Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Horse Trekking Eats

3 days 2 nights. Transportation, accomodation and food provided. Fresh air, breathtaking scenery, up close and personal with nature. That about sums up my most adventurous activity in Songpan, South West China (with 3 friends). Guess it's time to let the pictures 'bring' you there!

TRANSPORTATION:-
Fuel efficient with high metabolisme levels. The 'vehicles' added value/fertilised nature's earth and air (in other words, shitted and farted) all the way while in motion. On the 2nd day, one had a minor puncture which the horse masters/owners efficiently 're-hammered' the horse shoe into place with nails of about 1 1/2 inches long! Those hooves are really thick and tough.


ACCOMMODATION:-

One with nature - Camp outdoor in the wilderness! The horse-masters turned butlers and made our beds. Bracken on first layer (to allow water to flow through in case it rains) followed by sleeping bags and further covered with thick quilts (in red colour). How cold were the nights? 4 of us cramped into 1 tent wearing long johns and wool socks! Our butlers slept in an open tent in just their thin daywear.




FOOD:-

Lunches
The first meal we had was lunch. A real shocker - tasteless dry bread with raw tomatoes mixed with salt, sugar and dried chily flakes served with weak tea!
Second day there was a distinctive
difference - fresh cucumber instead on tomatoes. o_0"

Dinners
Those were better. Much much better. Phew!
On the first night, our 'butlers' turned chefs and cooked us noodles somewhat similar to 'pan-mien' (flat broad noodles) with a healthy dose of various mushrooms which they brought and plucked in the mountains. Very good and satisfying in the cold weather!
Second night, our dear chefs served us white fluffy rice with 2 dishes of vegetables. We were in heaven!

Breakfasts
Now this is real interesting! Our capable chefs baked bread using the pot over fire! Just look at the pictures and tell me the if the fresh baked bread don't look delicious! Actually, the buns were fluffy and soft but somehow lacked the wholesome smell or taste. See that stir-fried cabbage? It went extremely well with the buns. Giving you new ideas?


Our second breakfast was just as good. They fried some dough which turned out to taste a bit like 'ham-chim-pheang' (literally means salty fried biscuit) but with sugar sprinkled on them. Stir-fried pumpkins and potatoes were served to complement them. However we found our winners when we whipped out our 3-in-1 coffee mixtures!

They did cook more than enough for 4 of us and 3 of them. Guess what they do with the leftovers? Feed the horses!

12 comments:

Unknown said...

wow...interesting adventure? How much it cost per person a?

teckiee said...

You got to fill me up on this mannn .....will surely want to include this in my "next place to visit" plans

Rasa Malaysia said...

Wow, you really do "rough it." Tents and camping and horses...the roti looks good!

Tummythoz said...

Funny, my replies yesterday did not register. Oh well, I'll just do it again.

jackson, approx. RMB300/RM150 for 3D2N if memory serves me right. Our pooled money for group expenses were held by 1 who acted as a 'financier' who settled expenses incurred as a group. So, I didn't pay much attention to such things. :p

teckiee, they do not have website nor an emeil add. Only tel numbers. Foreign tourists usually just book to ride out the next morning upon arrival at the ancient. No need to search as there'll be 'welcoming touts' at the us stations. No fear of being fleeced though. Since there's only 1 monopoly company, price/deals offered are quite standard.

RM, the fees/charges were paid before we rode out, so we did fear being robbed and left to die in the mountains!

backStreetGluttons said...

wa this type of marcopolo adventure still got ? if jackson,tekkie,rm and u go again part 2 i want come along ok. with wonderful people like all of u sure cannot starve one !

how much deposit to pay ? Don't forget !

cookies_cream said...

The fried dough looks yummy~! Do you have any recipe for them? =)

Anonymous said...

Wow this is definitely an adventure worth trying out! Must put it on my to-do list :)

Tummythoz said...

tonixe, frankly I dare not eat much as only 'nature washrooms' available ... *cringe*

cookies_cream, 'chef' mentioned only plain flour with water. Then 'pot-fried' (no pan available) in oil. It's crispy a bit but tastless.

tuktoyaktuk, yes it was! Strong sun-block highly recommended.

Collecting Moments said...

wow those buns look better than oven bake ones. :)

The last pic is really funny, first glance i tot wats up with the horses's mouth...it looks like a really big red nose.

Tummythoz said...

honey star, haha. Those were actually recycled basketballs! The horses didn't seem to mind a bit. Even when they finished eating, they'll just stand there quietly until the 'contraptions' were taken off.

Unknown said...

tummythoz, may b u should consider the suggestion of toxine, organise one trip for us...hehe

Tummythoz said...

jackson, financial constraint edi .. got full sponsorship? :P
FYI, heard that MAS is going to scratch its Chengdu direct flights by this year-end. BTW, there was a req before that you organise one ard KL, right? :>

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