I spent the better part of the day travelling and I wasn’t really in the mood for an indepth exploration of the village of Dehang and its surroundings. That can wait til tomorrow. Besides, since accomodations here in the village are cheap, I wouldn’t mind spending a few days here. It was already getting dark and as usual, I had to find a place to eat. This is not difficult to do in China, you’ll probably find an eatery wherever you go.
Expectedly, the specialty food of Dehang is Hunan/Tujia food. This is no different from the food I have encountered numerous times in Zhangjiajie and even Fenghuang. Here it is a bit different. Obviously, there are no markets here to purchase meats and vegetables are grown here. Meat is mostly smoked and hung wherever they can be hung in the restaurant. The good thing about smoked meat is they do not attrach flies so you can say they are still quite clean even though they look black as coal.
I ate at a restaurant along the main square which was tended by some ladies. They asked me to eat there and with no better idea, I agreed. They allowed me to photograph while they were cooking my food. While it is by no means uncivilized it was still a sight to see then cook in such an isolated village. I ordered my standard smoked pork and a vegatable dish. The vegetable dish was some kind of “mountain vegetable” which is not common in the lowlands, this is according to them, so I’d have to take their word for it.
They also serve other specialties, including fried crickets and other tasty insects. They offered me to try these delicacies but I politely declined. I’m probably not that adventurous after all. The insects were fried not grilled, this reminded me of the meal I had in Fenghuang where I had problems with my stomach which I suspect was caused by the old oil. I didn’t want to take any more chances with food, most especially now that I am travelling alone.
My hosts were quite friendly and kept asking me questions. They probably don’t get too many Chinese speaking foreigner guests so I’m a bit of a novelty. The food here was nice but the price may be a little surprising. I was expecting my food to be really cheap since my accomodation was so cheap instead the prices were on par with the other places I have been to. So it wasn’t really expensive but it wasn’t as cheap as I hoped it would be.
After dinner, it was already very dark and since there were no streetlights in the village I had to rely on the ambient light, which wasn’t a lot. Fortunately, I brought along my mobile phone and go to use it as a flashlight to light my way back to the inn where I was staying. I tried taking photos of the stars but found out that I forgot to bring my remote for my camera, it was there where I met two young Chinese ladies apparently, also staying in the same inn. They were playing with the couple’s kid at that time and also chatted with me. At one point they even pointed out whether I wasn’t feeling cold since I was still in shorts and the air was really chilly. Not for long, I couldn’t stand the cold either so I went in the inn and slept. Preparing for a busy day ahead.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/Dehang.kmz} zoom=14]