The bus ride yesterday was anxiety-filled as I was a bit panicked about us actually making it to our desired destination. But, as usual, things ended up just right. The end of the ride was nice as the road went from bumpy to paved, and pine tree and wildflowers (rhododendrons and cheery yellow daffodil types) lined the sides of the road. After checking into a room at one of the hostels, Matt and I went for a walk to check Lige out.

It was dinner time, and several restaurants had little BBQ tables smoking away outside as other tourists cooked their dinner. We decided to eat the BBQ as well. Picking the restaurant next to our hostel, we motioned for a table and pointed to what we wanted (eggplant, zucchini, and something that resembled bacon). Soon we had our own little table with smoking coals. One of the staff basted a large eggplant with oil and placed it on our grill.

Then she threw on a couple slabs of the “bacon” which was actually pork fat, and not quite as meaty as we expected. “I’ll let that simmer for a while,” I thought to myself. A bowl of sliced zucchini arrived. The girl pointed to our pot of oil and motioned for me to brush some on before tossing the veggies on the girl. A few minutes later someone else came over to make sure we were grilling the food properly. We got on a roll with basting and flipping, you know, the whole-grilling shebang. It was fairly tasty, and by that I mean the zucchini. The pig fat was, well, crispy pig fat. But it was alright. (At least it had to be fresher than the shrimps we saw on the counter. We wondered how far and in what conditions those shrimp endured to get to Lugu Lake.)
The veggies were soon eaten, and it was time to conquer the eggplant. Armed with a pair of wooden chopsticks, I did the only thing I could figure to do, and tore the skin open. It was soft and steamy inside. I managed to grasp a little bit with my chopsticks, but before going any further, one of the staff showed up at our table to show us the correct way to prepare it before eating. He sliced the skin lengthwise and opened it up. Pulling out a short knife, he ran through the inside to slice it up a little, taking care not to cut through the skin. Someone brought a bowl of sauce which was liberally spooned on the eggplant. Then he took the knife, scraped the skin and stirred it up making a sort of stingy pile of mush. But it was delicious. The sauce was composed of tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, and some other stuff, I’m not sure what, except that it was good.

(this is actually a pic from the next day, when we had lamb in lieu of pig fat…)