Hello from the road! I've been in five cities in six days, and am having a fabulous time. Backpacking means no big heavy banquets, but I've still managed to have some tasty meals.
My first stop? Yichang in Hubei province. Yichang is the site of the highly controversial Three Gorges Dam. Planning to board a hydrofoil in the morning, my friend and I arrived in Yichang late Friday night, and quickly determined the location of the city's night market to have a midnight supper.
The Yichang market was a wide alleyway, full of makeshift tents, each made up of the ubiquitous red-white-and-blue striped plastic tarp material you can see all over China. The offerings of each stall seemed to be the same -- piles and piles of lotus root, dofu, and shrimp. Fish bodies, hacked enthusiastically in half, were prominently, their bloody half-bodies a testament to their freshness. Skewers and stir-fries were the offering, and each stall, despite its similarity to its neighbor, seemed convinced of its superior offerings.
The evening was chilly, and my friend and I made a beeline for the stall
offering a comfort food favorite: congee.
At midnight in the cold, congee hits the spot like nothing else. A bargain at 3 yuan.
To complimenting our goopy goodness we chose shaokao (barbecue) skewers of items off of a cart.
Going for a mix of vegetables and meats, we had lamb, stingray, mushrooms, potatoes, lotus root, shrimps, squid and thinly sliced mantou (steamed bread). The steamed bread shocked me -- I normally choose not to eat this spongy, tasteless substance. But slathered with oil and the musty, spicy Sichuan spices and grilled on an open fire, it was pretty damn good.
Not a bad meal for rolling into a sleepy river city at midnight.
(Note: I also DID see the Three Gorges... which were also amazing).
Posted by Astrid at January 24, 2005 10:19 AM