Yu Deng Tang Shui (鱼灯糖水) Desserts @ Mount Qiyun Resort in China

While most people appeared to have retired for the night at Mount Qiyun Resort after the final performance; my mind was still alert and in fact, craving for desserts to warm my body in the cool climate.

And this beautiful yet imposing building caught our attention; no less because it's a dessert shop, and we were desperately looking for one to sit down, and slowly enjoyed the desserts we chose.

Interestingly, almost empty eatery! 

Don't the locals love desserts at all?!

Nevertheless, lesser people means a quieter environment to better enjoy the traditional decorations within the shop, like this pair of gigantic fish lanterns above us. The shop's namesake; 鱼灯 means fish lantern and is an icon of the huizhou culture. 

Nothing hit it better than live fishes though.

Like the ones swimming in the earthen pot.

Our order for four persons; one of which I shall not be reviewing since it's for a tour mate. p.s. Not nice for me to steal a bite right? Paiseh also.

Fresh Papaya Dessert Soup - I love papayas but never had them in sweetened soup! Interesting it was but taste wise; literally papaya in a saccharose broth. Not something I would crave in the future. 

Peach Gum Poached Pear - my order and the reason for having this was the numerous reels I saw on this heartwarming dessert before my visit to Huangshan! And despite being a procrastinator; I didn't take long to decide this over the other 10 contenders! 

I was expecting the dessert to be boiling hot but it was at most lukewarm, doing a half hearted job in warming my body. Whatever the case, the taste was similar to cheng tng and not overly sweet, with a yummy pear that was poached till soft and tender!

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Address

Within Mount Qiyun Resort,

Qiyunshan Town, Xiuning County, 

Huangshan City, Anhui Province, China

Menu (in Chinese)

As above.

Pricing

Fresh Papaya Dessert Soup - RMB 28

Peach Gum Poached Pear - RMB 28

Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency

Shopping On the Tour Bus @ Huangshan in China

Now, I was so taken aback by the sheer amount of commissioned shopping stops for my trip to Beijing back in 2012 that I swore off any visits to China for a few years, until there was no-shopping option! 

It did take another form, albeit one that is way more acceptance as the pitching took place along a long bus journey, in the comfort of the same tour bus that ferried you from one point to another, for almost the duration of the entire trip! 

Promoter - Xiaoxu, our tour guide! This wasn't something new as I have encountered such marketing in the past few "no-shopping" tour packages to China, and while there were persuasion skills, there's no pressure selling, and the tour guide will not force you to listen to him/her.

If it gets too bored (and it doesn't) or the products don't appeal to you (as it did for me for some of them), you can always look out of the window, and continue to be marvelled by the spectacular scenery in China. 

One thing I really enjoy on such shopping on the tour bus; the sampling, especially the snacks! I don't like about you but a much easier for me to open up my wallet was to entice me with your samples! Should my taste buds like them, it's a much higher chance for me to buy! 

Like this purple rice biscuit; not insanely sweet like many others in the market and came in smaller packets that would help to deter excessive indulgence. Only thing; not very sustainable with these small little packs. 

Favourite had to be the Chinese chestnuts; despite its name, it wasn't oily and, in fact, pretty dry to the touch. Furthermore, unlike most packaged Chinese chestnuts, these didn't have a strange smell / taste that I always attributed to some chemicals used for preservation, and tasted the best so far! 

Some would give you surprises; like the appearance of the five-eyed bodhi seed, which you would get after eating up the meat of the preserved plum.

I am not much of a preserved plum person but given the bodhi seeds, which would likely catch the attention of my mom; I bought a few packs. For all the above, you can mix and match and it would cost RMB 200 for 7 packs, RMB 400 for 16 packs; latter of which would cost about S$5.00 a pack.

Aside from snacks, you can also purchase the Golden Silk Crown Chrysanthemum, "a premium large-blossom herbal tea from Jiangxi and Anhui, China" that blossoms into a large flower once you put it in boiling water! Said to be organic and from highlands of above 1,000 meters, it cost RMB 200 for 40 individual sachets! 

There's also skincare; like the pearl powder cream, said to be made pearls from the famous Tai Lake and included ginseng extracts from Mount Taibai! p.s. can't remember how much this cost. 

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Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency

Mushroom and Tea Shop (聚福茶行) @ Tunxi Old Street, Huangshan City [China]

Tunxi Old Street was a notable attraction at Huangshan City, and our tour guide decided to make the shop of her relatives as a meet-up point given that there was a washroom which we can use, we can have some free tea inside and that it's alongside the main road.

