As If We Hadn't Eaten Enough Chinese Food...

Yangshuo is basically a stop for travelers looking for some outdoor adventure, so the rain was putting a crimp in our plans. Most tours ask for payment and reservation the night before, but I didn't want to commit to anything when I didn't know what the weather would be like, and the forecasts were not encouraging.

As a result, I decided to play it safe and signed us up for a Cooking School. I had wanted to try a cooking school on the trip--although I had been mostly considering Thailand--but I had also heard reports about some great cooking schools in Yangshuo. And, in the interest of getting to sleep in, I signed us up for the afternoon class.

The next day dawned rain-free, much to my chagrin. At 3 pm, a van picked us up and took us to the local market, where we would meet the teacher and other members of the class. Part of the cooking school experience was the opportunity to see the local market, which really consisted of an empty warehouse with local vendors spreading their vegetables on the ground.

That is some kind of huge melon, not a cucumber!

A guide took us in, as the teacher was late. The market itself was not busy. Most shopping is apparently done in the morning when everything is most fresh. When the teacher arrived, she began pointing out various vegetables. The vendors were not particularly friendly, as we were not buying anything. I think the teacher also bought our ingredients in the morning with her morning class.

At some point, the teacher began to tell us that we would go into the back room where the meats were sold. She quickly explained that we would be seeing dog meat, so if this would be upsetting to anyone--and here she looked meaningfully at me and Kinsey--we should just speak up and she would keep us away from that area. I had mentioned to Kinsey, but she seemed unperturbed and willing to see everything. Again and again, the teacher stressed that the vendors did not appreciate us taking pictures, especially of the more "sensational" aspects, but advised us we could take pictures discreetly.

So the group trooped into the back room. We passed vendors with cooked meats and sausages, and then started to get to the butchery. Not far past the cooked meats, we made an aisle turn and encountered what seemed to be a dead, skinned cat hanging from a hook. It was hard to tell if that's what it was...no one had mentioned that we could be seeing cat meat...so I'm still not sure, but that's what it looked like. The next table did have a dog carcass, and this one was gutted, but not skinned. The dog seemed to be baring its pointy little teeth in a snarl, which only brought thoughts of an uneasy death. We pretty much passed by without comment or lingering. The teacher then led us down an aisle with cages of ducks and geese on one side and big round baskets of colorful, speckled eggs on the other. I didn't think much of the fowl, but Kinsey later wrote vehemently in her blog that they were looking at her rather morbidly.

We wandered through the meat hall a bit longer. I have to say I wasn't nearly as disturbed by the dog and cat as I was with the general uncleanliness of the market. Coming from the U.S. where commercials are telling you to swab everything with an antibacterial wipe, lest the least bit of chicken juice contaminate and kill everyone, it was jarring to see the open market with dirt, grime, and meat sitting out everywhere.

Back in the van, we took a short ride out to the country to the Yangshuo Cooking School, a lovely place with a second-story veranda for eating and a nice open room with a dozen cooking stations arranged at one long table. The instructor gave us a quick run-down of all the ingredients at our station and then got us into a nice rhythm where she would demonstrate each dish we would be cooking and then set us free to replicate it.

At first, there was a woman who kept shadowing Kinsey trying to help or make sure she was doing everything correctly, but Kinsey was annoyed, so I asked the woman to let Kinsey try on her own. After that, Kinsey was pretty much left in peace.

The dishes themselves weren't that difficult to make, and it was fun learning some different techniques with the wok. I also learned how to skin a garlic clove quickly, which in itself was worth the price of the class. We ended up making several different dishes.

Beer Fish  (the local specialty)
Chicken with Cashew Nuts
Steamed Stuffed Vegetables  (a mushroom, an eggplant, and a tomato)
Eggplant with Soy and Oyster Sauce
Green Vegetables with Garlic

I'm not much of an eggplant fan, but I have to say, I loved the Eggplant with Soy and Oyster Sauce. After finishing the cooking, we took our six little plates and headed up to the veranda. It was already dark and we sat around a large table, eating and talking. One of the people there was a large, middle-aged Chinese man who spoke fluent, but heavily accented English. I'm not quite sure who he was, because he didn't cook with us, but I took the opportunity to ask him all the questions I had about China and the Chinese people while I had the chance.

The night wore on and the darkness became inky black. No lights in the countryside except for the little bulbs around our table. Peace and quiet and a lovely meal in Yangshuo.