China 2/12/2018 - 2/21/2018

Wednesday, February 14, 2018 - Dinner with "Mr. Zhou" Shangyi and his Family

We woke up at around 9:30 a.m. after a deep and satisfying sleep. We had missed breakfast, which ended at 9, but neither of us were very hungry due to the jet lag. We had a liesurely morning and enjoyed a nice hot shower. It occurred to us that today was Valentine's Day, but that was the last we would think of it.

The hotel had wireless internet, but, as expected, I was unable to get onto Facebook because it is blocked in China. WeChat is the preferred social network, and I sent a message to our son Sonam Tshering in Bhutan. He kindly offered to forward our updates to Facebook for us while we didn't have access.

Wang Jun got out of work early and arrived shortly after noon to take us to lunch. He came up to our room and presented us with lovely gifts: two silver rings inspired by "Journey to the West," a 16th century Chinese novel in which Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang (a.k.a. Tang Sanzang) travels to India to obtain sacred Buddhist teachings. One of his helpers was Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, who wields a magical staff as a weapon against demons. Craig's ring is a representation of this staff.

The Monkey King is a bit wild and unpredictable, so Tang Sanzang places a gold ring around his head. If he misbehaves, Tang Sanzang recites the Ring Tightening Mantra, which makes the ring tighter and gives the Monkey King a headache until he behaves. My ring is modeled after this headband. Wang Jun explained that the significance is that Craig is the Monkey King, and I am Tang Sanzang keeping him in check.

These gifts are amazing! Of course Wang Jun doesn't allow us to say thank you, so we were forced to just smile and say "Good" when we really wanted to be effusive. Craig doesn't normally wear any jewelry beside his wedding ring, but he loves this ring. The only time he has taken it off since it was given to him was when he had to go into the MRI machine at the neurologist!

Our rings and an abridged version of the book which inspired them

The weather was slightly chilly as we walked through the New Island neighborhood. There were many red lanterns in preparation for the lunar new year, and many posters of dogs to welcome in the Year of the Dog.

Wang Jun suggested a light lunch, as Mr. Zhou's family was sure to provide a huge spread of food for dinner. Most restaurants were closed already, as people had already started to travel for the New Year. We stopped into a restaurant owned by a Chinese Muslim family. They would be staying in Guiyang for the duration of the holiday, as their home village is quite far away. The grandmother was taking care of a toddler boy, who seemed a bit scared of us. This is not an area that gets many western visitors.

The menu spanned two walls in the restaurant, with nice color photos of each dish. Wang Jun directed our attention to one wall in particular. "Order from here, we want a small portion." I ordered onion noodles and Craig ordered garlic shoot noodles. We watched the staff preparing the food, as a man pulled the noodles by hand.

When they brought the food to our table, we couldn't believe the size of it. These were the small plates that cost less than $2 apiece?! It was delicious, but we had to make a conscious effort not to eat very much. We would be going to Mr. Zhou's family's house soon, and we knew that they would be encouraging us to eat as soon as we arrived.

The grandmother who owned the restaurant took some photos of us on her phone. Then she was Facetiming her daughter and held the phone up for us to say hello.

Poly Hotspring New Island is a self-contained community, comprised of residential buildings, retail stores, restaurants, and offices. After eating, we crossed the street to a grocery store to buy some bottled water to bring back to the hotel. Wang Jun explained that nobody carries cash or credit cards any more; everything is paid via cell phone.

We walked back to the hotel at 2 p.m. and heard a car horn honk. It was Mr. Zhou, 30 minutes early to pick us up. He parked the car and greeted us with a big hug. Wang Jun translated for us: Mr. Zhou apologized for not being able to spend the morning with us because he was busy preparing food with his mother. Wang Jun chided him, "Don't be so Chinese!"

We stopped at the hotel room briefly and then left at 2:30 to drive to Mr. Zhou's parents' house. Though it was very close by, there was a lot of traffic. People were doing all of their last-minute errands before the festival.

We arrived at their condo complex and climbed the stairs to their apartment. We were warmly welcomed by Mr. Zhou's mother Liu Guirong and brother Zhou Shangsheng, and were led to the sitting room.

The sitting room door was decorated with posters of festive dogs, and on the television, CCTV was showing footage of Chairman Xi visiting ethnic minority villages in advance of the new year.

We were served food immediately, as expected: candy, oranges, apples, and tea. "Have one of everything! Whatever you want!" Wang Jun translated as he gestured to the table. I took a fritter from a plate and he immediately said, "No, not that! That's not cooked yet!" LOL!

Mr. Zhou presented us with a lovely gift: a framed piece of wax resist indigo batik with an elaborate silver earring mounted in the center. We had seen a demonstration of this type of batik (and I even got to try my hand at it) when we visited Matang Village with Wang Jun and Mr. Zhou in 2014. We were so touched by his generosity, and it will go nicely with the Chinese art we have displayed in our bedroom.

Lovely gift from Mr. Zhou

Mr. Zhou's brother Zhou Shangsheng was preparing food in the kitchen, and we were led to the front room to meet their father Zhou Xicheng. He suffered a stroke several years ago and lost the use of the right side of his body, but his smile is infectious and he was so excited to meet us!

While we were in there, Mr. Zhou's mother Liu Guirong taught us how to make dumplings filled with a mixture of scallions, pork, vegetable oil, and pepper powder. She rolled the dough into a log and then cut off slices. She then used a rolling pin to roll it into flat circles, rolling from the center outwards so that the center remained slightly thicker than the edges.

We used chopsticks to place filling into the center of the dough circle. Then we folded the dough in half and pinched the top shut. Next, we needed to pleat and crimp the edges. This was a lot more difficult than it looked, and much laughter ensued.

Craig was significantly more talented at this than I was. Everyone agreed that my dumplings looked the worst, but they insisted that more important than the aesthetics were the fact that they were sealed tightly and wouldn't leak when cooked. But I think they were just trying to make me feel better; as I know that aesthetics are important in Chinese cooking.

Mr. Zhou's father Zhou Xicheng was having a great time watching the amusing spectacle of westerners fumbling their way through dumpling-making in his own front room! His smile warmed my heart.

Mr. Zhou gave me extra dumpling lessons, and encouraged me by saying "Yes, yes!" in English. It made his mom start to laugh to hear him speaking English. By the time we finished, my dumplings were starting to look passable, at least.

We returned to the sitting room while the food was heated. The guys had Tuborg beer and mom and I had red wine. Wang Jun made sure that everyone's glasses were perpetually full. They kept bringing more and more dishes to the table:

bloody tofu
spicy dried tofu
soup with quail eggs and meatballs
mandarin fish
spicy chicken
sausage
pork belly in sweet sauce
jellied soya with chilies
eggplant fritters
pork fritters
dumplings
pickled turnips and carrots
sweet millet with dates
a famous beef dish from the restuarant where Mr. Zhou's girlfriend works
root that is good for respiratory health
pork
onions
organ meat

Everything was delicious and we ate until we were ready to burst. The second we ate anything, our plate was immediately replenished by Mr. Zhou, Wang Jun, or mom Liu Guirong.

Wang Jun explained that fish is a very popular dish for the Spring Festival. Guiyang is landlocked, and fish is usually pricy. It is even pricier during the festival. But it is very important to have fish. The word for "fish" in Chinese sounds similar to the word for "remainder." So having fish signifies that even though you spend a lot of money to prepare New Year meals, you will have some remainder.

A similar thing is true about chopsticks. The word for chopsticks is similar to the word for "happy." So, if you drop a chopstick during a meal, people see it as an omen of happiness.

We had lively conversation and really enjoyed one another's company. We have come a long way from our first visit in 2014, when Wang Jun told us that guides and drivers eat separately from clients because drivers don't speak English and it can be awkward. We have forged a lovely friendship with Mr. Zhou and it was an honor to visit his family for such a lovely meal!

After dinner, we talked about the current state of affairs in China and the United States. We had more wine and beer. At around 8 o'clock, Wang Jun announced that we should probably take our leave. It seemed rather abrupt, but perhaps he was concerned for our jet lag. Obviously Mr. Zhou's mother wasn't expecting us to leave so soon, as just then she brought in more dumplings that she had just heated. Timing is everything and we all had a good laugh.

We learned just now that this would be the only time we would get to see Mr. Zhou on this visit. He would not be accompanying us on our road trip to Yunnan, and he would be driving a tour group by the time we returned to Guiyang at the tail end of the trip. We wished we had known this, as it made our departure all the more abrupt.

It means so much to us that Mr. Zhou and his family opened their home to us during this special family-oriented time of year. Even though we don't speak the same language, we shared many smiles and much laughter. We learned how to make dumplings and they found much amusement in teaching us.

We said goodnight and thank you to Mr. Zhou's parents and brother. Mr. Zhou walked us down to the street, where we caught a cab back to the hotel. There were practically no cars on the road. We had to get up early in the morning to help Wang Jun's family prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner, so we went straight to bed.

Poly Hot Spring New Island