My idyllic escape.

Back with another tantalising food report from my home country. This time, a special hot pot with a more ethnic minority style. The pot is divided into two halves roughly in the shape of the Yin and Yang. This symbolises the contrasting nature of the soups which are spicy and not spicy respectively. A big difference to the kind of hot pots you will find in the South of China, like Sichuan Chongqing etc.

Since this is a friend's hot pot idea, we were instructed to bring our share of the ingredients for the hot pot. This is actually customary and makes for a really good variety of foods. As you can see, we have a lot of vegetables, including kidney beans, runner beans, pea shoots, but we also have chilli's, cured meats and kebabs. Other ingredients we ordered from the menu at the restaurant directly. You might be asking how come we're allowed to bring our own food? Well, that's quite normal practice here in China and people are usually not asked to pay for the privilege.

After the restaurant gathering, I quickly went back to my room at the lodge for some quiet time. I'm seeking something that gives me true happiness, something akin to enlightenment and I feel that the only way for that to happen is to be calm and around few distractions for the time that I'm 'meditating.' Most of the time, people get distracted by what happens in life from day to day, paying attention to solving short term problems and thinking very little of long term. I hope to get myself out of that trap by being in a new environment, one that is slow moving and peaceful.

A talking parrot obviously is not helping.

Here is a view of the room. It's almost arabian in style, and I particularly like the curtains in the bath room to hide your modesty. It's a very open ended room and features a large forest facing balcony.

As a person who grew up reading, writing Chinese, I am very short sighted and also suffer from Astigmatism. My optician would tell me to spend as much time away from dimly lit places, especially avoiding reading in low light conditions. Rather, I should spend more time looking at bright green colours and objects in the distance.

Doing that whilst pondering my meaning of life over some dragon fruit and tea is my idea of an idyllic lifestyle. I don't know when I'll find my purpose in this life, but as I mentioned before, I know for sure it isn't being part of the corporate ladder, a life which I left behind to seek peace and harmony with humankind and nature.