Liuzhou, China

Where in the world is Liuzhou, China and why would you travel there? To see dear friends that’s why! Luizhou is a 4-hour train ride north of Shenzhen and a 2-hour flight south of Shanghai or basically it’s in an out of the way part of central China. So, when the opportunity for me to be Shanghai and Hong Kong came up, I jumped at the chance to squeeze in a quick side trip to Liuzhou. Of all the places on earth that you can get sent to for work, central China is a tough transition as much of the food and culture is just so incredibly different. My peeps have such a great attitude about their adventure though, it is inspiring and honestly, it helps to have a great attitude because they are certainly the only Americans in the area and are often subject to odd looks and long stares. But as they say – it’s all part of the adventure!

Epic Things to do in Liuzhou
• River walk
• Markets
• Liyu Peak Scenic Area

The Liujiang River runs through the heart of the city of Liuzhou and there is a beautiful and lengthy paved walkway to wander along the river and enjoy the scenery and see all the people out fishing. We were lucky enough to be here in the spring when dozens and dozens of trees were blooming with gorgeous pink flowers.

The Markets – There were several markets through the city. We first went to an outside market that was absolutely packed. There were several alleyways filled with goods. Fresh produce, live chickens, meat out on the tables, clothing, cookware, prepared food for sale – a bit of everything. The produce all looks so amazing and fresh and of course there were many things I didn’t recognize. One of those was a large, brown nut. There was a woman peeling it and it was white inside, but of course everyone speaks only mandarin, so we went away still wondering what it was. But after a little search (no google in China) on Bing and a look through some Chinese cookbooks and we finally discovered it was a water chestnut! The next day, we decided to make an epic stir-fry, so we went back to the market and bought many vegetables and some meat for our dinner, including the water chestnuts. They were so fresh – although not the easiest to peel – but made a great addition to our dinner. We also tried a vegetable that we still do not know was it was, nor was it tasty, so we left that out! We also tried a sesame drink that was like drinking peanut butter, a large pancake that was sprinkled with herbs and cut up into bite size pieces and of course some dumplings.

There were several markets we explored, but it was the salmon market that stretched my ability to stroll through at a leisurely pace the most – yes, I expected the butchered animals hanging in the stalls, and the variety of pig tails, pig snots, and chicken feet but once I was confronted by the eyeballs, dogs, rats, snakes and other special delicacies - I was done! I am certainly glad that I had the opportunity to go and I thought I would take it in stride as a difference of cultures, but I was out of my comfort zone! Although the salmon did look amazing.

One other interesting note on the markets – they are mostly makeshift, dirty and elementary, yet the preferred method of payment is WeChat pay on your phone! It seems surreal to be at this old-style market, purchasing meat they are cutting up for you on a table in the open air and paying for it with your cell phone!

The Liyu Peak Scenic Area consists of Yufengshan Hill, Ma’anshan Mountain and the Xialongtan Pool (lake). The park is beautiful and full of things to see. You can take a cable car up the mountain for a scenic overview of the city, sit by the water, walk through the various areas of the park or simply watch the crowds of people playing games, practicing arts and performing dances. It was a wonderful area and you can spend a whole day here exploring. We even discovered an old nuclear shelter that we walked through. Erie but interesting.

Each evening there is also a light show on the river, which we enjoyed from their upper level apartment overlooking the river.

Evening light shows seems to be very popular throughout China as there has been one in every city we have visited. But it is always a fun way to end the night and always pretty to watch.

While we enjoyed several great dinners out and a fabulous homemade stir-fry with our market purchases at home, the highlight was just being together, trading stories, sharing memories and playing the appropriate game for China – Chicken Foot!

Overall – If you get an opportunity to visit an obscure, out of the way town in China or anywhere in the world where you have friends who are now locals to play tour guide – do not miss the opportunity to embrace the experience! And, as our friends say – it’s just all part of the (epic) adventure! Thanks for hosting us Greg and Allison!