Some big caves
22.08.2015
I woke up too early for the 9 a.m. rendezvous downstairs with the rest of the entourage. That was fine, I got dressed slowly and tried to unstink my sandals. Note to self: Never buy Chacos again. They really suck since the last time I bought them in 2010. Ugh. They're lighter, but the plastic grows nasty bacteria. Ugh.
Anyway, we went for breakfast across the street and Doreen and her driver whisked us off to a giant cave out in the countryside. It reminded me of Vietnam. I thought the first cave was more impressive than the second, larger one. There was a Chinese guide telling stories about the rocks. These look like monks, those look like lovers. There was even a pool of "dragon saliva" which you splashed on your head to remove all your problems. What.
Why does everything have to have some shape other than a rock? Why do they all need accompanying stories? Why can't we just look at the beautiful and interesting rock formations and appreciate them as they are? I don't have all the answers in life.
For lunch, we piled back into the cars to Hongcun, where the rest of the entourage snacked on pig's feet and I mostly ate jellied tofu. We were all getting sleepy, we we were glad to get back to Shangrao finally.
Ingrid's husband picked us up and we spent a few hours at home before we were off again for dinner at a famous Jiangxi restaurant. Also, delicious again, but we only managed to eat about 1/4 of what we ordered. Then it was time for tea. We went to a super hipster tea house where we had some black tea and amazing soup for dessert. It was full of raisins, dates, nuts, longan and beans. One of my favourite dishes so far in all of China!
They told me the cold soup was only good to eat in the summer and it had cool properties in Chinese medicine, so it was good for us, especially after all the beer and greasy "hot" food we ate all weekend.
I said goodbye to the entourage and we made some loose plans to maybe go to Xiamen for the upcoming September holiday.