The Broad Abroad

*I had to use that title since I was banned from making any Seoul Man jokes while we were there.

Oh, Korea. You and your respected traffic laws, delicious kimchi, active temples, and old and new friends. Why must you perplex me with your not-really-cheese-sticks, official lack of homosexuals, and actual lack of trashcans?

We’ve actually been back in China for a week now, but had 2 nights in Beijing (that made me think I might be able to really like Beijing), a day and a half on a train to Kunming, then the night train/bus combo that got me back to Shangri-la…where I immediately contracted yet another cold and lost my voice for about a day and a half.

One of the things that stood out about our trip is that I’m a total dork for subways. In Seoul, we used them to get to where our hosts wanted to take us, but in Beijing I purposely planned my free days around places near the subway lines. It was easy, cheap, and I got to zoom around in underground tunnels like a mole on speed. What could be better?

Our arrival in Seoul was on a Friday around lunchtime, when our friends were both at work. They had given us directions on how to get from the airport to Insidong so we could entertain ourselves easily. We found lunch (kimchi stew!) and wandered down the street to the old palace and nearby folk museum. It was easy to see that building wooden palaces made it too easy for the Japanese to burn them down; this was also the case at the old summer palace in Beijing. In a wide open space that used to be occupied by houses for concubines, we met a lot of magpies. They’re huge, funny birds that like to hop around, and I’ve heard that they are rather mischievous. It seemed fitting that they had taken the place of the concubines. The folk museum was our next stop, and I really wish we had had more time there. The displays were well kept-up, and the English on the signs was both correct and informative. In China you tend to see a lot of physical descriptions of an object on display, but no information on how said object was used or why it’s in the museum at all.

As we waited to meet up with an old HS friend of the hubs, I wandered into a little convenience store to check out some Korean snack food. I emerged triumphant with a little bottle of plum juice and what looked like a cheese stick. The hubs eyed it warily and thought it might actually be some sort of bizarre white sausage. After running back to the store to get it snipped open by the clerk, I walked back towards the hubs with a big grin, peeling the wrapper off the top. As I took a bite, he watched my face take on an expression of absolute horror and he laughed as I ran around looking for a trashcan. I had to settle for a large sack of trash sitting in a corner. It wasn’t cheese, it wasn’t sausage, and it shouldn’t have been called edible. I briefly recalled the clerk’s smirk as I was paying for it, and tucked away the rest of it so I could ask our friends about it. I pulled it out shortly after meeting them, and before I could even ask, their expressions simultaneously turned to panic and they shouted “Don’t eat that!”

In all, the trip was great. It was great to meet an old friend of the hubs’ (G) and his fiancée (M), and absorb teaching tips from them. I got to visit a very large yarn market, and was finally able to pick up buttons for the coat I’m making. It was also interesting to discover how much I had in common (including internet friends) with M, and we enjoyed taunting the men about how they were essentially partnered with the same person. She even brushed up on her glutenny vocab to help me figure out what was safe to eat and found a bottle of safe soy sauce for me to bring back. Lastly, their apartment had one of the most amazing features I’ve ever encountered in a house—sub-floor heating. It eliminates the nasty problem of walking around with cold feet, and radiates up to warm the whole place. The only downside was that we were sleeping on a guest mattress on this floor, so it actually got TOO hot at night.

In the middle of all this, I got to have 2 lunches and visit a temple with a Korean friend from my TESOL course. As she took us around, she kept mentioning how she had never been to certain places even though she was from Seoul.  We were tour guides for her in her own city!  The temple was really interesting too.  I’m so used to temples in other Asian countries being tourist attractions.  The one we went to in Seoul obviously had a large congregation, as they had a few thousand lanterns hung for the Buddha’s birthday celebration, and were doing some sort of ceremony for children when we were there.  The place was packed.

As mentioned above, we left Korea and spent 2 nights in Beijing. Since the hubs was meeting with folks, I had the city to myself. I spent my first day wandering around the old summer palace, which has extensive grounds and both smashed and burned ruins. On day 2, I ventured out to find a store called Jenny Lou’s. It’s a well-known store stocking all sorts of imported goods from around the world, and I read online that gluten-free products were available there. The location I chose to try was in the section of town that held all the embassies, so I got to walk past a lot of well-guarded, identical buildings. I paused to squint in front of each one just to see whose it was, and noticed after a while that the guard in front of each one was picking up his radio when I stopped. I imagine there was something said about a nosy girl with a green bag, and I decided that taking pictures was out of the question. I never saw the US embassy, but did eventually find Jenny Lou’s. My purchases there were limited to tortilla chips, a grody avocado dip from Australia, fake nutella, and two of those Happy Cow 8-piece cheese wheels. Out of the 16 pieces, only 2 made it back to Shangri-la with me.

Me and cheese. We are friends. Unless you’re Korean “cheese”. We are not friends.

I consider myself a budget traveler, but that does not always mean I/we choose the cheapest option.  That said, cheaper options can often provide a better flavor—-in food and experience.

Taken from the roof of the guesthouse. Note the large platform behind us. Some genius decided to erect a wall blocking this great view and charge people to see it. Or you could climb onto the roof of the guesthouse.

