"Losing weight is hard. Maintaining weight is hard. Being fat is hard. Pick your hard."
Just before the holidays began, my friend Zhang Liang A.K.A Chinese David asked me if I'd be interested to come with him to Lugu Lake (a massive lake situated on the Sichuan and Yunnan province border, halfway on the way to Lijiang - the place I wrote about in the previous blog) to model for him. Seeing as no plans had been made for the holiday and that I'd never been to Lugu Lake (had passed it while sitting on the bus to Lijiang - but never actually "been" there), I said yes. Another big reason why I was keen to go, was that for the previous month I had been working very hard at shedding some stubborn pounds and had somewhat successfully shed a good few, so was excited to flaunt my "mogui shencai" - the direct translation being "devil figure"!
Anyway, the reason I like that quote that I wrote, is because it hasn't been easy - I mean shedding the pounds, that is. And, not only that, once you shed them, well guess what? You can't exactly stop (as I've discovered all too many times) - you need to keep going (maintaining)... Ah... Such is life! Actually, I think this quote can apply to a lot of things in life - even if something seems easy, there is always something there to balance the easiness away. Take money for example; money is great! - you can spend it and buy things, but it comes at a price: work. Same as my figure - it might be pretty good now, but has also come at a price: shit-loads of exercise (at the annoyance of one of my neighbours who said they can hear me jumping in my apartment!) and cutting back somewhat (I say somewhat - as actually, I still eat quite a bit, and not necessarily the most healthiest of things!) on food. Anyway, for now I am picking this hard, over the hard of being fat. It's very easy to get fat, but it's not very easy being fat (clothes not fitting, depression, zero energy and motivation, mood swings.. Just to name a few).
And the rewards have been nice: More choice in buying clothes. For the first time in two years of living in China I have been able to buy a bra (In general, asians have smaller chests) - I think that is a very nice achievement! Getting into a bikini for the first time in my life (and being photographed in it). Better moods. More energy - although, that one is arguable, seeing as though I am a little tired some days due to so much exercise. And also a nice kick in the teeth to anyone who has been nasty to me about my weight...
Anyway, enough about my figure for now. Sooo about Lugu lake...
Well, I caught the bus there by myself, as I was to meet David at Lugu Lake (he was already in Yanyuan - a town about 3 hours away from the lake). I love but also hate travelling on the bus in China. I love it for the fact that I love the feeling of travelling in general i.e. going/seeing somewhere new, sitting back in your seat and having an excuse to listen to your music for however long or reading a book if you prefer. But hate it for the fact that if you are a "laowai" (foreigner. Direct translation is "old out!") then you are guaranteed to be stared at and talked about, and this is doubled if you are by yourself!! Anyway, I had a seat right at the front of the bus next to a girl who I guessed was Yi people (I was right). Halfway into the trip, after lunch, I decided to break our awkward stranger silence and ask her if she was going to Lugu Lake (well, pretty obvious, seeing as though that is the final destination of the trip - but you have to start somewhere when making conversation!). We'd just stopped at Yanyuan.
Yanyuan is famous for it's apples - and I know why; they are bloody delicious!!! I mean, crisp, sweet, just the right amount of sourness.. just perfect. On the note on apples here in China, they really are good. Maybe I'm making a generalisation - as I haven't been to all parts of China. Anyway, I can speak for Xichang; they are good! And actually, the fruit in general here (again, I will just speak for Xichang) is actually amazing. I mean, ALL of it!!! I have had many delicious fruit eating experiences here. Lets see: Cherries (small orange ones, to big dark red ones), Oranges (I absolutely LOVE the oranges here in the winter season. This will be my 3rd winter in Xichang now, so when the oranges appear, I get excited!), mandarins (same applies as said about the oranges. I particularly love the really tiny variety they have here), grapefruit (the variety here is MASSIVE, and, not only that, but they really are so so sweet.. Can't get enough of them! They are in season now), strawberries (comparing the price to Ozzie dollars, they are cheap as chips, and of course so sweet and delicious), watermelon, bananas (an all season favourite - a must for my lately every-day-breakfast of pancakes), black grapes (almost like eating natural lollies, they are so ridiculously sweet) and of course the apples. That is just to name a few. I was never a massive fruit lover before coming here - but as you can see, I am one now!
