It was way past lunch and I needed to find a place to eat. Zili Village isn’t very touristy which is good, but there aren’t many places to eat here either, in fact, I was having a hard time looking for one. While I was wandering about their main square, a middle aged lady asked me if I wanted to eat. Of course I do! She then led me to their hourse which was beside one of the diaolou near the square.
Their house is a simple one made of concrete, it was a little dark since their windows are a little tiny. This is no restaurant. She led me to their dining area and didn’t even ask what I wanted. She quickly whipped up some scrambled eggs with veggies and a nice vegetable soup. And like any other place the rice was all I can eat. In fact, she gave me the entire rice cooker to take rice from!
In these parts of China, less Mandarin is spoken and more of the Cantonese dialect is. I can hardly understand Cantonese as I could only pick out words here and there. At least these guys can understand Mandarin good enough but they don’t speak it that well. Which is good, at least I do not get interviewed while I’m eating. They just left me eating in the dining area while they go about their household chores.
As for the food? It was nothing fantastic, it was actually quite ordinary, more like a home cooked meal but satisfying nonetheless. After I was done, paid my hosts and left Zili Village. I needed to get back to Guangzhou in time for a dinner appointment. Fortunately for me, a bus going to Kaiping city passed by and I was only my way. On the bus to Guangzhou, I quickly fell asleep the rest of the way. As I look back on this trip, this would be my last UNESCO World Hertiage site in China. I will still be visiting a few more places before I leave the country though. But what a wonderful experience this was!
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