Two hours later, we reached Furong Old Town 芙蓉 . Furong is "hibiscus", but according to MH, it is also synonymous with water lily or lotus flower. It's a well-preserved old town, the home a the Tujia minority. This town was made famous by a movie of the same name.
Well, to me, this town was somewhat like Fenghuang ..... also with quaint houses, stone alleyways and lots of souvenir items to buy!
The entrance
A narrow alley leading to an old house ....
The waterfall was supposed to be picturesque. It's 60 metres high and 70 metres wide, and it's akin to a hanging water screen.
Unfortunately ..... it was all dried up this long and hot summer .....
I much preferred this view ... tall houses hanging on a cliff ....
After that, we navigated through the narrow streets and looked at the many items on display ..... lots of handicrafts, silverware clothes, food and so on.
Making candy in the traditional way ...
A must-eat here was a dish called Rice Tofu 米豆腐. There were no shops selling Rice Tofu, located just next to each other. One was a bigger establishment, and this was the shop featured in the movie. We went to the smaller shop, because MH said that its Rice Tofu was yummier. This smaller shop was manned by a vendor lady who was very friendly.
Rice tofu, RMB5.00 per bowl
The rice tofu was made of green peas and rice flour, and shaped like .... err ... beads? Not sure how to describe the shape, but you can see it for yourself in the picture. To prevent the rice tofu from sticking, the vendor lady keeps them in a basin filled with water. Upon ordering, she ladles some boiling hot broth into the bowl, scoops some rice tofu onto the broth, and then garnishes the bowl with condiments. The rice tofu had a soft texture, and it had this melt-in-the-mouth quality. I found the broth to be very hearty, and the condiments such as the pork bits, preserved mustard, spring onions and a tangy chilli sauce complemented the dish wonderfully. I quite liked this light refreshment. It was indeed one of the most special things I ate during this trip.
The vendor lady urged us to add more chillies into the Rice Tofu to enhance the flavour .... there were 2 types of chillies on the wooden table .... one was that served on the Rice Tofu, and the other one was chilli flakes ....
A ferocious bowl of minced dried chilli flakes
MH, our guide, added a huge spoonful of these chillies into his bowl of rice tofu and ate with relish. I tried a just a pinch .... and boy ... it was really spicy!!! Though quite tolerable to chillies, I could not handle this level of spiciness. Lol
We also tried some other items in the shop ....
Potato balls in shiny black skillet ....
Potato ball ...
The potato was quite powdery, but I found it a bit greasy ....
Ciba 糍粑
This was a glutinous rice cake .... back home, we usually wrapped it with red bean paste, shredded coconut or chopped peanuts and then steamed. Over here, the ciba was pan-fried. It was springy and chewy, and just slightly sweet with bits of red bean paste .... and again, slightly greasy for my liking.
This was a glutinous rice cake .... back home, we usually wrapped it with red bean paste, shredded coconut or chopped peanuts and then steamed. Over here, the ciba was pan-fried. It was springy and chewy, and just slightly sweet with bits of red bean paste .... and again, slightly greasy for my liking.
After this short stop for refreshments, we continued our journey.
I did not realize that there is such a spectacular architecture on the cliff. My tour guide only took me to the rice tofu shop. I dared not try the chili flakes because I had suffered from a stomachache two days before reaching Furong.
ReplyDeleteDid you see the waterfall? Was it beautiful?
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