Day 11 : Foot day
"Heze?" asked the middle aged man on the train.
Rebecca shakes her head yes. And the man gives a thumbs up and a big perplexed smile...
Welcome to Shagwaland (shagwa=idiot not to be confused with fagwa=French)
The night train was uneventful once the man went to sleep and stopped staring at Rebecca and giving her thumbs up. Bo also had to tell him "to go away".
We got to Heze at 7 AM and were brough to Bo's uncle's hotel - the taxi driver seemed intrigued that foreigners would be in Heze. It was the beginning of the end. Everyone stopped to look at us - that's how we realized that we were probably the only foreigners in the entire city of 2 million people.
From our hotel room window, Jerome filmed the crazy traffic in the street below - a never ending cacophony of motors and horns. Rebecca told Jerome to get his head inside the window or he'd cause an accident with his blond head.
After a brief nap, Bo and his parents met us for lunch which took place at Uncle's restaurant. See, uncle was a chef before a hotel manager so we had the best of everything - eggplant soup (fried in star anis and ginger and then cooked in broth), a mix of sweet beans on a mountain of shaved ice, fried fish... As a special treat, uncle prepared his specialty for us, which Bo informed us we had to finish because it's expensive. Not knowing what to expect, besides some sort of soft seafood, we were served sea cucumber...
Conversation was difficult but Bo's parents were so kind that we could understand a lot without speaking. After lunch, uncle brought us to the peony gardens where we learned that Heze is famous for the flowers and that they do not bloom in the summer.
Uncle dropped us off a foot massage salon where we were told to take our shoes off and follow someone into a private room. After settling into the plush, reclining chairs and turning on the very large television (CCTV 9 of course, the only English speaking station), tubs full of very hot water were placed at our feet. We finally got the courage to put our feet in and leave them there.
After a few minutes, three rather attractive women came in and grabbed our feet. They rubbed our feet very hard and that's when we learned Jerome is a sissy. The girls were also impressed with his size. They rolled his eyes when he said his brother was even bigger.
Those girls were strong despite being petite. The calloused thumbs were proof of their hard work. Who knows how long it went on - forever for Jerome - but everyone enjoyed it, despite the pain. Then a second girl came in and began massaging our heads at the same time. As one beat our feet and lower legs (making a loud slapping-snapping sound), the other stuck her fingers in our ears and shoulder blades. Then a third person came in, this time a man, and massaged our backs and it was finally over.
Dinner was in a local restaurant in a private room. Bo's parents and aunt and uncle took the liberty of ordering all the local specialities (13 platters in all) including sweet water chestnuts, flat bread with red bean paste, soup with fish balls, beef cooked in anis, baozis, chicken feet, pig's knuckles and cicadas. Everyone watched us as we politely took our first cicada. And they kept watching us until it was chewed and swallowed. It wasn't so bad after all. We finished off about 10 bottles of beer but didn't even get close to finishing all the food in front of us.
Click here to see 'Driving lesson - part 2'
Click here to see The streets of Heze
Rebecca shakes her head yes. And the man gives a thumbs up and a big perplexed smile...
Welcome to Shagwaland (shagwa=idiot not to be confused with fagwa=French)
The night train was uneventful once the man went to sleep and stopped staring at Rebecca and giving her thumbs up. Bo also had to tell him "to go away".
We got to Heze at 7 AM and were brough to Bo's uncle's hotel - the taxi driver seemed intrigued that foreigners would be in Heze. It was the beginning of the end. Everyone stopped to look at us - that's how we realized that we were probably the only foreigners in the entire city of 2 million people.
From our hotel room window, Jerome filmed the crazy traffic in the street below - a never ending cacophony of motors and horns. Rebecca told Jerome to get his head inside the window or he'd cause an accident with his blond head.
After a brief nap, Bo and his parents met us for lunch which took place at Uncle's restaurant. See, uncle was a chef before a hotel manager so we had the best of everything - eggplant soup (fried in star anis and ginger and then cooked in broth), a mix of sweet beans on a mountain of shaved ice, fried fish... As a special treat, uncle prepared his specialty for us, which Bo informed us we had to finish because it's expensive. Not knowing what to expect, besides some sort of soft seafood, we were served sea cucumber...
Conversation was difficult but Bo's parents were so kind that we could understand a lot without speaking. After lunch, uncle brought us to the peony gardens where we learned that Heze is famous for the flowers and that they do not bloom in the summer.
Uncle dropped us off a foot massage salon where we were told to take our shoes off and follow someone into a private room. After settling into the plush, reclining chairs and turning on the very large television (CCTV 9 of course, the only English speaking station), tubs full of very hot water were placed at our feet. We finally got the courage to put our feet in and leave them there.
After a few minutes, three rather attractive women came in and grabbed our feet. They rubbed our feet very hard and that's when we learned Jerome is a sissy. The girls were also impressed with his size. They rolled his eyes when he said his brother was even bigger.
Those girls were strong despite being petite. The calloused thumbs were proof of their hard work. Who knows how long it went on - forever for Jerome - but everyone enjoyed it, despite the pain. Then a second girl came in and began massaging our heads at the same time. As one beat our feet and lower legs (making a loud slapping-snapping sound), the other stuck her fingers in our ears and shoulder blades. Then a third person came in, this time a man, and massaged our backs and it was finally over.
Dinner was in a local restaurant in a private room. Bo's parents and aunt and uncle took the liberty of ordering all the local specialities (13 platters in all) including sweet water chestnuts, flat bread with red bean paste, soup with fish balls, beef cooked in anis, baozis, chicken feet, pig's knuckles and cicadas. Everyone watched us as we politely took our first cicada. And they kept watching us until it was chewed and swallowed. It wasn't so bad after all. We finished off about 10 bottles of beer but didn't even get close to finishing all the food in front of us.
Click here to see 'Driving lesson - part 2'
Click here to see The streets of Heze
posted by Gros Joe at
11:23 AM
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