China
Yaobu

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
    • Day 176

      With a mooncake chef in Liuzhou

      September 2, 2019 in China ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      At the end of my third day of cycling from Nanning, a couchsurfer is waiting for me in Liuzhou.
      We cannot have long and in-depth conversations with Carol/ Kiu Chen due to the language barrier and she cannot host me in the flat where she lives with her parents, now under renovation. But she does everything to offer me an enjoyable night out in Liuzhou. She picks me up from my hotel and walks me around the fancy central streets. The Chinese seem to put a lot of effort on illuminating everything... Bridges, buildings, pathways are all bright and glittering. The bridges in particular change colors every two minutes. Along the river, people dance, sing karaoke and traditional opera songs. It is... a sound massacre, with the loud and off-tune melodies mingling together... But very funny, if you pass by quickly !
      Carol takes me out for some "Liu zi fen", a local noodle specialty. Instead of talking, she spends a lot of time on her cellphone and seems a bit surprised at my attempts to ask her what she does, how she lives, what she likes... Chinese habits I guess ! A selfie specialist, she shows me many pictures of herself around the word : in front of the Eiffel tour, in front of the Coloseo, in Thailand... She has travelled a lot on her own and goes back every year in Thailand "because the plane tickets are cheap and I love the food there"! On the contrary she did not enjoy much French food when visiting Paris. "Not enough rice", she adds. Somehow, she is probably as typically Chinese (not enough rice there) as I am typically French (too much rice here) !

      Full of surprises, she suddendly proposes to go on top of a hospital tour to enjoy a view over the city. Sounds fun ! I'm again impressed at the organisation of chinese cities and public equipment : on the hospital parking lot, charging stations for electrical cars and scooters are everywhere. Carol herself drives a little electrical car decorated with dozens of "Hello Kitty" stickers. 😯🤔😄

      Surprises go crescendo, as she waves me goodbye by offering me.... a beautiful box of home-made mooncakes : she and her parents are pastry chefs and they kept some aside for me. These days must be busy for them, with the approaching full moon celebrations, where family and friends gather to eat... mooncakes.

      Back at my hotel, I feel all the same surprised and lucky at these strange encounter and unexpected generosity from a person I did not know two hours earlier. Happy and grateful(*), I look at the new prostitute ads that have reached my room in the meantime, while having my first bite of mooncakes. They are the best I will ever have in China !

      (*) I always feel that way if you give me food. Especially during a bicycle trip.
      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Yaobu, 窑埠

    Join us:

    FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android