I am a skeptical person by nature and I knew there's more to the story. The shop (聚福茶行) was the classic tea and mushroom shop sprouting all over the old street, claiming to sell quality products that hailed from the near Huangshan.

Typical of tourists on such tour packages, we had the tendency to arrive earlier so that we do not have to inconvenience others and by the time our family reached the shop, a majority of our tour mates had already arrived. 

Yes, we got our toilet break, and also our tea. To be fair, not those tea in a sachet; real tea leaves that were brewed and filtered, on a proper Chinese tea tray! 

That's when the marketing started; the origins of the tea, the benefits, the promotions. One of the most interesting product was a species of mushrooms called 松茸 that was said to be the king of mushrooms, and blessed with the nutritional power that was 20 times lingzhi! 

Interesting because you can just pour boiling water on the mushrooms, like what you do with tea leaves, and the taste was actually good; like drinking a clear, flavourful mushroom broth. I was keen to buy actually but there was a problem; it's super expensive; like a few hundred dollars a kilogram.

Now, I may love mushrooms but I am okay with cheaper mushrooms too! So, the 158 rmb per 500 grams 香菇 (about S$60 a kilogram) felt like a much better deal in my opinion!  

Despite buying the cheaper mushrooms, I looked longingly at the huge bags of 松茸 (it's actually known as the matsutake mushroom) in front of me; I mean... I can buy like a 100 grams so that it's not so damaging to my wallet... My family had to pull me away....

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Address

黄山市屯溪区延安路48号

(近中马路/屯溪老街商圈)

Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency

Anhui China Huizhou Culture Museum (安徽中国徽州文化博物馆) & Unofficial "Shopping Stop" @ Huangshan in China

Visiting the museums is part and parcel of any tour packages and it's no exception for our 8-day tour to Huangshan in China; bringing us to the Anhui China Huizhou Culture Museum.

Huizhou culture is a very interesting topic; as the name Huizhou suggests, it's a state yet not officially a state in China, given that it's straddled between three different provinces, Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang! 

Primarily situated in the Anhui province, across six counties, the Huizhou culture was most prominent during the Ming and Qing dynasties, even though I was totally ignorant of what it was before my visit. 

The one playing the most important role in promoting this Huizhou culture would be the hui merchants, said to be the "most powerful and important business group during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This was totally new to me as I had assumed the Jiangnan area would be the key commercial district, especially during the Qing dynasty.

Thing about Huizhou people was more on their tenacity as the areas they were residing were known to be hilly, with insufficient food yet with a large population; hence, many would venture out and do business. 

This resulted in many men leaving their hometowns and families behind, so that they could carve a living for their loved ones back home. The above teary scene scene was also included in the Cultural Show for the Huizhou Culture that we caught the day before. 

Scenes of the businesses managed by the Hui merchants; according to the information plaques, their family background was often poor but given their tenacity, many eventually elevated in wealthy merchants. Major trade include the tea, lumber and the monopoly of salt. 

Women played an extremely important role in the Huizhou culture as many would stay back in their hometowns when the husbands would venture out to do trade for a long period of time. Said to be special among ancient Chinese women, Huizhou women were known to "have all good Chinese traditions, mild and competent, delicate appearance with a strong mind". 

There's a standard display of furniture for the main hall of a typical Huizhou house. Man would always sit on the right, and the placement of mirror, clock and vases have symbolic meanings; like mirror for calm and composed (心平气和), clock for lifelong peace (终身平安) and vase for safe and sound (平平安安).

Huizhou was also known for producing academic scholars in ancient China; one particular county, Xiuning, is even known as the zhuangyuan (ranked number one amongst the scholars who passed the imperial exams held every 3 years) county as 19 came from that county between 1217 and 1880; the most in the country. 

I thought we were done with the museum visit but no; we were brought to another area outside the main building, apparently for a better understanding of Huizhou intangible cultural heritage.

My eyes were drawn to this waterway with overgrown bushes filled with yellow flowers. 

The building but instead of going through the main door, we entered via the side door. It also didn't escape my eyes that most visitors at the main building didn't follow us, and that to me, would be fishy.

After a short introduction on Huizhou intangible cultural heritage, including some famous individuals known for their skills in making wooden statues from sandalwood, and ink slabs; we were brought to a section where we can buy them. I was like; wait, didn't I sign up for non shopping stop?! To be fair, absolutely no pressure for us to buy, but it's still a waste of my precious time. 

p.s. didn't take photographs as we weren't allowed to. Oh well, best way for us not to take evidence and complain to CTC Travel about it. Should I still file a complaint then since I was explicit when I signed up, no such commissioned based shopping stop! 

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Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency