Xin nian Kuaile Part II


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February 26th 2010
Published: February 26th 2010
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The Korla DamThe Korla DamThe Korla Dam

Provides 1/3 of the cities power
By this point I am aware that I am repeating myself about the food, but it was all too good to miss out...

The 18th was the 5th day the festivals which means more dumplings, which were very nice with the delicious honey again. We had decided it would be nice to cook a western meal for each of Toms’ parents. The only cooking methods available were boiling and frying as ovens in a Chinese home are very rare. The only thing we could think to cook with the ingredient and equipment restraints was Spaghetti Bolognese; not English, but they don’t need to know that...

We trailed out of the house to buy the ingredients for our lunch and I found the shopping experience an enjoyable challenge. It was a good laugh trying to guess what of the random bags of brown powder could be cumin and likewise, I hadn’t realised how hard it would be to decipher coriander from the abundance of green leaves available. I was very impressed we managed to find everything we were looking for, with the substitution of beef favoured soup granules for stock cubes and soy sauce for Lea and Perins.

The only real challenge was finding good quality beef and have it minced. We went to two other supermarkets and finally took a taxi to a cute open air market where whole cattle, sheep and pigs were hanging from metal hooks around the edges of the stalls. The meat looked bright red and fresh and we found a woman with a mincing machine and paid her to let us use it.

Cooking the lunch turned out just fine apart from one major flaw; the confusion of sugar for salt! We managed to get the skins off the tomatoes by scoring them and placing them in boiling water for a minute or two. It was incredibly satisfying to cook a meal totally from scratch in a foreign land. I enjoy cooking from basic ingredients back home but I do not have to peel the tomatoes or mince the beef myself!

After adding a suitable volume of wine and red pepper to try to remove the extra salt taste, the meal was ready. One problem we hadn’t accounted for was the lack of plates. We served up the food on two large dishes for us all to help ourselves and tackled the spag-bol with tiny bowls and chopsticks! Messy, but a good laugh.

After lunch we trotted off back to Toms’ dads’ house again. I think I preferred it there, mainly because he always seems so pleased to have us and tries to engage us in some conversation and Q&A sessions, but also because we can smoke anywhere at any time! We decided to play ‘kill the landlord’ (a Chinese card game we learnt in Chengdu) and due to the lack of small change, we decided to turn gambling into drinking and I ended up pissed again on deer-antler medicinal alcohol.

The next day, we were woken up around 10:30 with the call for breakfast of rice and sweet potato porridge, which we both found far too heavy for 30 seconds after we woke up! We struggled through till around 11am, full to the brim and shortly after Toms’ fathers’ friends arrived.

Lunch started around 12:30 - very shortly after we finished breakfast, plates of chickens feet, spiced lamb, sausage and chilli were placed before us and the two guests. We began to tuck in, rather half heartedly due to our swollen-breakfast-stomachs. After eating our fill Tom announced that the first round of cold dishes was done with and it was time to move on to the hot second round. Our faces fell as we were beginning to feel quite ill with the constant stuffing our faces.

We tried a number of tactics to weasel out of the situations - point blank refusal gets us nowhere as the adults force fags, booze and food into our hands, plates and faces. The never ending flow of cigarette was combated by pretending to light them and quickly shoving them into our pockets or under the tables. The flood of rice wine and deer’s’-head alcohol was sometimes avoided by pouring tea into our shot glasses when no one was looking, however often our glasses were filled up again automatically and no amount of ‘bu huae’ (no drink!) would suffice. The food issue was the most difficult of all. I had tried to eat slower as to eat less of the meal, but in China it is quite normal for the hosts and hosts friends to put food onto your plate whether you like it or not (hence eating pigs and chickens feet all week). There seemed to be no way out, and at 3pm we were still being served more dishes. Another of Toms’ fathers’ friends arrived causing him to put out even more. My stamina had waned by 4pm and I had given up completely, telling Tom that I would be sick if I had to eat another bite.

To my great relief at 4:30pm we were able to catch a break by playing ‘kill the landlord’ in our bedroom for a while. My stomach was so swollen I found it uncomfortable to lie down and play at the same time. Soon after a few rounds my heart sunk when a fourth of Toms’ fathers’ friends arrived and we were dragged to the table again! Chinese cabbage and chilli, hot green beans with pork strips, gelatine eggs, fried shrimp, more sausage, sugared tomatoes, lamb and chicken pieces (which were tasty but not worth the bony hassle) and crunchy salami among others. I began to feel gripped by a state of panic; I just couldn’t eat anymore. Anyone that knows me will know what a fan of food I really am but this was really ridiculous; being forced to eat, drink and smoke is very uncomfortable and was bordering on the absurd, as grateful as I was to receive such doting hospitality. Toms’ father brought out a canister of tea that cost him 1600 RMB (150 pounds) and we were obliged to drink it. It was an honour to have such an expensive drink (nearly one months’ salary) but I wish I could have stressed that it tasted much the same as the regular brand and I just didn’t have the capacity to enjoy anything else being forced upon me. After half an hour or so I started to get immense stabs of pain throughout my mid section and had to make my excuses to walk around my room for a bit. The cigarette avoidance was not going to plan either as lighters were being shoved into my face; I had a booming headache.

