This time I was in China, I decided to go to Wuhan to visit my friend Liz who I'd met many years ago when she was living in Lhasa. We hadn't seen each other for 5 years since the last time we had travelled to Nepal together. So much has changed in our lives, yet at the same time so little, I guess we never really change as people even if our circumstances change.
What else to do in Wuhan but to eat? The weather was totally miserable - it had been fiendishly hot before I got there and I was "blessed" with a couple of overcast days dotted by rain. The sky was dishwater grey and the air thick like the inside of a dirty filter - if it wasn't for my friend I don't think I would have ever visited Wuhan.
Wuhan style shao mai, made using what tasted like wonton wrappers and filled with a spicy peppery mince which oozed out the sides as we ate, covering our fingers in sticky hot oil.
Strangely this is called dou pi or bean skin - my brain had imagined this to be some sort of tofu dish where it was maybe sliced up and mixed with something. Nothing like my imagination, it's actually cooked sticky rice mixed with a concotion of dried bamboo, preserved sausages and mince, the whole thing covered with a thin layer of fried egg. The man on full time dou pi duty fries the egg first, then spreads the rice and the savoury mix on top, then flips the whole thing over. Quite impressive how he keeps it all very neat.
As we walked around the city, I felt like I had to take a few obligatory tourist snaps, but I'm really bad at that. This is the first bridge over the Yangtze river, built by the Russians during the time when China was friendly with them. One can see how bad the air pollution is - the bridge appears to disappear into the mist and despite the fact the river is only a few hundred metres across, the other side is barely visible.
The city centre pedestrian street had a few random bronze statues, I thought this little kid was pretty cute.
At night we went to the most popular local chain, famous for its mini "lobsters". It was so popular that it had bought out several surrounding restaurants and despite all the original signs still being there advertising other random food, it all belonged to the same shop.
Sichuan-style rice vermicelli with a mouth numbing chilli paste and delicious roasted peanuts.
Cold noodles, a local specialty mixed with sesame paste, vinegar and soy sauce. This was so tasty we ate another bowl after we finished the lobsters. And then got a maxi serving in a bucket for a midnight snack.
Mini lobsters - I don't actually know what these are, maybe crayfish? They must be really smart creatures because their brains were absolutely humongous and the bodies contained just a morsel of sweet flesh. We had ours pan fried with mouth numbing chilli paste, and I swear the sauce was sympathomimetic - I felt so high afterwards and was tachycardic for hours.
Gloves - what a great idea! We went through several pairs.
Rice noodles with fish broth. Small fish which are unsuitable for other types of cooking are cooked down to make a rich pungent fish stock, which is then served over fresh rice noodles. Tasted like you were slurping the inside of a fish.
My absolute highlight of Wuhan - re gan mian or hot dry noodles. Really simple wheat noodles (nothing fancy, nothing added), cooked and mixed with sesame paste, sesame oil, chilli and preserved vegetables. This is the most well known breakfast in Wuhan, and I can see why - in winter it's the perfect warmer, and in summer it's so hot it makes you sweat enough to cool down. The noodles are firmer than most other noodles I've eaten in China, and the strands are perfectly coated with the sticky sauce which really works despite a somewhat odd combination. Wuhan people love this dish so much that they make instant noodles of this particular dish, which I took home (and ate copiously in Cairns).
I can't remember the last time I saw soymilk in glass bottles! Reminiscent of my childhood.
Then it started pouring and we were stuck indoors with not much to do.. so we took out Liz's expensive violin and took turns playing it for a while. The Tchaikovsky concerto is a dream for us both, and it's such a beautiful piece no matter which little phrases one manages to squeeze out. Her dad also has an erhu which he plays well - it's a deceptively difficult instrument given it only has two strings and they are bloody close together.
Before I knew it my two days in Wuhan were over and I was back at the airport heading to Shanghai. I remember when we were younger, we both aspired to go to Africa to work. I wonder what's happened to our dreams now that we are older and more "established" in life. They are still there but somewhat buried under all the practicalities of life - can I dig mine out soon? I'm really, really ready for an adventure.
What else to do in Wuhan but to eat? The weather was totally miserable - it had been fiendishly hot before I got there and I was "blessed" with a couple of overcast days dotted by rain. The sky was dishwater grey and the air thick like the inside of a dirty filter - if it wasn't for my friend I don't think I would have ever visited Wuhan.
Wuhan style shao mai, made using what tasted like wonton wrappers and filled with a spicy peppery mince which oozed out the sides as we ate, covering our fingers in sticky hot oil.
Strangely this is called dou pi or bean skin - my brain had imagined this to be some sort of tofu dish where it was maybe sliced up and mixed with something. Nothing like my imagination, it's actually cooked sticky rice mixed with a concotion of dried bamboo, preserved sausages and mince, the whole thing covered with a thin layer of fried egg. The man on full time dou pi duty fries the egg first, then spreads the rice and the savoury mix on top, then flips the whole thing over. Quite impressive how he keeps it all very neat.
As we walked around the city, I felt like I had to take a few obligatory tourist snaps, but I'm really bad at that. This is the first bridge over the Yangtze river, built by the Russians during the time when China was friendly with them. One can see how bad the air pollution is - the bridge appears to disappear into the mist and despite the fact the river is only a few hundred metres across, the other side is barely visible.
The city centre pedestrian street had a few random bronze statues, I thought this little kid was pretty cute.
At night we went to the most popular local chain, famous for its mini "lobsters". It was so popular that it had bought out several surrounding restaurants and despite all the original signs still being there advertising other random food, it all belonged to the same shop.
Gloves - what a great idea! We went through several pairs.
Then it started pouring and we were stuck indoors with not much to do.. so we took out Liz's expensive violin and took turns playing it for a while. The Tchaikovsky concerto is a dream for us both, and it's such a beautiful piece no matter which little phrases one manages to squeeze out. Her dad also has an erhu which he plays well - it's a deceptively difficult instrument given it only has two strings and they are bloody close together.
Before I knew it my two days in Wuhan were over and I was back at the airport heading to Shanghai. I remember when we were younger, we both aspired to go to Africa to work. I wonder what's happened to our dreams now that we are older and more "established" in life. They are still there but somewhat buried under all the practicalities of life - can I dig mine out soon? I'm really, really ready for an adventure.
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