travel: china.

Over the Christmas/New Year break, while all my friends were soaking up the sun and enjoying a traditional Christmas feast, I was in China enjoying yum cha twice a day followed by a huge banquet for dinner every night for two weeks.

I've always been a bit iffy on Chinese food as I grew up eating it everyday, only having recess and lunch at school where I was spared the pain of eating everything with a side of white rice. However, I learnt from my earlier trips to China that the Chinese food in China is nothing like it is here. The Chinese we experience, for those who live outside of China, is completely westernised, as much you may not know or like to ignore. I noticed this distinctly as I matured that dishes such as moo shu pork (I have never seen this served in China) alongside many other western favourites either don't exist or are done completely differently.

But what I enjoyed the most, other than eating so much each meal that none was digested by the next meal, was the plethora of fresh fruit I had the opportunity to try and feast on. From stumbling across my new love for dragon fruit and green guava to being reunited with my favourites of durian, star fruit and jack fruit. I'm excruciatingly picky when it comes to eating fruit but the way I inhaled the fruit in China you would never have guessed it, I suppose I just have a palate for Asian fruits that are ridiculously expensive here.

For those who get the opportunity to visit Lijiang, which is gorgeous but boring, you must try the local Nasi food. The three photos before the instagrammed mojito (which was only $6 AUD!) and dragonfruit are the local Nasi food I ate while I was Lijang. But take this as a warning, if you can't do chili then you most definitely cannot do their mild dishes! Even I had a tinge of a tear or two and I can take a decent serving of chili! And the burger - well that most definitely isn't local food, but it was the best burger I have ever had. It was a Japanese Wagyu beef burger and absolutely mouth-watering.

Ok...now I'm drooling over these pictures - kind of wish I was back in China and having my "normal" two yum chas and a banquet a day food regime!

Last two images from @lpmmags Instagram

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