Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), Anhui Province, China

The Walkway


This is how they carry up supplies to the hotel at the top. It is back breaking work and they do it for 15 USD a day.


And a last glimpse


There is a saying that once you see Huangshan, you don't need to see the 5 most famous mountains in China.

Shanghai rocks my world.

Loved Shanghai. LOVED. I couldn't help myself from listing the ways I prefer it to Beijing (I wrote the list while I was there):

1. Less pollution, wow! What a difference.

2. Where is the traffic?! Amazed at the lack of traffic here. In Beijing, at any given time of the day, anywhere in the city, you are stuck sitting in terrible traffic.

3. Better food! Sure Beijing has good Chinese food, but I'm talking Western food.... Shanghai has much more options. I've eaten the better this week than I have in the entire 7 months I've been in China.

4. The subway is more efficient and way less crowded. You can actually take the subway at rush hour here without wanting to cry. It also goes all over the place! There are a lot of places in BJ you just can't get to from the subway, or you have a long walk from the nearest station.

5. Shanghai has real bagels! WHAT?!

6. Shanghai is cleaner than BJ.

7. Really pretty architecture, much is European influenced, in some parts of the city you can imagine you are in Paris and in others NYC.




8. Every taxi driver we came across was so nice! And in some subway stations they actually STOOD IN LINE! My friend said it was due to all the World Expo behavioral training the city's residents were recently exposed to.

OK OK I'm ragging on Beijing a little. Beijing is awesome, too. In fact, if you are a tourist, you'd probably be better of coming to Beijing if you can only see one... Beijing does have all the history! But if you were going to choose to live in one of these two cities, in my opinion, the quality of life in Shanghai is better. Just sayin'.


We had a fantastic time! Now we are back in Beijing, which is super cold right now, by the way! Today it was 15 degrees. You shouldn't have to wear 3 shirts, a sweater and a coat just to go outside... and talk about a pain in the butt - gloves and scarves and hats, and then bending down to put on boots.... such a pain! But the sky has been blue so I shouldn't really complain :) I just wish it would snow! I hate being so cold with no reward (i.e.: snow). I don't know what I am going to wear when we go to the Ice Festival in Ha'erbin this January.

Well, that's all I got. I have an apple pie baking in the oven... I highly underestimated the difficulty of making a pie crust. Betty Crocker would cry if she saw what is in my oven right now. LOL. Hopefully it tastes good.

Steph

P.S. Can you believe I only have 5 months left here?! And still don't know where we are going to end up!

P.S.x2. Check out what is waiting for me in the U.S! My new car! I debated getting such a small car but I decided it is the perfect time in my life to go for it.


I'm already picturing cruising down Pacific Coast Highway with the top down. :)

Only in China

Why am I blogging from a hotel room, you ask? Why am I inside and not exploring Southern China?

The answer would be... that... I am sick. Again. I'll have you know, prior to moving to China, the last time I was sick was 2007. Moved to China and something is always making me sick! I blame it on the food situation... anyway... hopefully this will pass before we move on tomorrow. Night trains, while sick, are not fun. I know, because I was "lucky" enough to experience it the night before last.

Anyway, I was looking through some of our pictures from the last couple days and some were making me laugh.

This picture was taken inside a kid's playroom. Baowei Zuguo, 保卫祖国，means "Protect the Homeland."


I thought this was hysterical, seeing as how it was in a children's playroom, and the drawing is of a little kid carrying something like an AK-47!

And then around town, we saw some awesome signs and translations..



The same Chinese, two different English translations.

And I think we can all agree... shopping should be rational!

I was going to add a few more pics, but am suddenly feeling tired and am going to rest. DON'T FORGET to enter the giveaway!! Enter in the post below this one.

Steph

Cooking class #2, with recipes!

My husband and I took another cooking class last weekend. The first time, we learned how to make fresh jiaozi (dumplings) and a few other cold vegetable dishes. This time, we chose a class that included a lot of meat! Braised pork, dry pepper beef, fish flavored eggplant, garlic spinach, etc. It was another amazing class and we made a lot of recipes that will be easy to make at home. I think for those of you outside of China (um, yeah. almost all of you!), the difficult part would be getting certain ingredients, but if you have a local Asian market, its definitely worth a try - because the food is easy to make, and its delicious.


