If you have been to China or you have some Chinese friends, you may have noticed that, among other significant culture differences and particular behaviours, they are also different in such a common activity as drinking water. The first time I realized of this was during my stay in Sweden, as my friend Ziyi drank a glass of hot water (directly from the kettle) before heading to the office. In my later visits to China I could realize it was a common thing in China, even in summer. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered water with my dinner in a restaurant in Beijing and I got a glass of hot water.
Why do they do it? If you ask them, you will get different explanations for it. Some of them are related to the health (they say hot water is healthier for the body, and also for the soul), and some others are a consequence of other practices they have (as they drink plenty of tea, they get used to hot drinks, and that includes the plain water).
I don’t buy any of those explanations, even though they make sense and could also be true. This type of special behaviours must have a simple and ancient reason, as many others explained in Marvin Harris’ “Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches“.
My idea is that they originally started to drink hot water because they learned about sterilization, and realized they had to apply high temperatures to the tap water to make it drinkable (i.e. without further health compications). When you are thirsty waiting for the water to be cold is a luxurious decision, and you probably opt for drinking it right away.
This is still valid and needed nowadays. The hostel where I stayed a couple of years ago in Beijing made it clear for the ignorant visitor that we should drink boiled water if we did not want to have a “bad time”. Nowadays, even in higher quality hotels, adapted to Western standards, they make it clear that the tap water is impotable, with an alarming sign next to the sink.
Two weekends ago, I attended the Toastmasters Division Conference in Alicante. Apart from a terrific organization for the whole day (amazing work from our friends from Toastmasters Alicante Speakers Club), and a high level in both Humorous Speeches and Table Topics contests (national level, respect!), these conferences add even some more extra value with a couple of seminars. One of them was provided by Tobias Rodrigues about Conflict Management.
It was just a 30 minutes speech with a couple of take-away pills to deal with daily conflicts in any aspect of our lives, either professional or personal, but where we became more aware of easy steps we can take to avoid, or reduce the conflict when it comes.
His recommendation can be summarized in the following motto: be Positive in beliefs, Proactive with your body and Practical with your words.
Orense province was not part of our Rias Baixas main goals, but as its location is perfect to “break” the long trip from Madrid, we did stop both in the way to Galicia, and also in our way back.
On the way out, the break was done in the Verin area. The town itself is not really impressive but a nearby hill dominating the whole area hosts a Parador and a castle (owned by the Casa de Alba, famous noble family in Spain) which did interest us.
Moreover, we learned that many of the water brands that we drink in Spain originate in that area (for instance, Cabreiroa), and that one of the top designers also take even the name from there (Roberto Verino)
On our way back, we stopped in Orense, which is the province capital. It did surprise us for two main reasons: first, we arrived on an August friday night, and it had lots of activity in terms of restaurants and people having fun; and second, the way they have taken advantage of the thermal waters underneath, by creating both public and private thermal baths which have been incorporated as a habit by many locals, and also attract tourists (us, for example) to the city.
The last day in Rias Baixas was time for Combarro and Pontevedra.
Combarro is a quiet fishing village, which still keeps the charming atmosphere of the old times, with the small (and not that small) stone fishermen houses, and many horreos near the sea.
Before heading to Pontevedra, we also visited Cabo Home. The views from there are stunning, although we could not enjoy them at their best due to the bad weather (windy, rainy, foggy)
Pontevedra happened to be a really nice big city. The city centre is worth a visit, with tens of nice churches, and the arcades in most of the streets make it nice to visit, especially with rain, as you can find protection under it. The visit to Pontevedra was also amazing in terms of food, as we had a good local recommendation (Casa Soto) which was our goodbye to seafood for a while.
The Ria de Arousa is another must when visiting the Rias Baixas. I would say it is the most famous for its seafood, and hence quite well organized to show the visitor what it is all this about.
We started in O’Grove, also known as the seafood paradise. As it was early in the morning, we payed a visit to the market in a rather rare activity done by some tourists to see a normal market beyond our normal range of action. I have done that in Asia, UK, and now also in Spain. If we had visited O’Grove in the evening, we would have visited the “Lonja”, which is the fish market directly from the fishers.
We continued our trip in the Isla de la Toja, which is small island next to O’Grove, famous for its spa, making use of the thermal waters present there. It is also known for its soap factory, and for the expensive houses in the island. As a curiosity, there is a small church with the outer fassade made of shells.
The route in the Ria continued in Cambados. One of the nicest places we visited in this trip. Yet another small fishing town, but with signs of a rich past. Several impressive pazos, a church in ruins, the library, and a nice fisher neighbourhood completes the picture. Lunch in Casa Pintos, a high quality, low variety place, will also stay in our minds for a while.
Last but not least, we headed to the rocky edge of Isla de Arosa, near the lighthouse, a very beautiful area, although some signs of the consequences of the Prestige accident back in 2002 could still be seen.
