Not-stalgia

Ah well, I'm not the one for nostalgia (except a few very exceptional cases) but a continuous bombardment of messages from my dearest friend has left me missing the old Hunanese town I lived in for almost five years before moving to Shanghai.

My friend has been asking me to come over and spend a few winters days in 'Loudi' and feast on proper Hunanese street food.
Ah, the food is what I miss the most after my friend. Shanghainese food is not exactly the tastiest cuisine out there. It's bland, kinda sweet or rather just bleh; Loudi food on the other hand was vast, varied and soul searing spicy.
Also their concept of the oft much maligned street food was more in depth than any other province in China.

Of the barrage of texts I received the one I loved most said 'it's raining here' .. now I'm actually thinking of giving the old town a visit.

It was a small town typically Chinese and very happy. In fact it was among the top places in happiness index in china.
There were no sightseeing places and therefore a lack of tourism which meant it preserved its quaint ramshackle yet efficient originality.

It was tier 5 town, but don't let that fool you into thinking it was a village. It had more number of skyscrapers than our biggest cities combined. Drainage, roadworks and infrastructure on whole was top class..not to mention social security and safety, which I think is top notch in every Chinese city.

Having said all this, it was absolutely not as Urban as one would think, and perhaps that was its soul beauty.
It retained its small town vibe and gauche personality, which was so charming and so absent from these Global cities.

People were provincial, unworldly and warm. There was a certain grace to the inelegance that city offered and after my initial dislike, I'd begun to explore their roots and understand it's people and the city as a whole a lot better.
It was what the real country was about.
I got to be a part of real China and loved every bit of it.. not least because I made such lovely friends and a BFF.

So now, perhaps this month or next I'll give the town a visit and revisit our favourite hotspots.
That were
- a tiny wine and tea shop
- a small coffee shop that served excellent juice
- a horde of small eateries serving typically Hunan cuisine
- our favourite hotpot joint
- rainbow mall (a huge mall that we often hung out in, checking makeup kiosks and trying perfumes)
- a local park that sports beautiful pomegranate and plum blossoms
- a small bakery called 'Doc McGee' that served twisted bread that was really a Korean doughnut and decent coffee

.. soon..