China - Part 3: Guangzhou (Seafood Extravaganza!)

Seeking lower altitudes, we headed from the Yunnan province to warm and sunny Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. Located in the southern part of China, it is a port on the Pearl River. It is renowned for its seafood, pottery and the very cool safari hotel - ChimeLong Hotel...the home of 2 white tigers, dozens of flamingos and a wild animal park. GZ is rich in history and the home of my ancestors. We visited the countryside where we had the opportunity to see villages and palaces called "Diew Lao". Chinese businessmen who conducted overseas trading with the U.S. ended up settling in this area of GuangDong and built these "palaces" once they made their fortune. For these businessmen, after making their fortune, they shifted focus to building a family.

One of our memorable meals was upon our arrival in Guangzhou where we hit up a local seafood restaurant located close to our hotel. This restaurant came highly-recommended from my dad's friend who is a GZ local.

Fresh homemade meat buns

Baby shrimp and fish stir-fry

Handmade Shrimp Wonton Soup

Freshly-milled black seasame seed pudding

With the abundance of seafood in this harbor city, our last meal in Guangzhou was at another famous seafood restaurant. The restaurant occupies four stories. The first floor consisted of a supermarket where restaurant goers had the opportunity to select their meal. From live crocodiles to fresh sea urchin, we were in awe of all the live selection.

Live crocodiles

Sea Urchin

Lobster

Water Bugs (looked like roaches... :S)

Sea Turtle

Sand worms

After walking through the first floor, we were ready to eat! The special thing about this restaurant was that it was all private dining rooms. Each room had its own personal waiter/waitress, private bathroom and private food preparation room. The room itself was elegantly designed room with plasma TV. GZ locals sure know how to live and eat!

Razor clam stir-fry

Roast pork

Fresh shrimp stir-fry

House specialty chicken

Garlic baked scallops

Soy-braised duck wings

Shrimp dumplings

Turnip pastries

Sweet clementines

Our stay in Guangzhou was short but definitely memorable as this province represented our roots. The flavors of this province is the heart and soul of Cantonese cuisine. Not to mention, our accommodations at the Chimelong Hotel was top-notch. Waking up and having breakfast next to white tigers and pink flamingos located in the atrium of the hotel was quite a site. Thank you Guangzhou...Macau here we come!

China - Part 2: Shangri-La

Our quest continued as we headed north in the Yunnan province to Shangri-La.

What and where exactly is Shangri-La? Well, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia that explains it pretty well...

Today, various places claim the title, such as parts of southern Kham in southwestern Yunnan province, including the tourist destinations of Lijiang and Zhongdian. Places like Sichuan and Tibet also claim the real Shangri-La was in its territory. In 2001, Tibet Autonomous Region put forward a proposal that the three regions optimise all Shangri-la tourism resources and promote them as one. After failed attempts to establish a China Shangri-la Ecological Tourism Zone in 2002 and 2003, government representatives of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and Tibet Autonomous Region signed a declaration of cooperation in 2004. Also in 2001, Zhongdian County in northwestern Yunnan officially renamed itself Shangri-La County.

On our trek up to Shangri-La, we stopped at the Tiger Leaping Gorge where we soaked in the natural beauty of a contender for the world's deepest river canyon. Part of the Yangtze River, it is located 60km of LiJiang. This area is a primarily Tibetan county and formerly called Zongdian.

Once we met up with our tour guide, who's name was Tiger (how appropriate), he took us for a typical "tourist meal". We were pleasantly surprised when Tiger took us to this little restaurant located along the Yangtze river for lunch. We had a delicious sampling of locally grown mushrooms and vegetables, along with the infamous rice noodle soup.

Mixture of various varieties of mushrooms

Pumpkin Stew

Rice Noodle Soup

Once we arrived in Shangri-La, we were greeted by extremely cold temperatures and high altitudes. At the highest peak, we were 4150 meters above sea level. The cans of oxygen they were selling became my best friend. Some of us in the group (namely J & I) had trouble walking and climbing stairs. When we were touring the National Park, we hit turtle speed. Luckily our eating abilities were not affected. Our meals at our hotel featured mainly local comfort foods. Such as stew pork belly, soupy rice noodles, steamed ommellette and spicy beef.

Soy sauce stewed pork belly

Spicy crispy beef

Stewed Egg Ommelette

One of the highlights of our Shangri-La experience came at the cultural show where we were served local snacks and drinks. This included yak butter milk tea, yak cheese, soy nuts, and some uber potent rice wine. Although some of us tried some of these snacks, it did not really suit our palates.

After an enjoyable day and a chilly night in Shangri-La (or as they call it: the roof of the world), we headed back to lower altitudes and prepared for our next destination: GuangZhou.

Tah-shi de-leh!

China: Part 1 - LiJiang - Let the Eating Begin

Our Christmas holiday was one for the books - spending it with my family in various parts of China was a real treat - especially for our palate! J and I were super excited to join my Dad and the rest of the Ma clan on this cultural experience. We started our journey in the beautiful Yunnan province, located in the southwestern part of China. The province borders Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province in the east, Sichuan Province in the north, and Tibet Autonomous Region in the northwest. It shares a border of 4,060 km with Myanmar in the west, Laos in the south, and Vietnam in the southeast.

One of the most breathtaking sites I saw was actually on our plane ride from Kunming to LiJiang. Peaking out from the clouds was the majestic Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The far side of the mountain forms one side of the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The Yunnan province is well-known for its numerous varieties of mushrooms, potatoes and corn. At the onset of our trip, we were mainly fed "tourist" meals. This typically consisted of a type of stir-fry assorted mushroom dish, chineses-style omelletes, mixed veggies, and minced meat. Once we were even served french fries! Quite often we would see local street merchants roasting potatoes and filling the air with numerous deep fried meat skewers and breads.

After several rounds of "tourist meals", my dad decided to put his foot down and take matters into his own hands. A foodie at heart, he wanted to savour the true flavors of LiJiang and "eat what the locals eat". With a push and a nudge to our tour guide, we were immediately taken to a local restaurant that specialized in MUSHROOMS! Oh yeah...this meal was definitely memorable. We had the opportunity to dine on one of the most delectable mushroom hotpot ever! The broth was rich and earthy, filled with various chinese herbs. As we waited for it to boil, in came a plethora of mushrooms - several varieties of chicken-tast mushrooms, enoki, chanterelles, oyster mushrooms, morels, and cow liver mushrooms - to name a few. Since these were wild mushrooms, we received specific instructions to wait at least 10 minutes prior to diving in. As we sat around and starred at the pot located at the center of the table, the aroma of the broth, along with the mushrooms (and not to mention the whole blacken chicken they threw in to further flavor the soup) filled the room. We finally attacked the soup and all I can say is...dude, this was da bomb. Honestly, words cannot describe the richness and natural flavors of this hotpot. Without the hinderence of MSG and other manufactured chemicals, I would describe the taste of this soup as mother nature's gift.

Our culinary adventure continued that night as we rang in the new year with a Sichuan meal atop the Jade Dragon Revolving Restaurant located on the on the 23rd floor of our hotel (GuanFang Hotel). Overlooking LiJiang in the highest restaurant in Yunnan, we were amped for our meal while trying not to get too nauseous from the rotation of the resto. We were delighted to try a few new items and to also see some old favorites....here is a sampling...

Szechuan-style roasted jalapeno peppers

Crispy-rice served with a seafood medley

Chili Pepper Chicken (more chili than chicken!)

Salt & Pepper Shrimp (and oldie but a goodie)

Our last meal in LiJiang was capped off at a fantastic restaurant that served some Shanghainese goodies. We sampled on some of these specialties....

Lion-head meatballs

Dry-roasted spicy spare-ribs

Lotus roots stuffed with sweet sticky rice

Roasted pork

Traditional shanghainese buns

A couple of foot massages later and a few attempts at karaoke bars, our crew was ready to take on the next part of our excursion....Shangri-La. We certainly enjoyed the flavors of LiJiang and the hospitality that the city offered. Being so far removed from HK, SH and BJ, LiJiang was truly a city that showed a lot of tradition and culture. One word of advice - pass on the tourist meal and be a little adventurous and take the path less travelled.....