Last weekend, my mom and I ditched our school’s staff Thanksgiving party for a trip to a small village a few hours northwest of Shenzhen. My friend, Vanessa, joined our tour group of nine people, including our guide.
We arrived in Zhaoxing by train around lunch time and almost immediately sat down to a deliciously authentic Chinese meal at our adorable boutique hotel. As soon as we pulled up to the wooden building, I thought it looked like a ski lodge, especially because it was nestled between spiky, towering mountains. The main room had bean bag chairs in front of the wide windows and snow globes adorned each table. Outside, the porch had a swinging chair, which I spent a large fraction of my time reading in. In the dining room, we ate spicy duck soup, greens coated in flavorful soy sauce, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, rice, and more. The hot, black tea helped warm us up, as it was cooler there than it is in Shenzhen this time of year.
After lunch, we set out to explore the village. An hour of walking later, we came upon a bubble milk tea shop and Vanessa and I each got some. I hadn’t expected it to be very good, but we were very pleased with the quality. Most bubble tea shops use fillers in their tapioca bubbles, but this place’s was made of rice and tasted very natural. The shop had a wall of post-it notes, written by visitors. Almost all of them were in Chinese, except for one in English with the Instagram of a girl who, after a quick search, we discovered was an Italian exchange student living in China. Vanessa messaged her and she seemed pretty surprised to hear that someone else who spoke English had found her note on the wall.
Right next door to the tea shop was a candy stall, mostly selling sweets made from fruit. Mom bought a bag of chewy mango cubes coated in sugar. I’m dreading the day that we run out of them, because they’re amazing.
We continued to wander, looking in little shops at all of the fabrics, clothes, and bags. They make some kind of blue dye there, so everything is handmade and the color of the ocean. One shop was full of post cards, phone cases, and other small accessories, all designed digitally by the owner. It was all super cute and ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for me.
After the shopping, we took our seats to watch a traditional dance performance. The setting sun left the sky a dusty gray, accented by the warm lighting of the square. Women in dresses sang and men played instruments. Although it was a nice performance, many people were more interested in the little blonde haired, blue eyed baby in our group. Vanessa and I played with him and a woman gave him some candy.
Finally, we trekked back to the hotel for dinner to feast on fish soup, more greens and rice, chicken and bell peppers, corn, sweet potatoes, carrots, and more hot tea. More women, dressed in the same clothes as the dancers, brought around rice wine in a bowl and sang as everyone took a sip. As a slight germophobe, I was concerned by this, and Vanessa and I thought that everyone might get the plague or something. It was entertaining, though.
As you may have noticed, food was a big part of the first day of our trip. In my next post, I’ll cover the second day and our scenic, three-hour hike across rice terraces and through the forest. Have a superb Sunday!
Way Out Wanderer 