Kin and I visited Yangzhou for the first time at the beginning of 2022. Partly because of Covid but mainly because of Niu Niu, an incredibly smart young woman with a big heart, we stayed in Yangzhou for over 8 months. Three years later, again because of Niu Niu, we revisited Yangzhou.
Our memory of Yangzhou is tranquil and slow. With the omnipresent pandemic looming over us, there were hardly any tourists anywhere. We got to see the quiet and down-to-earth side of Yangzhou. Every day, we strolled along the meandering alleys amidst the old mansions of salt merchants of the past and the brick houses of the locals of the present time.
Many of the historic buildings or destinations were closed. And for those which were still open, we didn’t find them particularly enticing. We were more interested in the people and local life. So, we preferred chilling in Niu Niu’s coffee shop, Valley Workroom inside one of the old alleys.
Niu Niu’s energetic Frenchie, Monkey also became our best pal. We went everywhere with him – to the market, stroll along the canal and grocery shopping. We cooked and ate together and interacted with her friends and customers.
But when returned to Yangzhou this time in April, we immediately noticed a huge difference. The moment we entered the old city hub, we felt hustle and bustle in the air. Although the cherry blossom season was already over, wherever we looked, there were tourists. Both sides of the road were lined with cars and traffic jam everywhere.
As we walked through the familiar Xuningdajie (徐凝大街) to Niu Niu’s coffee shop, there were many new restaurants and foot massage parlours. Guangling Road (廣陵路) which is where the locals go to buy food, traditional snacks and daily knic knacs has changed beyond recognition.
Many of the old small shops were replaced by new chic cafes and restaurants. The local government had spent much resources renovating and converting historic buildings into new tourist attractions. There were long queues of tourists outside popular destinations like Heyuan (何園) and Donguanjie (東關街).
Niu Niu has renovated her coffee shop and she now has a full-time staff Yamei (牙妹) who is super adorable and bubbly. Niu Niu loves reading and has built an impressive book collection in the coffee shop.
We were so fortunate that Niu Niu let us stay at her comfortable home in the north district. We wouldn’t have enjoyed staying at a hotel in the busy city centre. Monkey was so happy to see us (last time we met him was about nine months ago) and bounced up and down non-stop.
Monkey was also excited to see Daisy and wanted to be near her. Daisy kept her cool and just stared at him. She wouldn’t let Monkey get close at first and would raise her paw like a Kung Fu master to warn him.
Daisy usually sleeps with me but we didn’t allow her into our bedroom this time. She meowed the first three nights for about thirty minutes before she finally gave up and retired to the sofa. Monkey and Daisy slept in the living room and each morning we were greeted by Monkey waiting patiently right outside our door. Daisy kept her distance and waited in the corridor. But gradually, they both got used to each other and they would wait side by side at our door.
Despite the big physical transformation of Yangzhou as well as its different mood due to the influx of tourists, our life was pretty much the same as the last time we were in Yangzhou. Our life still centred around Niu Niu’s coffee shop, Monkey and her friends.
Let me give you an idea of our life in Yangzhou this time. I was usually the first one who woke up around 7am and be greeted by Daisy and Monkey outside our room. I fed Daisy and spent a little time with her before going back to bed. Soon, the soybean blender would start working hard. Then Kin would get up and prepared the fruit and oatmeal.
By the time breakfast was ready, I had already taken Monkey out for a wee and soon we could hear the water heater working which meant that Niu Niu was up. At breakfast, we often compared how we slept by comparing our sleep quality via our apps and Niu Niu always won with flying colours.
Niu Niu usually left home around 9:30am and we would stay at her place till before noon – doing the laundry, exercise and so on. Then, we cycled about 7 km to Niu Niu’s coffee shop. We often stopped at the nearby supermarket on the way to buy food for lunch and dinner. If we were feeling lazy, we would have simple lunch at home and then went to the coffee shop in the afternoon.
I became the designated chef for lunches and dinners. Kin gladly took on the role of purchaser and bought all kinds of “exotic” ingredients via Taobao so that we could enjoy different cuisines (Vietnamese, Singaporean and Japanese to name a few). We had dinner gatherings almost every evening in the coffee shop. Whenver the friends came for dinner, they marvelled at the food and would exclaim “Are we celebrating Chinese New Year?”
We often chatted till about 9:30pm. After the cleaning up and saying goodbye to friends, we usually cycled back home. It would take us sometime to wind down and then took a shower by turn and then it’s bedtime!
Our German friend Steffen and his wife Lisa came to see us and Niu Niu. They met her in the previous summer in Wuhan. Niu Niu took us to bathing the first evening they arrived. Yangzhou is famous for its bathing and scrubbing culture. We didn’t get to experience it last time as everything was closed during the pandemic.
The bathing centre is massive with three storeys, It is rather fancy and offers a wide range of services and entertainment. One can easily spend a whole day getting pampered. We had dinner first upon arrival.
Then we got changed into the comfortable pajamas provided and followed Niu Niu’s instructions of the bathing ritual. We first took a long shower and then had a long dip in the various hot pools to thoroughly soften the skin.
Then we had hot stone sauna. There are three sauna rooms of various temperatures and we picked the hottest one (61 degrees Celcius). Afterwards, we took a shower again and soaked in the outdoor hot pool and waited for the scrubbing ladies to call us for a vigorous 30-minute body scrub.
I had to say that I had never been scrubbed so thoroughly my entire life. I saw so much dead skin debris fallen from my body as I stood up from the scrubbing bed. I literally felt lighter and my skin was super tender afterwards.
With the wealth and prosperity brought about by the salt trading in the old days, Yangzhou people really know how to enjoy life. Having experienced the traditional bathing service, the next morning we had a traditional Yangzhou breakfast at a well-known restaurant, Yiyuan (怡園).
Niu Niu highly recommended the steamed meat dumplings with soup inside. We also had buns with different fillings. Now, we finally practiced the famous local saying “eat dumplings with soup inside and getting soaked in the evening.” (早上皮包水，晚上水包皮)
Although Yanghzou has outwardly changed a lot, we still felt as if we have returned to our second home and picked up where we left off last time. When Kin went to the vegetable shop with Monkey, the shop owner immediately recognized him and welcomed him. We used to buy fresh black sesame powder at a local shop and the wife was so happy to see us and kept chatting with us.
We saw familiar faces when we hung out at Niu Niu’s coffee shop. Even when we went to get parcels at a nearby shop, we would bump into people on the way who said “You are back!”. It’s heartwarming to be greeted with this kind of familiarity.
