On January 22, we had our first cultural trip to Shao Xing (绍兴). Shao Xing is another city in Zhejiang Province that is known for its rice wine production. Also, there is a lake called East Lake that is the sister lake of West Lake in Hangzhou. Here in Hangzhou, West Lake is a beautiful lake surrounded by pagodas and beautiful scenary. It was great to see the East Lake in Shao Xing. It was surrounded by rock cliffs that were carved out of the mountains in order to remodel the area for a Chinese emperor. We took a boat ride around the lake, walked around, and then went to a traditional Chinese restaurant for lunch where we ate regional foods. One of the famous Shao Xing dishes is smelly tofu (which I did not dare to try because it smelled a bit too pungent for me). However, I did try some other foods like duck neck. Besides these foods, we also ate some more palatable foods like rice, vegetables, and other delicious things. We also drank some locally produced rice wine. Rice wine is very strong, but great to try as I felt very Chinese with a rice wine shot in my left hand and a duck neck in my right hand.
This is a picture of some of the foods we ate at the restaurant. As you notice, it’s on a rotating glass circle so that the dishes can easily be moved around the table for all to enjoy.
The first picture here is me holding some incense that Chinese people typically will burn to show respect to their ancestors. Despite being far away from my family, this gave me a good opportunity to show them respect, light some incense for them, and feel more connected to the Rodkey clan while in Shao Xing. To the right, there is a photo of Sam and I wearing our complimentary hats. The tour company gives us a hat like this during each cultural tour with a phone number written on the underside of the hat brim in case we run into problems. They are really funny and an innovative way to make sure everybody has the phone number in case of an emergency.
The first photo here is a sign welcoming us to East Lake. To the right is a photo of the lakes and the boats that we took rides on during our visit.
This is a picture of an enormous statue. The statue is of a Chinese warrior named Da Yu. We hiked up a mountain with many stairs winding up to the base of the statue. He is holding a farming tool because he was known for farming despite being a warrior.
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