A Taste of Shengzhou

This past weekend I went to Shengzhou with a TV crew who was filming a travel show. I got to tag along and write about it. Here's my favorite moments from the trip. (photo above by 仲斌）


Trying chicken feet (and squid and eel)

For our first meal on the trip, there was a bowl of chicken feet on the table, so of course I had to try one. It's one of those things that most foreigners shy away from (or run away from), but I have been eager to start trying the weirder Chinese foods. I wouldn't order chicken feet for myself, but it wouldn't take much convincing for me to eat them if they were presented to me.

I also got to try eel and tiny squid, which were really good. I'll eat pretty much any seafood, so I was keen to try them. I would highly recommend them!

Talking to an artist about his work

Our first activity was to visit an artists village. We got to go to four different studios and look around and watch the artists work. I did a bit of an interview about one artist's work, which was cool because it was in Chinese, so it was good practice. But the artist was right there! I couldn't completely explain what I thought in Chinese, but I said that I thought the faces in his paintings made me feel like there was a little story behind each one. He leaned over to me after the interview and said that actually they were big stories he was trying to convey.

It was really cool to have a sort of dialogue or exchange with the artist in Chinese. Making that connection made a really big difference in my experience.

Having tea with a painter

At one of the studios, I was walking around and there were men sitting at this table drinking tea. There was an empty seat at the table and they invited me to sit down. Since I speak Chinese, I thought this would be a nice interaction. Unfortunately, I was the only one at the table that spoke Mandarin. Everyone else spoke a local dialect, so they could understand me, but I couldn't really understand anything they said. I did understand that the man on the far right in the photo above was the artist and the man pouring me tea was very proud of him, because he kept bragging about him to me.

photos by 方圆

We didn't understand too much of each other, but it was still a cool experience.

Lakeside photo shoot

photos by 方圆

We went to tour this hotel which has a hot spring. While walking around, we got to go to the shore of the lake the hotel was on. Me and 方圆, one of the photographers for the show, had a bit of a photo shoot on the beach, which was really fun.

VIP hot springs

Also, that evening we got to go in the hot springs, but I didn't take any pictures. We all soaked for a while and chatted, then I dragged a few people along to go to the sauna with me. It was very relaxing. We got to use the VIP dressing rooms, which was definitely a change of pace from student life. Also, they gave me the most ridiculous pajamas (too small) and sandals to wear to the pools (way too small). Just a friendly reminder that compared to a Chinese person, I am somewhere between an elephant and a giraffe.

Baijiu and Food

That evening, we had a family-style meal (like all meals in China).  We had a lot of interesting dishes, which I liked. I got to chat with and get to know the crew more. It was really nice chatting with them in Chinese, because they opened up a lot more than using their limited English (though my Chinese may not have been better than their English). 

Part of the way through the meal, baijiu was offered. I tried it, because it was berry flavored. I would still not recommend baijiu, no matter what the flavor. It tasted like cheap-red-wine-flavored moonshine. 

Playing with kids

photo by 方圆

On Sunday morning, we went to a show. I thought the show was a bit too over-the-top (in typical Chinese fashion). I found my entertainment in taking pictures of all the adorable children running around. One kid really liked my camera and told me he likes taking pictures. Another kid asked his mom why my hair was "that way." When she asked him whether he thought it was pretty, he shook his head. I think he thought I was an alien or something.

Calligraphy with a Master

We visited a small village near the show we went to. There wasa a calligraphy master, whose workshop was just off a little alley. We got sucked in and he ended up doing some calligraphy for us and then gave it to me! It's now hanging up in my living room. It's a really nice reminder of the trip.

Being interviewed for TV in Chinese

Other than short segments in Chinese for the show they were making on the trip, I got interviewed by two different TV stations in Chinese about my experience in Shengzhou. It was every embarassing and highly embarassing. I can't say that I understood the interviewers or had cohesive answers, but it was kind of a thrill. 

Learning how to play the erhu

While we were in that little village, we passed a group of old men playing instruments together in a garage off a small side street. We watched for a while, but then we got the opportunity to have a short lesson. I love the sound of the erhu, so this was seriously a dream come true. I would love to have another go at it s

photos by 方圆

Seeing a private art collection

Our last stop was seeing a private art collection in a mansion on top of a hill nearby. The artist's specialty is sculptures made out of petrified wood. It's a very expensive medium, because the wood has to be buried for about 20,000 years. The artist is very rich, hence the mansion. It was really cool to walk around the property and see the collection. I wish we had gotten to meet the artist, but he was busy.

Shengzhou was a reminder that I don't need to go very far to have amazing experiences and really connect with Chinese culture and people. After this trip, I am really excited to see even more of China!