It was Colin, "My parents want invite to you a huoguo a Xinjiang speciality very delicious." Huoguo loosely translated means hot pot. Hot because the soup is boiled to vapor and the broth is made up of spices and chilies. Meats, vegetables and noodles are brought to the table to be put into the soup and cooked. There are two pots on the fire. one inside the other. the inner pot is a sweet pot where fruits are put to cook. The outer pot is the spicy hot pot. Three days on the road, sleeper bus and train, my system said lets go for it! That night I met Colins' mother father and all of Goulis family. We drank Baijao and ate Huoguo. The baijao is a liquor made of rice. I have tasted some pretty raunchy stuff in my day but nothing compares to baijao. Baijao is a cross between cough syrurp and Saki. At about one hundred proof it proves to be a very intense experience when slamming it down during a toasts. Chinese men like to fill their glasses up and drink it all one time. After three glasses and many toasts to me and I to the family I felt I could conquer anything. I am an easy drunk and three four ounce glasses was, well way too much. Much of what I said I cannot remember. Though, I do remember Colin's father. Dads nickname is Happy. Happy was very happy that night. So happy in fact he wanted to go into business with me to open up a barbecue place in America and me thinking right, sure, must be the alcohol I don't even know this guy. So trusting. . Trust only goes so far as to who you know and how you know them. But tonight I trust everyone!! Colin's mother on the other hand, is a tall handsome woman with reddish wavy hair. She is the serious one in the family. Usually what she said went. She kept looking at me with skepticism. Her sister works for the tourist industry in Yining. A beautifully dark exotic woman. She was the person who got the deal at the Friendly Hotel for me. Her estranged husband joined us and never said much. Colin's aunt sat on one side of me, the estranged husband sat on the other. Colin says the relationship is "complicated" That is an understatement. There was Guoli's brother that sat next to Happy. He kept toasting me and laughing. Colin's brother and his girlfriend came. Nana, is half russian and native of Yining, a lovely gentle person. She is at the university of Beijing studying to be a doctor. Her parents are doctors. Rounding out the table was Colin's cousin who in Chinese culture is referred to as a brother, and Colin's best friend Big Dog. I come to find out later that Big Dog is a big mooch and not such a great friend. Most of what I ate I can't remember. I do remember it being the spiciest meal that has ever crossed my lips. My bald spot was soaked in sweat and my cheeks were burning, my lips were numb and I kept eating. No one spoke English except for Colin and his brother. So I listened and marveled at where I was. I was eating huoguo one hundred km from the border to Kirghistan. I am so drunk now I think I understand Chinese fluently. We all laughed at my Chinese and had a great time eating huoguo. Then they drove me back to the hotel where I poured myself onto my bed and slept, restlessly with the fire extinguisher, and a glass of snow next to me.