dishes and enjoined the waitresses that we couldn’t bear too much spicy food. In fact, it was only me and my brother who couldn’t stand spicy food. I thanked her and her parents for being so considerate from the bottom of my heart. Well, the dishes were still spicy even we told them that spicy food wasn’t our type. I didn’t bite any snake meat at the table. It reminded me of the living snakes. By the way, I was impressed by the medicated liquor offered in the restaurant. It was made of snake heads and other traditional Chinese medicine.

PS: Ping Xiang is under jurisdiction of Jiangxi Province. However, its people share many characteristics in common with Changsha locals. Their living styles, eating habits, languages etc. are all the same.

Excluding the snake meat, I enjoyed bamboo shoots soup, stewed chicken with preserved vegetable, pig feet, fried mud snails and sweet taro root soup. We went to a supermarket to supplement our food. My brother, my husband and I was going to visit Jingdezhen and Wuyuan so that we had to prepare enough food. My sister-in-law said she wanted to stay at home for a few days more. Thus, she didn’t come with us.

Jingdezhen is celebrated for porcelain. We arrived at 20:30, checked in at a Jinjiang Inn and then went out for dinner. We were impressed by this city. The wire poles are made of porcelain and porcelain buildings are easily found here.

“What do we eat tonight?”, asked my brother. I had access to the internet via my cellphone and finally decided to go to a restaurant called Mao Zai. It offers different kinds of local snacks. The dinner cost around CNY 60. It wasn’t expensive and we couldn’t eat any more. My brother suggested we visit the chinaware shop after we finished our dinner. None of us knew about porcelain. The shop owner told us all his products were made by famous masters. The cheapest one costs more than CNY 10000. Definitely, we wouldn’t buy any piece of chinaware. It’s too expensive for us.

My husband bought a map on our way back to hotel. We did some lessons and then decided to visit Sanbao International Porcelain Village first and then headed for Wu Yuan tomorrow.

 More Jiangxi Travel Reviews
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