Postcard from Chengdu: Hot Pot

*Yoko is in China for 10 days! And with no access to Facebook or Instagram, she is sending us photos the old school way -- via postcards. We'll be featuring these snapshots from Yoko in Chengdu and Shanghai all week here on the blog. Enjoy! - Kayoko

Washi was still trying to get rid of his stubborn cough, so we thought having Chengdu's spiciest food, hotpot, would chase it away. Full of medicinal spices and peppers, this style of hotpot, which originated in Chongqing requires you to wear a thick apron and have a box of tissues at your side (all provided by the staff).

This shot was taken towards the end of the meal, somewhere between the beef tendons and pig brains (more on that later in a full blog post). Our patient server walked us through the whole meal and is serving me some buckwheat noodles.

I'd like to think that we got the lâolá meaning "old spicy" (original spicy), since they never asked.

Lesson from day 1: tissue and soy milk required.