Huangguoshu Waterfall

Huangguoshu Waterfall National Park is located about 40km southwest from Anshun near the town of Zhenning. The park has a rather picturesque landscape and contains 3 waterfalls, Huangguoshu pubu is located on the Baishui river, it is the largest of the 3 and also the tallest in all of Asia. There are buses going here every 30 minutes from both major bus stations in Anshun. When you get to the local bus station at the town of Huangguoshu there is a ticket office where they help route thousands of tourists through the park every day.

Danuphyu Daw Saw Yee Myanma @ Yangon

Located on 29th street, close to the hotel I'm staying in is traditional Burmese shop called Danuphyu Daw Saw Yee Myanma. The dishes you find here can be found on the street for cheaper, however here you might have a balance of better hygiene, yet not served with a western makeover. Ordering is pretty simple, point at whichever pan looks appealing and see what happens; I chose a couple of veggie trays and a piece of pork and within 5 minutes I had a collection of dishes on my table. I can't say this was my favorite south east asian dish, however the pork was tasty and the value for my k5,000 (4 usd) is not something I'll contest.

View from 29th street

The menu

Damenglong Black Pagoda @ Xishuangbanna

After my Menghai tea experience I decided to shoot in a different direction today, the black and white pagoda's of the city of Damenglong. Instead of opting for a taxi like I had the day before I decided to ask the hotel travel desk for advice, who said it would be best to just catch the bus from the short distance bus station for 15 rmb. I took there advice and after picking up some random parts of a pig from the butcher down the street, I walked my way over. Unfortunately I learned here that you have to buy this ticket from the south station, and had to rush to find a cab across town. After a small scramble for about 30 minutes I finally got my ticket and made it on to the bus with a beer in my hand.

When I got off at Damenglong I managed to ask a girl at a local shop which direction the black and white things were, she was able to decipher that this meant the pagodas and pointed in there respective directions. There are no signs in English here and I'm unable to read Chinese, so my attempt to find my way was based on following my gut instinct and asking primitive Chinese questions to anyone who would listen.

View driving south

In the bus!

Nanchang Fandian - Jiangxi Provincial Hotel

Another day off, another provincial hotel. This time I decided to try out Nanchang Fandian, the ride there in rain ended at what looked like something between a run down apartment building and a military compound. After I checked the address from the photo I'd taken off my computer screen earlier, I was able to verify that the Chinese characters on the compound matched the ones on the address, I was there.

Inside the compound I discovered a small room with 6 tables, which could probably double as a holding tank for offenders against the communist party. I got myself the local Jianxi Beer, some sort of hot plate of eel, and a pile of pork and veggies. I found the crunchy texture of the eel quite nice, however from what I was eating I couldn't have recognized that this was pieces of eel, for all I know this might have been a mistaken translation in the menu. The sauce at the bottom of the bowl reminded me of squid ink except with a spicy edge, I enjoyed this enough I drank several spoon fulls straight. The pork and veggie dish had quite a lot of meat however was a bit bland, to help spice it up a bit I employed yet more of my favorite eel liquid. Unfornuatly by the time I finished the eel liquid had caught up with me and I ended up leaving a pile of snot filled clean-ex on the table.

Eel

Hainan Provincial Hotel Restaurant

The Hainan Provincial Hotel Restaurant is located a stones throw north of Wudoaying Hutong, like most of the provincial restaurants in Beijing this one had a slightly bland setup, when I entered I discovered one large empty room with three extravagant 1950s looking chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and Elton John musak playing in the background.

Outside the Hainan Provincial Hotel

Inside the Restaurant

La Regal @ Berkeley

I went back to Berkeley last night to see what I missed on my last outing here. Not much apparently, the streets were relatively empty, except for a couple bums spread across the town. After getting chased away from a prospect Japanese place by a bum, I wandered over toward the campus. On center street I found a Vietnamese place called La Regal with no bum guardians. Soon after I sat down in the back corner the other patron left and I had the whole restaurant to myself. Somehow my main coarse of calamari came out before the pork appetizer, leaving me ready for a doggy bag by the time the pork arrived. Overall the food felt fairly traditional and the atmosphere was awkward like I've come to expect out of a good Vietnamese place.

Berkeley at night

Mr. Wong's

I spent the night last night walking through CBD with Mr. T visiting various pubs and bars when I stumbled across this Mr Wong's. It was quite well hidden, you have to walk into an alley and around the corner to find it. Once you get inside you can see that this place isn't the shithole you might expect at this location, but instead world class Cantonese cuisine.

Main road