Who Will Lend Me A Kitchen: Day 1 - Guilin

Arriving at guilin airport, i wait for the arrival of my rucksack, ducking into the washroom, I wash my face and most of my neck from the "3 hour travel" I had just been through. After getting all of our luggage, we proceed to the parking lot. Here we meet up with Bai Shi Fu, our driver for this journey, bearing a rather serious face, not much is said between us and him except for just some questions about the local food and such. I pose some questions about motorbike rentals and the answers seem hopeful but with a slight doubt casted as well. We proceed to the hotel and check in, staying at Hanting Inn. We quickly unpack our stuff, and go for lunch at a local dry pot (dry pot is a chinese dish, where the items are placed in a shallow wok above a small flame and left to slowly fry over heat) restaurant, the local dry pot was quite delish with squid, beef, chicken, and various peppers, onions, and chilli's mixed with a fragrant chilli paste. We discuss over lunch about how the filming is going to go, and we try to get used to each other's characters. Which is hard for me because well, my Mandarin isn't as good as I think it is, we continue to parlez for a while over lunch while i get used to He Lao Shi filming me while I speak and eat. After lunch, we head back to the hotel, and there I have 10 minutes to freshen up, assemble my knife bag and equipment bag and head back out again.

Destination: The local market. We arrive at the largest wet market in Guilin and pile out of the van just outside it's entrance. He Lao Shi starts fumbling upon my person as he straps the mic to my chest, I feel like I'm getting prepped for a drug bust where I play a snitch or undercover cop. Awesome. The weariness in my bones from the night of play and then the events leading up to this point is draining, my eyes are sore and tired, i'm dry mouthed, and most of all, nervous. Hang Fei and He Lao Shi get into position, and start with a simple line, "OK，开始了！”　(which basically means, Ok, GO!) and I'm off, walking down the street, trying to act normal, luckily, I've had dreads for 6 years now, and in China, that's pretty much the same as having a camera crew follow you around anyway. We walk up to the first stand, the merchant is a fruit peddlar, and he looks warily at me and my entourage, I pause and start inquiring about some exotic looking fruit from down south that you don't normally see in Beijing. He mumbles something, while avoiding the camera and myself, He Lao Shi rushes me along with a "don't waste your time" type of gesture. We start to walk into the market, and I can feel the nervousness slowly waning and a bit of confidence slowly fillin me up.

At the second stall I start asking questions about a certain type of pastry made of rice flour, and the peddlar is relunctant to engage as well, but I press on and eventually am able to squeeze the info out of her. At this point I decide that if they're not willing to participate, then just ditch em right away. We wander around the market for a while, and I start getting used to talking to the camera, eventually joking more with the merchants and being myself. After wandering for a while, we bump into an ayi who's also doing some shopping in the market as well and Shan Shan starts talking to her about our show, which is called “谁借我厨房？”　Which basically means, 'Who Will Lend Me A Kitchen?'

For those of you who haven't tuned in for a long time, the premise of this show is centered on me travelling around, looking for ingredients for my new restaurant, learning about regional cuisines, exploring various regions of China, and exchanging whatever skills (culinary, artistic or whatever else) i have for other skills, accommodations, or adventure. Basically what I do when I travel normally.

Right, so here I am wandering through this market, and we bump into this nice lady, Liu Ayi (Aunt Liu) who then offers us to go to her house the following day so she can cook us some local dishes. We agree to meet at the market again the in the morning so we can select the best pieces of pig stomach for the regional dish she wants to show us. The dish itself is of a seasonal variety because right now, the gingko nut is in season.


 We shoot 15 shots of me smashing the shell of the nuts with lackluster talent to showcase the skill of the old man who's selling the nuts. Busting nuts has never been more annoying, especially when you have to intentionally smash your finger with a hammer for the camera.


The rest of the filming is a combination of repeating lines, doing 15 takes of me picking stuff up and putting it down. Having a meat slicing competition at a stall with a local deli owner. Strolling around the cages of live chickens being prepped for the slaughter at the stall next door. I pause and wonder what it's like to be a chicken in one of those cages, awaiting my imminent death. Shaking it off, I turn around to see a crowd of people following me around the market and inspecting my hair.

