This is the first post in a series of posts on a trip to China in 2009. Return to the trip index here.
29 May 2009
Arrived at Chengdu international airport in the morning via an Air China flight. Had some domestic red wine that tasted alright. Since it was pretty early, we first checked into our hotel for two nights and had breakfast there. Then, my uncle brought us to Luo Dai Ancient Town (洛带古镇, luo dai gu zhen), an old town converted to a large network of streets of local food and exhibition halls. Legend has it that during the Three Kingdoms Era, Liu Bei's son (Liu Shan a.k.a Liu Adou) dropped his belt in a well here, hence giving it it's name -- Luo Dai meaning dropped belt. Chengdu was the capital of Shu-Han kingdom during the Three Kingdoms.
More historically, Luo Dai is the largest Hakka ancient town in western China. Being migrants from other provinces, the Hakka people then had built a few guild halls to preserve their culture. Most of the buildings now are from Ming and Qing dynasties.
Flight food
Leaving the international airport
Xin Liang Hotel (新良大酒店), a good hotel
Pleasant rooms with soap, slippers, etc, all provided
Breakfast at the hotel right after the flight
Arrival at Luo Dai Ancient Town
Hop on one of these when tired I guess
An old building at the entrance, the streets are spick and span
The octogonal well were Liu Adou is supposed to have dropped his belt
It was Duan Wu Festival (端午节), also known as the dragon boat festival. Being a three day national holiday, the locals were out in full force enjoying themselves and renting costumes for photos
Almost every shop here is selling local street food
A stone grind for soya bean milk
Some fried food. Better to go for piping hot stuff
A four storey building lined with windows of the same pattern
An example of local street food with some that may be regarded by many as horrors
Beetles
Scorpions
More beetles that kind of look like roaches to me...
Grilled Pigeons
Crabs
One of palatable things for me, grilled lamb skewer
Fried fish, buy the smaller pieces as the larger ones have large bones that can't be chewed effectively
Suddenly, I caught a whiff of a bad odour as rotten as the dead rat in the drain. It was fermented beancurd, a delicacy
I couldn't get close enough to buy them. They eat it with a host of garnishing
Rickshaws for the tired. It is a long street
Being a Hakka town, a few stores sell Hakka food
A display piece at a ceramic art gallery
Ghost shacks for the brave
Hu Guang Guild Hall (湖广会馆)
A stage on the reverse side
A Hakka culture exhibition is inside, free entry. Hakka people migrated here in large numbers during the Ming and Qing dynasties
I forgot the meaning of those coloured scrolls
Surnames of various Hakka families
Old currency that were in use here
A well known Hakka ancestor of the migrants is worshipped here
Another guild hall
Close up of the dragon relief
Down the seemingly endless street
印度飞饼 (Yin Du Fei Bing) -- Indian flying biscuit. Something that most know as Roti Prata or Paratha. Curious, I went to take a closer look
Whoa, an Indian man is actually making them! But wait a minute, who uses a roller? I had thought that the authentic one involves tossing it in the air like pizza, i.e. "flying biscuit".
More endless old streets, some of the nicer food here are traditional candies
Another nice relief
Hammering some kind of "numb candy" (麻糖), real effort here to numb the candy
We were hungry so we decided to go for some Tu styled baked bread with meat for lunch
Turns out that they were really tasty. However like almost everything else, they are spiked with Sichuan pepper that enhances the flavour but leaves one unable to feel one's tongue after awhile.
The entire Luo Dai Ancient Town is huge. Unable to cover the entire location in slightly more than two hours, we decided to call it quits and head to our next destination. We will be visiting an archeological site of the former inhabitants of Shu (蜀) near the city centre. The site is from an era more than two thousand years ago, predating even the Qin and Han dynasties, before Han Chinese settlement of Sichuan and when elephants still roamed the land.
View the next related post here. Return to the trip index here.
View the next related post here. Return to the trip index here.
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