Half an hour later I trudged back into the room where crisps and fruit were being laid out on the table. I picked at a few bits and pieces, everyone was now too drunk to notice my slyly placing the food back onto the plate again! I was harassed to sing again so this time I went with Hotel California, which was exceedingly embarrassing but they enjoyed it. I enjoyed the remainder of the evening, having the opportunity to show off my mandarin What I have learnt from these last 10 days is be careful what you wish for; it might just come true one day! I have no doubt that the Chinese will forever be the most hospitable race in my eyes, albeit a very forceful one, but all they want is to please.


Saturday 20th I was pleasantly surprised with a large delivery of Vigor lamb and onion ‘dumplings’ for breakfast and another bowl of milk tea. Fenner and I stuffed ourselves full again, ready for the arrival of two more of Toms’ fathers friends for lunch (an hour after breakfast)

The lunch was delicious; oily lamb soup with huge, flat Vigor bread (the Vigor food is freaking awesome) tender lamb meatballs, egg with tomato and chilli, spicy pork sausage, corned beef slices and more fried shrimp. After a few conversations about English salary, cars, politics and law we headed out with the two friends and Tom in their car to see the Korla gate of the ancient Silk Road.

15 minutes out of the city and we were in the snow covered mountains. We were lucky enough to get into the national park without paying as one of the men knew the ticket guard! We also managed to climb over the wall surrounding the magnificent dam (another feat of Chinese green technology, which supplies one third of the cities power by hydroelectric) and around the stony foot of the mountain, out to a jut over hanging the lake. The lake was another beautiful still green-blue region of water. We passed Mongolian settlements and glimpsed a Chinese wedding on the foothills of the moutains 😊

After our little walk we drove around to the other side of the mountain reserve to the Silk Road. It was amazing to think that it was possible to walk along one road and eventually end up in Rome. We took some photos and pissed about in the snow for a while; I became thoughtful of how well Fenner and I were getting along, possibly the best day out yet.

We were dropped off and Toms’ mothers’ where we were to spend our final two nights in Xinjiang. We were treated to a lovely, and thankfully light, dinner of gorgeous pumpkin pancakes sandwiched around lamb and onions. After tea we left to visit Toms’ cousins house, which I really didn’t want to do as I was tired and expecting an influx of food, alcohol and cigarettes. Everything was fine though as it was only an hours’ visit and involved none of the above.

The next day we left Xinjiang bound for Xian for the third time. I regretfully write that Fenner and I have now gone our separate ways. It appears that China is not very high up on the back packing list for many and I’m finding it difficult to meet others doing anything like what I plan to do, in hostels or via travelling websites. I have decided to readjust my plans accordingly and I am now bound for Shanghai with some British lads I met this week. At this time, I am putting my plans of working in China on hold asI'm not sure I want to live alone for the time being but we will see; Hopefully this upsetting turn of events will strengthen my character, my confidence and give me a good opportunity to like myself again after having a bit of a self-esteem battering! Hopefully it won’t be too long before I look back at this and laugh at what a wuss I've been!

So I will end this section with a little list of curiosities about local life in china:

• The national time scale is a bit off to say the least in Xinjiang - China is unified under one time zone and we are of course as far western as you can get in this country which currently causes the sun to rise at 9am and in the summer, sunset is at midnight.

• I enjoyed several conversations with Tom regarding marriage and relationships in China; Tom is my age and has recently come under a lot of pressure from his whole family to marry his girlfriend. During the train ride we had a long conversation about sex and marriage. It is not uncommon here for a woman to surgically reconstruct her hymen as virginity is very precious (however it is fine for a man to sleep around). Tom has already slept with his girlfriend and is therefore expected to marry her, which he says he hopes to do next year. He also mentioned that if she were to fall pregnant, there will be no other choice than to have an abortion to save the families shame.

• Women who pursue higher degrees will find rarely get married; a husband will find this very intimidating.

• In a relationship a man pays for everything for his girlfriend, even though she works, she will save her money for her own spending.

• I was told during one meal that I was only receiving my tea from the men with one hand because to give something with two hands (as I had been giving money to all the workers in shops/hostels etc) is a term of respect, which is not applicable to me.
• I was also told that races with brown eyes are more intelligent than those with lighter eyes, as the reflection of colour is comparable with the reflection in the brain!


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18th May 2010
Chinese Wedding

magical
This picture has something magical about it, like it's ripped from a fantasy story or something, it's pretty cool!

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