Part 10 (2/2)
[ie] VICTORIA S SEAFOOD Fifth Floor, Citic Tower 1 Ti 852-2877-2211
lunch (die] HUTONG aquaco 852-3428-8342
lunch and dinner
[ie] SHENGLE H HOTEL shenglehotelcoli Road, Chao'an 86-768-6669338 fax 86-768-6617567
Wok-Charred Long Beans with Black Olives SERVES 6 6
1 pounds fresh long beans or other green beans, tipped and tailed, and cut into 2-inch lengths3 tablespoons vegetable oil4 ounces ground pork1 tablespoons er1 fresh, small, hot red chile, seeded and minced, or 1 teaspoon dried hot red chile flakes cup plus 2 tablespoons salted chicken stock2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar or balsaar1 tablespoon soy sauce cup halved, pitted dry-cured black olives Blanch the beans: Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, ireen beans, and boil thee the beans into a bowl of ice water to set the bright green color Drain when cool
Heat a wok or large heavy skillet over high heat When hot enough to evaporate a bead of water, swirl the oil around in the wok Add the pork and fry it, breaking it into tiny bits When all the pork has lost its raw color, stir in the garlic, ginger, and chile, and keep stirring for 1 reen beans and stir-fry for several ar, and soy sauce, and toss the beans until the liquid is mostly evaporated If the beans are not yet fully tender, add a little water or additional stock, cover theain after several h and toss the beans until they are nearly dry Mix in the olives and heat through very briefly Turn out onto a platter and serve hot or at room temperature
SOUTH AFRICA
EIGHT OF US, ALL THE GUESTS AT THE T TREE T TOPS Lodge, pile into the safari- levels of backseats to assure everyone a good view of the terrain and wildlife The young ranger Juan MacDonald, in his early twenties, takes the wheel and Bill sits next to hirounds when his radio crackles with news about the lion family Thein a shaded thicket Lodge, pile into the safari- levels of backseats to assure everyone a good view of the terrain and wildlife The young ranger Juan MacDonald, in his early twenties, takes the wheel and Bill sits next to hirounds when his radio crackles with news about the lion family Thein a shaded thicket
Juan soon leaves the dirt tracks that serve as roads at the Lalibela Gah the brush upwind of the lions to avoid startling them On the way, he tells us, ”Remember to keep silent and don't stand up or le, nonthreatening ani movement canis for anyone to get out of the Rover, because that signals it isn't one individual animal In this case, the lioness still feels especially protective of her young cubs and will for several ot to be wary of her”
Bill says, ”Theyesterday He was just lying lazily on that hilltop gazing into the distance and yawning occasionally”
Juan wrestles with the steering wheel to avoid a bush before responding ”The lioness is erous She's the hunter of the fa a turn herself Lalibela released a new ing out At so he will probably try to kill the cubs, because that puts the ht for doht to e of that ritual jolts Cheryl, who read atheroutine The author reported that the sexual carousing lasts about five days at intervals as frequent as every fifteen minutes When she showed the story to Bill, he said, ”That would give you and me both a headache pretty quickly”
Juan pulls into the thicket, stopping about twenty yards from the family The male reclines peacefully by himself under a tree and the mother sits between her cubs a few feet fro away from us but certainly aware of our presence After atch theoing todirectly at the lioness, ill always give us clues if she's getting irritated Watch to see if she lays back her ears, grunts softly, or flicks her tail, ways she warns off botherso Usually lions aren't too interested in people unless they appear sih the veldt alone”
Juan parks in a grassy area a little closer to the mother and cubs than ere before She stares at us intently but stays still for a couple ofher tail into the air Bill, ready to jues Juan, hispers to hiht on cue, she does it again, and the ranger backs the Rover away slowly
”Yikes,” says Annette, the lady in an Irish couple ”That was edgy”
Anna, a jocular young Swedish wo with soh ”I'ht”
For the next half hour, Juan drives around in search of an African buffalo, sighted nearby recently ”They are hty creatures,” he says ”They even scare and sometimes kill lions It takes at least two lions to down ahorns of a buffalo deep in the brush, too distant to see clearly In trying to find a better perspective, Juan encounters a group of giraffes grazing on treetops Juan points to one of them ”Look at the scratches on his hindquarters A lion tried to juiraffe kicked hi around giraffes because their height gives the predators early”
Ranger Darrell, a good friend of Juan's, calls on the radio at this point to relay that the lion farassland Juan takes off in that direction slowly ”We want to give hio in Two Rovers at once ether as local far with each other how to hunt and how to track ani We know every inch of this land” The latter seeeration e cross paths with Darrell as he's leaving the lions' roost and we're heading in Darrell plops his Rover into a big pothole, causing Juan to snicker and say, ”I'll give you soest fifteen minutes of our lives Juan pulls up about the same distance as before from the lioness and cubs, who are spread farther apart frolares at us, stands up slowly, and takes a few steps toward us, settling down again when she's clearly closer to us than we are to either of her cubs The unexpected advance rattles everyone except row to the size of saucers
After giving her a ain, Juan puts the Rover in reverse and starts rass around the lioness and cubs toward thearound in the rear of the pride as if he's waiting for his wife to bring home dinner and a six-pack She watches us keenly every foot of the way, never even blinking, it seerees from where ere and only several yards rass that brings us to an abrupt halt Noret ers hop out and help push if necessary Not a good idea just now
