Day 194: Sichuan

By the time the train arrived in Chengdu and we got settled in it was already in the afternoon. We split up and explored nice nearby park which had some nice streams and ponds full of fish, bonsai displays, and many, many groups of people engrossed in games of mah-jong.

We went out for dinner to a sichuan hot-pot restaurant. Sichuan provice is known for its spicy food, and I was really looking forward to putting it to the test. We were each given a small bowl of Sichuan oil which made the base of a sauce, which we then added to with a mix of sauces, fresh garlic and herbs. The food was cooked almost fondu style with a large pot of water or oil over a flame and filled with different types of chilis and peppercorns (with a smaller boil of water with fish and vegetables in the center for those who prefered a milder taste). Thin slices of meat, along with a mix of vegetables and noodles were given to us on platters, and we would dip the food into the pot until it was cooked, then dip it in our custom sauces and eat it. It was quite hot, and most people eventually settled on either using the milder broth or skipping the sauce at the end, but I found it quite nice. After the meal I worked my way through the spicy broth, trying each type of chili (much to the amusement of the people at my table) to see exactly how spicy they were, but nothing was especially hot.

After dinner we went to a Sichuan opera which was almost like a variety show with a mix of musicians, dancers, acrobats, comedians, and other performers. The final, and most popular performance was of face-changers who would change masks and outfits in the blink of an eye, sometimes many times in a row.