#1: Canton Style Braised Ribs (广东烧排骨(shown in the picture on the left)

Ingredients:

500g ribs

Seasoning 1:

a few pieces of sliced ginger

Seasoning 2:

dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp
light soy sauce, 2 tbsp
sugar, 2 tbsp
Chinese white wine (more than 30% alcohol), 1 tbsp

Method:

1. chop rib into section (the ribs we chopped into 2 inch pieces approx.)
2. season wok with 1 tbsp oil (canola oil is fine), add ginger, ribs, stir about 30 seconds until fragrant, and then add 200ml water.
3. add all of seasoning 2 to the wok, cover, cook over low heat for about an hour until the water is gone.

How easy is that? SIMPLE, minimal ingredients and hardly any work! And these were so amazingly delicious.



#2: Fragrant Spicy Beef (香辣牛肉

Ingredients:

Beef, 250g

Marinade:

salt, 1/4 tsp
light soy sauce, 2 tsp
wine, 2 tsp
starch, 4 tsp
If meat looks dry, 1-2 tsp water

Spices:

dry chilis, julienned（干辣椒） - how many you use depends on your personal preference for spiciness
sichuan pepper (these are the sichuan peppercorns 花椒), 1/2 tsp
ginger, julienned, 2 tsp
leek, 6 pieces, only the white part, julienned
coriander (we call this cilantro in the U.S., and its also known as Chinese parsley), a few pieces

Seasoning:

sugar, 1 tsp
dark soy sauce, 2 tsp
sesame oil, 1 tsp

Method:

1. cut beef into 5cm long and chopstick thick, mix with marinade for 15 minutes.
2. Julienne all ginger, leek, and chili
3. season wok with 2 tbsp oil over high flame, turn down heat until oil is not smoking, add dry chili, sichuan peppercorns, then ginger, turn heat to high. When chili and sichuan peppers are fragrant and chili has turned a brown-red color, add the beef. Stir slowly until beef just changes color and separates, then add leek, sugar, dark soy sauce. Stir until leek is soft, turn off heat, and add coriander and sesame oil, mix, and take out.


#3. Fish Flavored Eggplant (鱼香茄子）－ and no, it does not taste or smell like fish, nor is there fish in it.

Ingredients:

Eggplant, 500g, cut into small finger sized
Minced pork, 2 tbsp (you can omit the pork, or you can even add pork strips)

Spices:

3 pieces of pickled chili, minced and seeds removed （泡辣椒）pictured below


ginger, minced, 3 tbsp
garlic, 5 cloves, minced, about 2 tbsp
spring onion, 3 pieces, minced, about 4 tbsp

Seasoning 1: (add during cooking)

salt, (now follow me here...).... use 1/2 of 1/4 tsp
sugar, 5 tsp
light soy sauce, 2 tbsp
wine, 1 tbsp

Seasoning 2: (add at the end)

vinegar 1 tbsp
sesame oil 1 tsp

Method:

1. season wok with 1 tbsp oil, turn to medium low heat, add eggplant, stir until eggplant becomes soft, then take out.
2. season wok with 2 tbsp oil, low heat, add pork, stir until pork separates and changes color, add chili, ginger, garlic, and stir. Add wine and 200 ml of water.
3. Add salt, sugar, soy sauce, and add eggplant. Cover. Cook on medium low heat until the water is gone.
4. Add vinegar and mix well. Turn off heat, add sesame oil and spring onion, mix, and then take out.

YUM! Totally delicious!

The garlic spinach was sooooo good, too.... and it was simple. We just took a bunch of garlic, minced it, and threw it in a seasoned wok with oil, added the spinach, some salt, and stir fry until done.

Let me know if you try any of these things! I was told if you can't find the pickled chilis for the eggplant dish, you can use fresh red chili as a substitute.

Steph

"Did she just say that?!"

And a random photo taken from The Great Wall - to pretty things up a bit

I think one of the many cultural/social differences that is really obvious to me, as an American living here in China, is the Chinese tradition of BEING BLUNT.

In the U.S., its just not socially acceptable to tell someone they are fat or they eat too much or they have a big nose or they look as if they haven't slept in days. Those are things people may think, but for the most part, remain left unsaid. If someone were to point out these less than desirable characteristics, we would think that person was being rude or too judgmental or in some cases, just plain nasty.

In China, pointing out things like this is the norm and for the most part its not intended to be rude. I think to them, its very black and white... its just a fact: the sky is blue, the grass is green, the sun rises in the east, you have a big nose and you need to tone your arms. Fact. And what's the problem with reporting facts?

