City-hopper special #2 – Zhuzhou, Hunan province

A mere 12 hours after returning back to Chongqing from Ningbo, I was back on my way to the airport to travel to Zhuzhou, a one hour drive from Changsha airport - a 1.5 hour direct flight north-west of Chongqing.

There was no time to myself during this trip, as I was greeted at the airport by the clients. They took me to the hotel to check in, then straight to a Japanese restaurant for dinner around the corner, where there was enough delicious sushi to feed a small army.

Afterwards at about 9pm when it was still a toasty 33 degrees, my host Eva took me to Yan Square to look at the statue of Emperor Yan – thought to be the ancestor of all China - and the Zhuzhou Tower – the ninth tallest tower in China (what a claim to fame) - lit up at night. It was easy to tell that Zhuzhou is much smaller than any of the cities I have visited so far. The buildings were not as tall as I am used to, people were sitting on the grass (there’s grass!!), groups were dancing, children were riding their bikes and rollerblading, and some friends were even playing badminton. The atmosphere felt very safe and familial, almost as if I had stumbled into the countryside.

The next morning when I woke up I was able to see the view from my hotel for the first time. Huge wall-to-wall windows revealed the Xiang River – an 800km river and one of the principal tributaries of the Yangtze – and two little Arc de Triomphes! A little snippet of Paris in China – who’d have thought?

I didn’t have to go far for work – just to the hotel’s ballroom! – and afterwards, I was treated to a lunch of local food cooked by the chef at the client’s office. I was warned that the food in Zhuzhou is spicy, but I wasn’t worried, convinced that Chongqing’s unique combination of spice and oil over the past six months has been enough to prepare me for almost anything… and, luckily, I was right. In typical Chinese fashion, seven of us sat around a huge circular table with enough food for a hundred people on a giant lazy Susan. Everything from mushrooms, carrots, chicken soup, morning glory, steamed buns with condensed milk (yum), sweet tomatoes, rice (duh), seafood, and unnecessarily bony bits of meat (of course) was up for grabs.

Whilst it was all spicy – carrots need not be doused in chillis like that – it was a clean spice that gave the dishes a nice kick. Whilst meals like this can be kinda awkward – you want to show you’re enjoying the meal without embarrassing yourself or stuffing your face (they always want you to eat more) – they are a great place for me to stun my Chinese hosts into shock and awe with my few words of Mandarin and the ability to use chopsticks. Saying ‘xiexie’ (thank you) and successfully picking up a piece of pork without flicking it across the room is always met with ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhs’ and fanfare. Unless my parents picked up some new habits when they came to visit, I will somehow have to train myself out of expecting celebrations at dinnertime for when we go back to the UK…

Zhuzhou: completed