South West China

Tadaa.. the answers to hints given in my earlier post. Though most would have known by now, the show must go on!

:P

Food Hint:-
Its steamboat style ala Szechuan Hot Stone Pot. One side was clear soup (always a safe option to act as 'insurance') while the other in red is the infamous HYPER HOT Szechuan Soup. The chilly oil attacked our throats relentlessly and numbed our tongues with loads of hidden 'pepper flower' (Jiao-hua in Mandarin). It was crazy but since the weather was quite cold, we were able to do it justice. Hardly pot bottom scrapping but at least all of us did 1 bowl of fire each (small bowl-lar)!

That's a food tier holding a few of our chosen ingredients ready to be dipped into the hot pot. A few kinds of local mushrooms (yummy), fishpaste of a local fish from the Juizhaiguo waters (sweet but pricey), thin slices of pork (tasted like very salty bacon) and a variety of local greens.

Scenery Hint:-
Yes, it's Juizhauguo, a national park which is mooted to have heavenly scenery ("sin-keng" in Cantonese). Below picture is the entrance gate where all visitors have to purchase the 3-days pass (approx. RM120) and bus ticket (approx. RM40). Expensive! Highlight:- they allow us to take a group photo which is scanned unto our individual passes instead of just the individual holder's face appearing on each. One of my best souvenir from the trip!Animal hint:-
There, the baby at 1 month old! Now it's so obvious, isn't it?

Activity hint:-
Arranged tours from Malaysia seldom stop at Songpan. Most would just pass through or pointed out as an ancient city from afar. Anyone for horse trekking in the mountains? This company monopolises this business in Songpan. Most of their clients are Korean tourists so other than Mandarin, quite a number of the locals there speak Korean. English? Let's just put it this way, it's not a common language in China even amongst the officials stationed at the gates of the most touristy spots! Well, in that part of the country at least.

So far I have not met anyone who did the horse trekking there. So, interested to find out about the accomodation & food served? Come around again soon, ok!

In the meantime, happy chowing!