China — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Ouch!

October 2015

On my last night in Chengdu, I went out with some friends for a traditional Chinese “hot pot” meal. It turned out to be an incredibly memorable evening.

The restaurant we went to was called, I believe, Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant.

Photo by Author — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan

The board outside adverting the dishes and food available looked interesting.

Photo by Author — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

As I walked in, I saw a sign saying that the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, had eaten at the restaurant on his visit to China.

Photo by Author — David Cameron (British Prime Minister) had eaten at the Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant was a “hot pot” restaurant, and the tables had a burner in the centre around which we sat.

Photo by Author — the “hot pot” burner — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

The food arrived uncooked.

Photo by Author — uncooked pork belly — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Photo by Author — uncooked intestines — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

A large, beautiful copper bowl was placed on the burner, and the contents heated.

The bowl was divided into two parts. A “hot” side, the dark red, and a “cool” side — the lighter coloured side.

The “hot” and the “cool” have nothing to do with the physical temperature of the liquid but the degree of spiciness. And I can tell you that the “hot” spicy side was hot!

Photo by Author — “hot” and “cool” spicing — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

To cook our food, we dropped it into the boiling pot.

Photo by Author — ingredients to add — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Photo by Author — cooking away — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Photo by Author — cooking away — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Photo by Author — cooking away — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Photo by Author — serving — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

And it was all washed down with a beer.

Photo by Author — beer — Xiangtianxia Hot Pot Restaurant, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

The food was excellent. It was all delicious.

Halfway through the meal, I bit into a particularly hot peppercorn, and the whole left side of my face went numb as the pain radiated from my mouth.

As I left the restaurant, I still had trouble feeling the lefthand side of my face. But worse was to come.

At around 3 am, I woke up as I needed to use the bathroom. By this time, the super-hot spice I had bitten into had worked through my bloodstream, kidneys, and into my urine. I had the most agonising pee of my life!

As I went back to bed, in agony, I decided to drink all the water in the room to hopefully dilute out the spice. I then held on to the fluid in my bladder for as long as possible before my next pee.

My plan worked. The water diluted everything down, and it wasn’t as painful.

Despite the numb face and an incredibly painful pee, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. It was a great experience, and the food was terrific.

The next morning, I left Chengdu and headed to my final stop — Shanghai.

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