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It’s Trevor James
And it is 6:30 in the morning
I am in deep Southern Sichuan
I’ve been riding my bike since 4 in the morning
I have a 100km to bike today
We’re going to a little town
Butuo
And it’s a Yi Minzu
Yi minority group of people
There’s going to be a lot of good food
Actually, I have no idea what we’re going to find
But we’re going to look
And I have a lot of biking to do today
Visiting the rural side of China is always a great experience
Whether you ride a bike or take a bus
You can go to little villages where few travellers ever go
And see sights and discover new foods and cultures
This trip involved a 12 hour intense ride to Butuo
A little farmers village in South Sichuan
Endless little villages and fields and mountains
Made it truly spectacular
It was one of the most beautiful rides and towns I’ve been to
You can get a true feel for rural life in China
The local morning market was packed with vendors
Selling live chickens and wool
But I couldn’t find anything to eat on the spot
So I went to the first little place that looked good for breakfast
And then explored around for more food in the afternoon
So we’re going to have a classic morning breakfast here in China
This is like fresh hot soybean milk
And this is like a rice porridge
We’re getting a full Chinese breakfast
Look at that
So we’re going to start of with a fresh steamy steamy baozi
There is going to be fresh pork in there and veg
Let’s try it out
It’s so juicy
That is delicious
It tastes like really juicy slightly salty pork
This is youtiao
Basically deep fried dough
You can find this all over China
All over the breakfast joints like this place
And you can just dip it right into the zhou
This rice porridge
It’s crispy deep fried dough
That’s alright
This one really doesn’t have much flavour
That’s great
So what’s nice is you can wash it all down with this steaming hot soybean milk
After breakfast I went out for a little ride deep into the countryside
The beautiful scenery really made it a great experience
Seeing children as young as 7 or 8 working in the fields on the schooldays
And caring for their younger siblings
Really put things into perspective
I met a lady farming potatoes
Who asked me for water
It really made me realize how hard life in the fields can be
And how we take for granted how much work goes into growing food
After giving her all of her water
I made my way back to the village in search of lunch
I got lucky
I found a Yi Jia Le
Yi food
Minority food
And we’re going to try it out
But the cooking process couldn’t begin without first taking some pictures together
Then, 30 minutes later
It was time to feast
Look at this
We have a plate full of local fresh potatoes here
These are grown right here in Liangshan
Wow
I have no idea how we’re going to eat all of that
This is like Chinese cured pork
This is qiaomai
Qiaomai cakes I should say
Buckwheat cakes
That looks interesting
This is like baby pig chunks
Covered in chilies and garlic
Boiled and steaming hot
And then over here I really don’t know what this is
I’ll be honest
This is something completely new
A lot of this is new to me
Everything looks
This looks earthy
Look at that soup
It’s full of veg
Looks like there is some beans in there
Chilies
Amazing
First thing I’m going to try is the tuotuo rou
This is what everyone says you have to try
Look at that
Baby pig chunks
Covered in chilies and garlic
That is really fatty
It tastes just like boiled pork
It’s really juicy
A slight chili flavour
Not too spicy
We’re going to try this local soup here
That is like really earthy
I can tell it’s right from the dirt
Wow
The greens in there are quite strong
Now we’re going to go for the qiaomai buckwheat cake
This is super unique
It tastes exactly like buckwheat
Really there is no other flavour to it
Look at this
Look at this sausage
It’s like complete fat
Complete fat with one little chunk of meat
This is all really good
It’s quite simple
Full of energy
They give you whole potatoes just to eat
Full of energy
I’m so lucky to be eating this right now
In the Yi minority restaurant here
I am just so happy and lucky to be eating this
I’ve got the potatoes I’m going to take on my bike ride back to the main city tomorrow
Have some meat, that was great food
I shared the rest of the unfinished food with the kitchen
I wasn’t expecting the portions to be that big
And after a big rest that evening
I made my way back 120 km to Xichang the next morning
Through mountains and surprisingly cold weather in August
What an unforgettable experience
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It was a wonderful trip down into the deep southern Sichuan on the bike
Completely beautiful
Completely exhausting
And it was totally worth it to meet the local people
Walk around
Bike around
Awesome food
Awesome experience
Thanks again
I got a little bit more biking to do
Back to the main village
Awesome fun