Tags
Chengdu, Chinese snacks, Kuanzhai Xiangzi Alley, PRC China, Sichuan Province, travelling with friends, Wide and Narrow Alley
A slow stroll down a long alley
Whilst visiting Sichuan Province our friend Peter took Jon and I to a famous alleyway called Kuanzhai Xiangzi which consists of a wide alley (Kuan Xiangzi) and a narrow alley (Zhai Xiangzi). There are actually three parallel ancient city alleyways and forty-five courtyards along them and I am sure most Sichuanese were out on the same day as us [it was a Sunday so it is lovely to see everyone out and about]. But boy oh boy; so many people!!
There was plenty to see along the way including lovely entry ways to courtyards and shops and beautiful large wooden doors with brass knockers…
And of course ‘interesting’ figures. But I feel this one made some sense [much more than others I have seen] as the province of Sichuan is known for its spicy chilli dishes and the figure was outside a shop grinding fresh chillies…
One thing that the alley has is plenty of food stores selling all sorts of wonderful hot and cold dishes to eat like beautifully displayed tofu with lots of chilli, sweet fried balls and bread along with cold rice and noodle dishes.
The history of the alley way is dated back to the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911 AD). At that time, the area was a city called Mancheng City or Shaocheng City where its residents were troops. As with most places left unrestored, the city decayed but in 2003 renovations began and the alley way opened in 2008. It has small restaurants/souvenir shops created to look like those from the Qing Dynasty and of course tea rooms selling delicious Chinese tea.
I really enjoyed seeing the local drinks and desserts as they are very different to what we enjoy here in Australia. Pretty drinks with what looked like hot ice coming out of the top of a very large plastic cup.
And all flavours and colours of ice cream (some more interesting than others), ice blocks, small rice cups, cups full of cream and fruit and of course watermelon.
We walked one length of the alley on the right hand side and then turned around and walked up the other way to make sure we saw all the shops…a lovely afternoon out even though most of Chengdu was with us!!
Peter’s family home is an apartment in a beautiful and very large complex complete with lake and lovely gardens. 
It only took us a short time to reach the restaurant which was quite small with plastic chairs and little wooden tables. Peter’s dad said it was his favourite restaurant and that the cuisine was Chongqing hot pot. (Chongqing used to be under the administration of Sichuan Province but now is separated and is under the direct administration of the central government similar to Beijing and Shanghai). Chongqing hot pot is spicier than Sichuan hot pot – I was a bit scared of my mouth burning!!!
I do like my food a little spicy but certainly not lip-tingling hot. Peter’s dad and Jon love spicy food so they both put an additional packet of oily chilli into their dipping sauce. (my blogging friend Gary would love the spicy food I am sure). 
Now for this dipping sauce – the cooked food is eaten with the sauce which is a combination of spices and herbs and made by the customer from a wide range of ingredients. Peter’s mum made mine and it was absolutely delicious with oil, garlic, tahini, chives, chopped peanuts and chilli.
As for the actual hot pot – each table has a two sided simmering pot of soup stock. On our table, one of the pots contained meat stock and chilli and mine of course contained no meat but delicious spices, tomatoes, goji berries and vegetable stock. 
We were seated at our little table and then the process is you walk up to the kitchen area and select what you want to eat, bring it back to the table and cook! I selected some fresh tofu, noodles, cabbage, mushrooms, thinly sliced potato and sprouts. These were also to be shared by others not just me. Another large fridge had shelves and shelves of meat and seafood which Peter’s dad selected for the table.
We returned to the table with our uncooked food and found the waitress had turned on the stove to heat the stock and ensure the hot pot is kept simmering. All ingredients are firstly placed on bamboo skewers and then placed into the pot. In true Chinese tradition both Jon and I were served by our hosts all night. Peter’s mum was so lovely ensuring that no meat was placed into my pot and kept the heat at a simmer rather than a boil to make sure the meat water did not bubble into my pot. 
Peter translated throughout the meal but Peter’s mum who speaks mainly Sichuanese can also speak some Mandarin so this enabled me to converse with her rather than have Peter translate all of our conversations which I know was very tiring for him.
The boys enjoyed some local beers which were bought from the restaurant.
One thing I did think was particularly cute about this restaurant was the small drawer in the table which contained our paper napkins – lots were needed. 
Dessert and snacks are also available from the kitchen area but we were all way too full to eat anything else.
I must say I genuinely enjoyed this evening and the food was really really good.
Our guide kindly made us a dipping bowl of oil, shallots, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds and sesame oil. This fabulous concoction we used to dip our cooked food into before eating. Jon added more chilli to his bowl and told me he regretted this as it was ‘so’ hot, but he still ate all his meat and some vegetables.
I cooked and ate so much food; incredible noodles, bean sprouts, sweet potato, cabbage, three types of mushrooms, some tofu and delicious tofu skin. What a meal!!
Then it was time to hit the traffic and head to the ship. Once on board we were asked if we both wanted to upgrade our rooms to suites; we did! And really glad as the standard rooms were very small but the suites had a lovely lounge area with a little balcony.
Usually non-Chinese are seated in a different eating area to the Chinese which I didn’t like so Jon and I asked to sit with the Chinese and we met some really lovely people. We sat on the same table for each meal and enjoyed the company of a range of very friendly Chinese. These two gorgeous little girls were our favourites – they spoke some English but loved it when I spoke Chinese to them.
I had previously taken this cruise in 2013 and was lucky enough to travel through the five ship lift locks but we were told now-days passenger ships cannot travel through the lift locks. This is a photo from 2013 looking out the back of our ship as we had travelled through the locks. It was an amazing experience.
Our ship sailed through three gorges; Qutang, Wu and Xiling over four days and three nights. 
The views of each of the gorges was lovely and some better than others due to the time of the day or just plain bad weather.
The crew put on a show each night which was lovely. Wonderful costumes and great singing and dancing.
One day we took a smaller boat to a part of the river that could not take the larger boat; so beautiful!
Such a wonderful relaxing time as after four weeks’ travelling around China, I think we needed this.
The temple grounds were pretty quiet really with only a few locals lighting incense and our guide told us that there are often nuns and monks training at the Two Immortals Monastery toward the back of the temple; unfortunately on the day I went I didn’t see any.
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