I am completely drained by the time that 8pm rolls around, and we decide to call it a day and head to dinner. We drive for about 15 minutes and arrive at the side of a lake, where two beautiful pagodas are lit up, one with yellow lights and the other with white lights. They're called the twin towers, the moon tower and the sun tower, herego the white and yellow lights. We order a bevvy of food and congee, gourge and promptly leave. As we are driving, I decide to get out of the car and actually just take some down time and tour the lake, grabbing Shan Shan's camera, I stroll around the area.

Eventually I get back to the twin towers, take a bunch of pictures and stroll into a square, where there are a bunch of b-boys breaking. I converse with them a little and then decide to take off and hit the hotel for a good night's rest. What a frikkin day.

Day 1: Part 1 - Adios Beijing

So far the day has started off pretty rough with Tanya rapping on my door and saying "Hey Jun! Wake up! Aren't you going to miss your plane?". With these words breaching my semi inebriated and sleep induced mind, I awake with a startle and jump out of my bed. Into the shower, toothbrush in hand, soap in the other, I wash and brush the night before away, who's idea was it to stay out till 5am after snowboarding all day with Lebo anyway? Oh right, mine. Out of the shower I quickly throw on my clothes from last night. Giving them a wiff, they reek of cigarette smoke from 1st Floor (the local pub we frequented for drinks before and after a night out). Vague memories of drinking shots with Jeff, Kristin, and John at 1st floor came to mind. Then I remembered that it all started at Miga's, drinks with little miss Mai, the proprietor Edu, Adam, Kate, Lebo and Susanna (who had surprised me with some pants, and an electronic dictionary for my trip). Later on meeting Jeri and Johny White and Sabina at Punk.

Quickly I dismiss these memories to make room in my capacity limited mind to make way for more vital thought processes at hand. Did I pack everything? Did I tie up all my loose ends? Ah crap, forget it, just zip up the bags and go. I grab my 80 liter pack, my skate bag filled with my computer and other important things, my knife bag (which my sisters had sent to me via Lemur). Mind still blurry, I run out the door and downstairs to hail a cab. As the taxi pulls up, John runs out of the building in a huff, and in nothing but a towel. As we bid each other farewell, I remember I had forgotten my boots and run up to retrieve them, I put them on hastily and pack my sneakers up. Ding, elevator, ground floor, cab door, and I'm off.

I call Hang Fei, our cameraman, and I inform him of my late departure from the guesthouse and that I will be arriving at the studio tout suite, to which he replies that I should just go ahead and meet him at the airport. "Shi Ji! Jiu dao ji chang!" Down the airport express, pull up at the gate, out the door, bags on my back and my front, I rush in and meet the Hang Fei. He smiles a panda smile, one that I'll get used to over the days I'm sure, he's a bit on the rotund side, and with a jolly demeanour to match it. We check in our gear, and meet up with Shan Shan, the assistant to the crew, and Liu Hang, our producer. Shan Shan is an ever cheerful woman, with a bit of a zing in her attitude when the mood suits. Liu Hang, our producer seems like he'll be a positive addition to the crew through the journey as well. As I walk up to shake their hands, I catch a wiff of myself and hope that they won't be able to smell the night before on me through the soap, and spritz of cologne I sprayed on before I left. "why's your face so pale?" Liu Hang asks me right after I've shaken his hand. "Ah.. I just woke up" "Oh, right" He replies with a knowing look on his face. With only 15 minutes left to board, we make our way for the gate. When we arrive at the gate, we meet up with He Lao Shi, the other cameraman, he's seems quite cheerful as well and in a good mood, we exchange greetings and board our plane.

On the plane, I nurse my hangover while coming to the realisation that this was all really happening, that I was really going to Guangxi, to travel, eat, learn, explore, trade my skills for other skills, accomodation, adventure, and share while being followed by a film crew. I was finally getting paid to do what I've been doing on all my travels for the past 5 years.

I promptly fall asleep after this contemplation, and awake to the sight of the beautiful scenic limestone hills and cliffs, winding rivers, and tiled rice fields which are the iconic symbols of this serene province outside my cabin window as our plane lands in Guilin. We have arrived.

One word that can best express my sentiment at this time "AWESOME", and another to describe the feeling "NAUSEOUS".