I was at the gym today, speaking with one of the Chinese trainers I had met the last time I went to the gym. She is thrilled I can speak Chinese and enjoys chatting with me - and I like her, too! But, today, she confessed that last time when I told her I was an American, she was really surprised because according to her, I look French. Yes. Apparently French people have big noses like mine. I smiled and told her no, I am American, but my dad is Italian. That made much more sense to her - apparently Italians tend to have big schnozzes too! I didn't explain to her that if she thinks my nose is big now, she should have seen it before my nose job! (I don't think that would have translated well!) Luckily, I am no longer a 15 year old girl self-conscious about my nose. Besides, supposedly, Chinese people think a big nose (they actually don't use the word for big, they use the word for tall) is attractive. Hmm.

As I continued on with my work out, I saw her walk over to a perfectly fit girl who had a little extra junk in the trunk. She points at her. "You. You use this machine. You need to lose fat here" (points to the girl's bum). I see the girl nod "yes, yes I need to lose weight in this area" (refers to her bum).

Next, she walks over to a plump lady. "You. too much food." The lady, "yes, I know, I bake too much." The trainer "you like to eat cake and sweets. Don't eat so often."

And I'm over in my corner, doing bicep curls (you know, to tone my arms) and smiling, because its so typical and sort of funny and I am really hoping the two ladies who just endured "the truth" understand she isn't trying to be rude.

The moral of this story? Don't ever ask a Chinese person if you look fat unless you want to know if you look fat! And if you plan on coming to China - toughen up a little bit, first!

With all this said - if you are not an American, what is the standard in your country for this sort of thing? Do you tend to blurt out the truth in this blunt fashion? Or is it like in America where we try not to acknowledge these things, unless we are asked (and make sure 500 times that the person really wants to know)?

Steph

HELP me decide! What cooking class should I take next?

I'm completely indecisive and need help deciding! In case you are wondering - pork is the meat of choice in China, and "fragrant fish" actually has nothing to do with fish (doesn't use, taste or smell like fish) and is completely delicious. Also, I love eggplant & spinach... (just for reference). I want to use what I learn in class in my own kitchen!

B

stir fry pork
braise chicken with mushroom
Fish fragrant pork (stir fry pork with chili) (hot)
Stirfry pork with garlic shoot/celery…
Three treasures (braise potato, eggplant and green pepper)


C

Braise pork rib with soy sauce and sugar
Black pepper beef
Stir fry beef with chili pepper (hot)
Fish fragrant eggplant (braise eggplant with chili) (hot)
Stirfry spinach with garlic


D
(Dim Sum)

barbecued pork ( char siu)
steam bun in two filling ( char siu and fresh meat )
Wonton and soup


E

Braise beef with bamboo shoot/white radish
Dry stirfry chicken (hot)
Dry stirfry beef (hot)
Mapo doufu ( numb and hot)
Blunch vegetable ***I don't know what this is, I just copied and pasted... lol**

WHICH CLASS?

THANKS!

Hello from Ningxia!

Hi everyone! Right now we are in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, exploring this area before we set off to explore certain stops along the Old Silk Road.



These are the Xia Tombs about an hour outside of Yinchuan City.




A cool scarecrow my husband insisted I post


The husband stumbled upon a traditional "miaohui" in one of the rural farming villages ... in the past they were used as markets where people came to trade goods, but now they are primarily used as social gatherings (according to our driver). This "fair" only occurs once each year so everyone was lucky to stumble upon it. At this fair they had different types of performances. This lady in the picture below was really happy and, in English, I think the word DIVA describes her! She demanded her photo be taken!


We are having a complete blast and are looking forward to our next destination!

Steph

Inner Mongolia: Mongolia it is not!

A couple weeks ago we traveled to Inner Mongolia. Quick geography lesson - Inner Mongolia is a province of China, but Mongolia is its own country. My other posts about Mongolia and the Nadaam Festival were about the country of Mongolia - but just a couple weeks ago, we returned from a trip to Inner Mongolia, a Chinese province.

I think the biggest reason we went was so that we could 1. check Inner Mongolia off our "Chinese provinces I've been to" list (which will be totally checked off by the time we leave China), and 2. so that we could compare the province to the country of Mongolia.

