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10. JOURNEY TO DANBA
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3/16/2006
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| The kitchen: straw burning stove.
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I am writing today from the town of Danba, my new favorite place inChina. I've been away from Ya'an now for about a week, but so far have nodesire to return. I suppose I'll need to leave eventually so as not towear out my welcome at my friend's house.
Last Saturday I headed to my friend Hongxia's house a couple hours awayfrom Ya'an. She is the friend whom I visited back in October, the friendwho lives in the country. When I visited her before, she lived in a housewith grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, but last month her fatherand stepmother built their own small house so that is where I stayed thistime. When I arrived, they were still finishing it with the help of theirneighbors, installing tile shelves in the kitchen, getting the iron wokinstalled in the straw-burning stove, etc.
On Sunday evening people started arriving for the big house-raising party,obligatory in Chinese culture. Hongxia and I had gone to the house of heraunt, who lives on a mountain, an hour bike ride on an old rickety biketoo small for me, on roads which are more pothole than anything else -ouch! When we returned in the afternoon, there were a ton of peoplesetting up for the party. Tables and stools had been rented for the eventand were set up on the threshing platform/patio. There were baskets fullof dishes and a makeshift kitchen set up on one corner with four chefsbusily chopping, boiling, and frying food. I squatted down at one of theplastic tubs on the ground and washed an endless number of dishes withsome of Hongxia's relatives. It was a nice scene, though, what with thegrove of pomelo trees pushing in on one side of the patio and the lateafternoon sunlight bathing the scene. That evening we had a great mealwith about ninety people. On the next day the rest of the guests came -about 150 altogether - and we had an even better meal, (my first timeeating turtle). Both days involved a goodly amount of money changinghands at the Mahjong tables.
On Monday I met my friend Chen Ling in Chengdu. We went to hergrandmother's apartment for dinner and then headed to a cheap hotel besidethe bus station, since our bus to Danba left at 6:00 the next morning.Chen Ling told me about her grandma's life story, which is absolutelyamazing. When the grandmother was young, her family forced her to marry abad man in Danba. After a short time of marriage, she ran away toChengdu. After riding a bus from Chengdu to Danba, I can verify that thisis extraordinary since it is all mountainous, with some of the mountainsabout 5,000 meters (approximately 16,000 feet) tall. You see, she WALKEDthe entire distance. There weren't any roads through the area back then,so she walked, and it took months. When she arrived in Chengdu, shedidn't know anyone - an extremely difficult position for a Chinese womanin the early 1940s. However, she found work and eventually met ChenLing's grandfather.
Indeed, the trek from Chengdu to Danba is nothing to laugh about. It tookabout ten hours on the most winding, narrowest roads I've seen, roadscovered with snow, with a sheer drop-off on one side. At the beginning ofthe ride, they handed out bags to vomit into. I scoffed at this then.Later, they handed out a second set of bags. Luckily, I didn't needeither bag, but I would say that about half the people on the bus did.Chen Ling spent about seven of ten hours throwing up. The upside is thatthe scenery was absolutely spectacular - huge snow-covered mountains,frozen waterfalls, Tibetan houses, and an occasional yak in the road.
I am staying at Chen Ling's house, and it's great. Her family is reallynice; she has parents and a sister. (Her parents had the second childjust before the one-child-per-family policy went into effect). It seemslike everyone who lives in Danba is nice, also, and, best of all, they arefunny. Everyone here has a great sense of humor. The town is 95 percentJiarong Tibetan, and although Chen Ling's family is Manchu, (hergrandfather immigrated here), culturally they are pretty much Tibetan aswell, since their friends and neighbors are. I wanted to try yak buttertea, infamous in Tibetan areas, while I was there. Fortunately, we haveit every day for breakfast, and every time we visit friends we have it,too. I had heard that it is vile, but actually I kind of like it. It issort of like milk with a hint of bleu cheese with small chunks floating init.
This area is home to Tibetan blockhouses, which are tall towers rising outof the countryside villages, presumably once used for war. There are tonof these blockhouses, and the interesting thing is that they are not allshaped the same. Four-cornered ones are the most common, but there arealso a five-cornered, an eight-cornered, and a thirteen-corneredblockhouse, among others. Apparently, the thirteen-cornered is the onlyone in the world. Yesterday we went out into the countryside to seethem. One of Chen Ling's sister's friends is a driver, so we went withhim and with some of his friends. At first we viewed the houses fromacross the river, a river that is the brightest shade of green I've everseen in natural water. As we were ascending, I had noticed a wood planksuspension bridge below - nothing unusual since these are everywhere inSichuan. However, these bridges are always terrifying, because one thinksthe bridge will break at any moment. Nevertheless, there was no reason tofear WALKING over this one, because we DROVE over it. I could not believeit. Safely on the other side, we drove over the absolute bumpiest lane Ihave ever encountered - much bumpier than any featured in Jeepcommercials. This was more like a rugged hiking trail, and it was barelywide enough for the car. We drove part of the way into the mountains, andthen we got out and hiked. I say hiked because it was incredibly steep.Even so, we hike among Tibetan farmhouses. I found it hard to believethat people live there and hike this all the time. We were able to seethe blockhouses up close, and then an old man invited us to go into theone attached to his home. This involved climbing 𢡠adders,?really treetrunks with steps carved into them. It was quite an adventure, and wellworth the effort. It was one of the most beautiful places I've evervisited.
Yesterday evening, after the blockhouse excursion, we went out to dinnerwith some of Chen Ling's sister's friends. They are all in theirtwenties, and apparently all of them are married except for Chen Ling'ssister - though it would seem that this is by choice. We went to arestaurant in one of the country villages outside of town. Because Ithink Americans are unfamiliar with what a dining experience in theChinese countryside is like, I will elaborate. There is a house withusually two rooms and a kitchen. Each room (with peeling paint on thewalls) has one table, maybe an old couch. Therefore, guests have a roomto themselves. While waiting, people can play badminton outside or eatsunflower seeds and watch old Kungfu movies in the kitchen area. Thebathroom is down a path past numerous dogs that bark viciously, and thenthere is an outhouse at the end of the road. I learned when to stay tothe right of the path and when to stay on the left. Dinner consists of afew simple dishes: fish and tofu in spicy oil, pig spine meat andpotatoes, and chicken feet - all delicious. Dinner lasts about threehours and includes an immense number of toasts with different pairings ofpeople. Sometimes diners clink glasses ten times and the person toastingyou talks for two or three minutes before hoisting the glass. The drinkis hot beer with fruit floating in it. Bones are spit on the floor, andthey mix with the sunflower see shells. It is amazing.
I am off now to learn how to make a dish I really like. Until next time,
MollyJanuary 27, 2005
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| Molly and her friend Hongxia, with Hongxia stepmother in front of
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| their pomelo trees.
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