Ok.. Back to the story!
So, the reason I brought up about Yanyuan's apples is that my new friend, Ma Meng Yao (as I later learned), had just bought some pingguo gan (dried, crispy apple rings) and offered me one from the bag - and this was the beginning of our bonding. We then talked for pretty much the remainder of our journey. When she asked my age she was shocked thinking I was around the same age as her (she's 9 years younger than me!), and I was also a little shocked to find she was so much younger than me, thinking she was just a few years less than me.
When we arrived into Lugu Lake, I accompanied Meng Yao to her Kezhan (guesthouse), while I waited for David to arrive. She had booked herself a somewhat expensive room, so when David arrived and nothing had yet been really sorted out in terms of accomodation, we all agreed that it would be good if I shared the room with Meng Yao at least for the first night, and then sort out the rest of the time later. That room really was nice. I mean, it had one of those asian-style lounges (the kind that you can sit cross-legged on, and have a little tea table sitting on it), a big comfy bed, and best of all, a cute little balcony over-looking some of the lake. If I can have one complaint though (or two!), it was too bloody cold!!!!! Wow! I mean talk about having a rudolph nose! And ice-cubes in place of hands and feet! There's nothing worse than still feeling uncomfortable when you are inside 'out of the cold', but actually, still in it... Another minor (but a little funny) trouble we met, was a revolting black spider dangling from it's web just above my pyjamas that I'd noticed had appeared as I'd just gotten out of the shower that night. Meng Yao was just as scared of spiders as me, so when I tried to maneuver a way to reach my pyjamas, and the spider just dropped itself further from it's web and seemingly closer to my hand, I jumped back at the speed of light and both of us did blood-curdling screams. We stood there, me still naked (and cold - seeing as I couldn't reach my clothes), wondering what to do. When the spider seemed to swing itself even closer to us, we again did the same blood-curdling scream (anyone would have thought there was a murderer in the room). Finally, we decided we had no choice but to find the laoban (boss) of the kezhan to come catch it for us (for 2 reasons: I couldn't get my clothes. And we wouldn't be able to sleep well, knowing that the spider was in the vicinity). So, I hid (naked) under the bed covers, while the boss (grinning to himself) caught the spider and thus saved the day.
The following day me and David started out on our photo-taking expedition. We left at maybe 10:30 or so in the morning, and came back around half 6 at night, so was a pretty big day - seeing as though a good half of the trip or so was on foot. We found a perfect, somewhat hidden, little beach to take some swimsuit photos. Even though I'd just described the night being so unbearably cold, I can not convince you enough that when I say that in the sun, sans clothing, I felt the most warm of all. I guess is probably just that natural feeling of the sunlight on your skin - as opposed to being wrapped in layers of synthetic clothing.
The day after was pretty much a repeat of the day before, but this time without going on the long walk - we just returned back to that small beach and did some more pictures there. And after a long day of "work" arrived back to our kezhan for a nice big meal of gong-bao jiding (don't really know the translation, but is basically small cubes of chicken, amongst peanuts and a kind of chinese lettuce, with a slightly sweet sauce), jia chang doufu (translation: home-made tofu), jiang chao bai cai (fried cabbage in a sweet/chilli/sour sauce), suancai tang (actually if I translate this on google translate it says "sauerkraut soup"! - this must be why I love suancai so much - because I love sauerkraut!!) and of course lots of mifan (rice), and not to forget the addition of extra cu (vinegar) - much to the bewilderment of the kezhan hosts.. On the note of vinegar and living in China; well, I can't get enough of it!! My love of it began when I ate noodles here for the first time and discovered that it is the done thing to add a little bit of it if you fancy. Anyway, my little has since turned into a LOT! And I eat it with nearly anything - noodles, fried rice, zhong cai (traditional chinese food). Some people think I'm crazy for adding so much, but I don't care - I love it!
And, the next day we returned to Xichang... And that's it! (I have a feeling I may have written a bit much already).
Anyway, here are some of Chinese David's photos*:
*Some pics retouched by wiredtogether.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Big W for the $15 bikini on clearance sale...
More pics from my trip...