In my opinion, Inner Mongolia is pretty much just another Chinese province. A couple differences: the roads in Mongolia were really rough, infrastructure was undeveloped, whereas in Inner Mongolia, the roads and infrastructure are typical of a developing & advancing China - awesome. Also, the nomadic culture is still very much alive in the country of Mongolia, whereas in Inner Mongolia, everything about the nomadic culture is more a remnant of the past, but is kept alive through tourism and giving us tourists what we want. People who stayed in yurts in Inner Mongolia stayed in a cement-bottomed yurt while the "nomadic family" lived in their concrete house that was behind the yurt. With that said - we didn't go to the best area of the province to see traditional nomadic culture, and the tourist-centric grassland & "nomad experience" was very unauthentic. However, the grasslands around Hailai'er and Xilinhot are supposed to be better.

The really dry "grasslands"... more like a desert, this year!


Majorly touristy yurts...


Something great that came out of the experience... we met a family, chatted with them all day, and they invited us to their home in Anhui Province! We are going to visit in September, when the husband's parents visit. We plan to see Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) in Anhui Province, and now we have some friends to show us around. (How lucky are we that this sort of thing seems to happen to us everywhere we go?! What can I say - Chinese people are usually really impressed when two white Americans can speak their language!)

The Zhang family, and my husband


In my opinion - if you want a true Mongolian experience, I'd head to the country of Mongolia where the nomad lifestyle is still very much alive and authentic.

The most interesting thing, I think, about the provincial capital of Hohhot is the unique architecture remnant of the Middle East. Hohhot does have a large Muslim population & one of the main attractions is a mosque. Unfortunately I had a dress on and was unable to enter.... the man also shooed us away and told us not to take pictures.



The Mosque



A Buddhist ceremony-thing we stumbled on in the streets



The White Tower


We took a cab out to the white tower... its actually out a-ways from the city.... on the way my husband assured me it would be easy to find cabs out there, because it is a major tourist spot. Unfortunately, we arrived & realized we were the only people there visiting the tower! We wanted to stay but knew it would be impossible to find a cab way out where we were... and our cab driver was getting off work. SO, he gave us TEN minutes to visit the tower, and if we weren't back then, he'd leave us. So, we hauled butt, took a few pics, and left.


These next pictures were taken of or around the 5 Pagoda Temple in Hohhot.







Unrecycling! HAHA!


Well thats about it for Inner Mongolia. I have to say, one thing that was really obvious was the staring. Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, is definitely the place we have been stared at the most during our travels. Adults and children alike would stare at us, often times open-mouthed, or to the dismay of other bike riders as they actually stopped looking where they were riding so they could turn their entire bodies to stare at us as they rode past! Besides on the flight over, we didn't see any other Westerners the entire time we were in Inner Mongolia!

In just a few days we are off on another trip, this time a 15 night trip out to a place that is famous for being the farthest point away from the ocean in the entire world. We are going through several areas and small towns, so internet will probably be sporadic, but I'll post if I can!

Steph

Adventures in Chinese Cooking: Homemade Noodle Edition - 成功！

After our delicious adventure in jiaozi (dumpling) making, we decided that what we needed to work on most was the dough. You make noodles using the same dough that you use to make jiaozi, so we decided to try making our own noodles, which is overall less time consuming than making jiaozi. I made the dough using my teachers' tips, and when it came time to make the noodles, the dough was perfect!

Because we didn't really have a recipe to go off of, every time we ate out we decided to look and see what veggies kept popping up in noodles. There are no rules really - you can put pretty much any veggie you want in a noodle dish, it all depends on your own tastes. We kept seeing green onion, green peppers, thin carrot slices, and cabbage popping up, so we decided to use those veggies - as well as some red pepper, garlic, and ginger.

The noodles were a success! The food was delicious! The only thing we need to alter next time is the usage of those red Chinese peppers.... those suckers are deceivingly hot.

The veggies all nice & cut up, yum, plus the infamous sauce that completely makes the dish (I use some Chinese vinegar, Chinese soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and red pepper slices - same sauce I love to dip my dumplings in)


The noodles all nice and cut up


Look at that!! Perfect noodles!


Boiling the noodles first until they feel right, then you stir fry


The noodles, pork strips, and veggies all being stir fried



These deceivingly hot peppers! They are so small, at first we only cut up one... then decided maybe we would use one more.... wow... that made a huge difference, this dish was spicy! Next time, we'll stick with one.


They sell them in a huge bag full, like this - but I only need one.... haha. Too bad you can't just go in and buy one pepper ;) I am pretty sure they would look at me as if I had five heads.


I think we are getting the hang of it!

Steph