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Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

Feel like a long walk?
Foreshore!
HeeHee!

As today was supposed to rain, last night I sat up till gawd knows what time sorting through all my photos for each coming blog and as I uploaded each set I listened to music, ate two packets of pistachios and drank Anchor and Tsingtao beer. Of course upon waking my room was filled with bright sunshine and my phone told me it was only nine so I rolled over and slept until almost midday.

That gave me the entire afternoon free to do as I please.

I decided on a beach walk and headed down to the river and boarded Bus No: 37 which took me almost half an hour west to the Holiday Beach area and it was exactly what I wanted for my afternoons walking adventure. As the beach is around six kilometers long and grabbed a moto and headed further along the coast. The Holiday Beach section was the only crowded section but even that was spacious. It also comes complete with hotels, restaurants, change rooms, showers, eateries and children’s amusement centers.

As for the rest of the beach;

There are many other people to be found, but as the beach is so long and spacious you barely notice them. There is a beach side park and walking/riding path that takes you most of the way back towards Haikou and I spent quite a few hours walking, reading and snacking and at its end I thought of boarding a bus but then decided to jump a few fences and continue. Thankfully I did as not long after dark I came across a park filled with Spring Festival lanterns and lights and spent a wonderful half an hour walking through its colourfulness.

I arrived at Ertong Park around nine and was famished!

I decided to head to an expensive Café/Restaurant I found last night as they have a huge selection of dishes from all over Asia. I ordered a Chef’s Salad, as it is 'normally’ the Big Boy of salads and always comes with several chunky bits of tender chicken, several chunky bits of ham, several chunky bits of beef along with baby tomatoes, onion, cheese, peppers etc.

When mine arrived I nearly died!

It came with two bits of chicken, two bits of canned ham and two tiny strips of processed cheese and all six were about as long as your little finger and as thin as cardboard. There were no tomatoes or any other type of vegetables but what it did come with was almost an entire lettuce. I looked at the waitress and laughed and we both counted the meat and cheese and she apologised and called over another waitress who gasped it what was, or should I say, NOT on my plate.

Then came the Wenchang Chicken.

Being a local Hainan specialty that I’ve tried several times and loved, I wanted to try it in a coconut broth and after it was placed before me I eagerly dove in with my chopsticks and came out with a big piece of chicken fat. I dove in again and caught another big piece of chicken fat and after catching nothing but chicken fat the next two casts I called over the two waitresses and asked them to have a try.

Don’t get me wrong, I DO know that Wenchang Chicken is a fatty chicken.
But there is always a lot of meat so this was absolutely ridiculous!

On the table before us we had seven bits of fat and one tiny piece of meat on a bone and in the end I paid for my beer and headed down to the food alley near the Haikou Qi Lou Food Street and had some local noodles that came with a thick and kind of sweet sauce along with some peanuts and baby bamboo and they were so delicious.

On the walk back to my hotel I followed the above with several boiled BBQ Sticks!

It’s not often at all that I eat at the big café/restaurant type places but at the end of a Beers N Noodles Adventure sometimes I like to splurge on some Thai/Malaysian/Japanese type dishes and normally they are outstanding.

Honestly, tonight was just a joke!
Noodles and BBQ = 10Yuan.
Fat & Lettuce = 60Yuan.

Wenchang Chicken

Wenchang Chicken takes its name from its birthplace, Wenchang City on Hainan.

All over Hainan, when people host a party, they usually provide guests with a dish of tasty Wenchang Chicken to show their gracious hospitality. A legend surrounds the origins of Wenchang Chicken. In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) an official from Wenchang brought several chickens from his hometown and presented them to the emperor as a gift. After eating the dish made from these chickens, the emperor enjoyed it so much ne named the dish Wenchang Chicken.

Since then it has been famous not only in China but also Southeast Asia.

The Chicken is raised in the tropical environment of Hainan and range freely under the rubber trees and banyans along the coast, strolling about freely among abundant food sources of banyan seeds and worms. The nutritious food, glorious sunshine and kind climate all contribute to the fine taste of Wenchang Chicken. They are small fowl, but very fleshy with thin skin.

The traditional way to cook Wenchang Chicken in Hainan is baizhan (or baiqie), which is to boil the chicken in water and cut it up, then rub with the Hainan-style seasoning before serving. The seasoning is the critical part for this dish. The authentic mix contains ginger, mashed garlic, soy sauce, salt and fresh orange juice. This sounds simple, but it is difficult to get right, as the different proportions of the ingredients, time, degree of heating, and other aspects of preparation all contribute to the well-balanced flavor, another method is to stew it with coconut.

The locals often make juice and concoct a soup with coconut flesh.

In the wave of immigration that took place in the early 20th century, Hainan-born Chinese spread this side dish of chicken rice all over Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand and the dish was merged with the Southeast Asian cuisines.

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Xavier Rudd
The album was ‘To Let’
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