Day 8: Now That’s a Spicy Meataballa!
Since it was show #2 day, Phil didn’t have to work til later. We headed out with a group, mainly the band. Destination: the shop of a violin maker! Ben, who plays violin, wanted to try some out here in China. We took a taxi, and as we were walking to the shop we saw ladies performing on the street.
In the rain, too. That’s hardcore.
I should mention that the weather has been non-stop rainy and cool here. I’m ok with that! Chongqing is actually considered one of China’s “ovens”, as in it’s so hot. So we are lucky!! I’ll take rain over hot and humid any day!
Moving on. We arrive at the shop, and I instantly found a friend.
It was just very peaceful listening to Ben and the Violin Maker play the violins.
There were some other instruments to explore, too.
When we were done, we stumbled upon a hidden, legit market.
We found it by going down an ally that had food, then turning into a building with various shops set up, and then finding these stairs at the end. So we went down. It was different than any market we had seen so far, and I’m positive that no Westeners had ever set foot down there. No, make that no one who wasn’t Chinese. No, make that anyone who wasn’t a Chinese local. We were quite the spectacle, and they were amused and excited seeing us. We found some local spices to buy – the Szechuan peppercorns and flowers we had been tasting in our dishes, which are rare to find back home. I asked for a picture with one of the ladies, and she was very excited.
These weren’t what I bought, fyi. Just props for the picture. Although Ashely did eat one and here whole mouth went numb!
We found some candy, some pastries and then the meat section of the market. It was very clean and odor free. They looked at us very quizzically whenever we took pictures of food, but when am I going to see …
and …
and …
Aren’t those legs sexy? ;)
We eventually left the market. Our next goal was to find some authentic hot pot. Hot pot is where the table has a stove built into it, and they set a pot of spicy broth on it to heat up. Then you order things to cook in it, like veggies and meat.
This was a double pot. The inner one was not spicy, thank god, because the outer one was sooooooo spicy! So good, too. I can appreciate the spicy, but I need some non-spicy to eat in between.
Then they bring out all the “stuff”. We had asked them to recommend something, and also told them we (and Tom) were vegetarian. We weren’t quite sure what to do, so the lady showed us. Watch this video on YouTube (can’t upload it from my WordPress app).
They brought a TON of veggies out for us – like 4 different type of mushrooms, zucchini, leafy green stuff, cilantro, and then some quail eggs. Those were fantastic. She dumped everything into the two bowls, and then indicated we had to wait 4 minutes for them to cook. The meat side of the table cooked pieces like how she showed in the video. There were thin strips of pork, like you saw, sea cucumber, and meatballs, plus all the veggies too.
It started to get real steamy!
It was so, so, soooooooooooooooooo good! The veggies that cooked in the outer bowl were very spicy! The ones in the inner bowl were savory and a nice break from the heat. Between all the steam and the spiciness we were exhausted after the meal. We also consumed a LOT of Pepsi to combat the spice. I think they thought that was weird. Crazy Westeners.
We ate our fill, and then some, and waddled outside to go back to the hotel.
This was the restaurant. I have no idea what it’s called, but it’s forever in my memory now!
Getting a taxi on a rainy day was hard. It took us at least a 1/2 hour to find an empty cab. Once we did, I jumped in the front seat because I had the map and address of the hotel. About halfway back to the hotel, I look back at the boys in the backseat.
I about peed my pants laughing. The cabs are tiny cars, and I should’ve sat in the backseat instead of making 3 guys, two of which are quite big, sit back there lol. I was very amused. They weren’t as much ;)
The rest of the day was just the show. I hung out backstage again and helped out. Then back to the hotel for dinner, packing, and then sleep.