Juan kicks the Rover into its ear and rocks the vehicle back and forth aggressively, but we're dead stuck Again, everyone re about Juan's earlier offhand coer loads the rifle that's always secured to the dashboard and rests it in his arms pointed toward the lioness, who has craned her neck around to maintain the fixed stare He then quietly calls Darrell on the radio to ask hi position, and takes aim at the huntress, who, he tells us later, would reach us if she wanted to in about two seconds, time for one quick shot The five-er than the process it took to produce the two cubs
Darrell positions his vehicle, full of other alar an in creature All four lions watch us noondering no doubt, What the hell? Darrell loads his rifle and directs it at the lioness, after which Juan cli Bill openly exposed to a bounding leap-and connects a tow rope between the Rovers He gets behind the wheel again, relieves Darrell from the sharpshooter role, and his buddy floors the accelerator, bouncing us out of our black hole The lions, neveras the tandeht
When we're safely away, Juan and Darrell stop to disconnect the tow line ”About those driving lessons,” Darrell quips, ”I think I better teach the class”
In the first words any of our group has spoken in so to have to throw these panties away And they used to be so sexy”
The rest of our three-day safari is less traumatic on everyone's nerves and underwear It starts for us with an early lunch in the Cape Town airport before our noon flight to Port Elizabeth The terminal's featured eatery is Spur Steak Ranches, a”the official restaurant of the South African family” A caricature of an Ao, cowhide cushi+ons line the booths, and a neon saguaro cactus flashes green in a corner The s as well as our choices, fish and chips and cala on anything, are bottled sauces, including two barbecue versions (original and spicy) and another labeled ”Salad and French Fry Dressing” The serviceable food sustains us until dinner, and Bill actually enjoys his lime milk shake
At the Port Elizabeth airport, a driver e area to take us to Lalibela, about one hour northeast As he hway, he points out different residential neighborhoods, some affluent, others ”shack towns,” as he calls the water He praises Nelson Mandela's initiative in building overnment has constructed a million and a half houses in just over a decade since the country's first real democratic election in 1994
”What other South African languages do you speak besides English?” Bill asks
”There are eleven official languages, you know I also speak Afrikaans, the local variation on Dutch, and ue, Xhosa, which is full of wonderful click-clack sounds” He rattles off a few sentences in Xhosa to illustrate his point, producing tones that range fro pop reminiscent of a cork pulled fro to love Lalibela,” he says ”But do you mind if I ask why you chose it for your safari? It's just a few years old and not well known”
”I'm the one who pushed the safari idea,” Cheryl replies ”Bill agreed to do it if we could find a reserve easily reached froame animals and reasonably affordable rates”
”Affordable is relative, of course,” Bill says ”Many of these places pride the US2,000 per night for a couple Lalibela offers what seems to be a less snooty but similar safari experience for one-third to one-half the cost”
”We like the emphasis at Lalibela on African food and atmosphere,” Cheryl adds ”Besides, I want to stay in a tree house”
The driver drops us at a check-in office just off the highhere the staff loads us and our luggage into a Rover for the fifteen-es scattered around the 18,500-acre private reserve Cornelia Stroud, the lodge er Juan ”Noruests staying here, but he's away on fa for hi-roouest quarters, with all the structures elevated on platforoes on, ”Locals call this 'sneeze wood' because when you cut it, it gives off little fibers that make you sneeze It's virtually indestructible”
Like the other accommodations, our spacious room is framed and floored in wood but contains a pitched thatched roof, zip open-and-shut canvas sides, a conte deck about twenty feet above the lush vegetation Kilis cover much of the floor, hand-printed African fabrics swathe the king-size bed, and carvings decorate the end tables and a storage chest Conveniences include air-conditioning, heating (useful at night this spring), a phone, and, for dire eencies, an air horn that would probably wake people as far away as Port Elizabeth ”At night,” Cornelia tells us, ”a ranger alk you to your room, just in case you have any unexpected visitors”
Like a with all ives everyone a wake-up call at 5:30 in the urt, and cereal around 6:00; and Juan takes us out promptly at 6:30 for about three hours On our return, the cooks lay out a prodigious brunch buffet, after which we're on our own during the heat of the day, when e or on their deck, or, in our case, do little ether our pants sufficiently so they will last another eain for tea, coffee, or wine and substantial snacks such as sausage rolls, leue pie, and on one occasion an excellent carrot-and-beet cake The ranger loads us up in the Rover at 4:30 and we're off again until 8:00 or so, with only one sundowner stop for drinks along the way When Juan delivers us ho that everyone waddles to bed with their ranger escort as a fully stuffed prize treat for any predators in the area
On our six ga Five” African animals-lions, buffalos, rhinos, and elephants-but never see any leopards, who Juan describes as ”hide-and-seek artists,” active uests in our Rover excited by calling to report a ”leopard in its shell” Juan knows his friend is teasing us, but takes us anyway to see a leopard tortoise, speckled like the na our visit than usual, the rangers tell us, but we have one great encounter As Juan drives us back to dinner one pitch-black night, Bill sits beside hiht, looking for reflected glare froleanificentlyblack beauty with glorious upward-curling horns and flaring nostrils Set one of these creatures loose in a bullring and the bullfighter would faint on his sword Irish Annette laughs softly, whispering to us that she expected to see the curly-haired head of an American bison