A few days ago, I enountered a couple that was eager to go to Deqin (where I am typing this), but confused about the rather complicated road situation.  The main road one would take out there is only open every 4th day, and the alternate route is only open on Saturdays.  This has caused the bus company to change their route to a 3-day journey that goes into Tibet proper, thereby barring foreigners.  This leaves the option of hiring a driver on the right day.  Since the hubs and I were planning to go anyway, I gave them my info and invited them to dinner that night to discuss plans.  As it turned out, they are extreme budget travelers, sleeping, eating, and moving about using as little cash as possible.  Thus the “Nepal Day” special meal I invited them to, which was “a little much” for me at 40 yuan was probably 3 days of food for them.  Oops.

We set off 2 days later in an SUV driven by an old friend of the hubs’ (and coincidentally the same driver our companions had used elsewhere).  After a day-long drive that included peeing in the snow at over 4000 feet (I didn’t try to write my name, but guys, I can understand the temptation) and a stop at a temple deemed ho-hum until I explored the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors, we arrived after dark.  An unfortunate argument about price ensued with the hubs in the middle as both translater and knower of both parties.  Meanwhile, I stomped my feet and asked if we could PLEASE discuss this over dinner, but was ignored.  We stayed at a guesthouse owned by our driver, and the couple stayed next door for less than half the price.

We parted ways the next morning since our agenda involved visiting sites that may be important for the hubs’ research, and their agenda was just enjoying themselves cheaply.  We had a number of great hikes, freaky drives, mule rides, and meals fried in pork fat before meeting up with the other couple again the afternoon before we left.  They apparently did everything on foot and hit some of the same places we did on different days and had a splendid, if somewhat tiring, time.

I’m sure we spent vastly different sums of money since we paid drivers, bought meals for friends, and hired mules twice–mostly to have the benefit of talking to the mule driver.

The view from muleback as we approached the top of Meili Snow Mountain.

I will NOT complain about riding up a mountain and having the mule driver carry my pack though. I felt a bit like a princess at first, but after seeing my very fit husband struggle uphill for 4 hours, I understood that it would have taken me about 6.  I did, however, insist on walking and carrying my own pack for the somewhat easier hike back.  This is the compromise I’ve found I sometimes need to make.  I can stay in a complete dive for a few days, then feel the need to rejuvenate a bit with a night in a nicer hotel; I hike most days, but hire a mule for the ones I’m truly not ready to do.  It used to be a matter of finding a place to take a hot shower, but now that solar water heaters are everywhere here, even remote guesthouses offer this.

Now, if we could just get them to heat the buildings.

This kid that lived with one of our drivers is understandable fascinated by the computer. He kept popping open the dvd drive.

The view from our hotel window the morning we left Deqin. I watched an episode of Star Trek that night about a living cloud of gas that fed on red blood cells and smelled like honey. Coincidence?

I have a strange feeling that my husband is a lot like my uncle Tom. My mom jokes that everywhere he goes, he runs into someone he knows.

Last night, we took the overnight train from Kunming to Lijiang to avoid the overnight bus. While buying our bus tickets to travel from Lijiang to Shangri-la, two excited people cried out and greeted the hubs. I know we weren’t far from where we expected to run into a lot of people anyway, but it was still funny. We ate breakfast with them there, boarded the bus, then joined them for lunch after we arrived.

My first impression of Shangri-la as we approached in the bus was not positive.  The majority of the town is much like any other rapidly sprawling Chinese town, except that all signs are in Tibetan, Chinese, and a peculiar variety of English.  It’s been said that the Tibetan isn’t terribly accurate either.  The Old Town, which is newly built for the tourists, is quaint and lovely.  All the streets are paved with big, uneven hunks of rock and the buildings are constructed in the traditional style.  My only complaint is that I have to leave Old Town for things like toilet paper.

Getting Settled

Our room was not quite ready for us when we arrived at the Tangka Center, but the lack of mattress was remedied before dinner.  I didn’t realize that the room he offered us is brand new.  All wood, huge windows…I promise pictures soon.   We still lack a few things like a trashcan, wardrobe, and bedding that fits, but I trust that it will all fall into place.  Dakpa, our host, was excited to see us and took us for a rapid tour where we met the master painter (I get free painting lessons if I choose), the master Buddhist guy (I get free training in Tibetan Buddhism and language), and a number of the students.  Tomorrow I meet with people in the primary school to see about teaching a little bit there.  I have no doubt that I’ll be busy.

Another Climate Adjustment

Adjusting to Kunming was not difficult.  I love warm weather.  Here, we’re back on par with folks in Wisconsin and Michigan, though considerably higher up.  Unfortunately, we sent most of our luggage with a shipping company and won’t be able to get our coats until morning.  I’m a little nervous since all of my EFL books that I brought from home are in that luggage.  I’ll happily replace all of my clothes, but losing the books would make things very difficult indeed.  For now, I’m just grateful I packed my hat in the bag I carried with me.  I’ll probably sleep in it.

I start teaching on Friday.  Yikes!

In short, it was mostly great.  You know that saying about guests and fish starting to stink after 3 days?  Sometimes it applies from the perspective of the guest as well!  Unfamiliar styles of hospitality can be overwhelming, though at the end of 6 days, I had actually begun to adjust better.

The view from the 2nd floor, on our first morning in the village.

We were staying at the family home of my husband’s friend “Sam” and his sister “Joyce”.  It’s in a village about a half an hour outside of Ji’an in Jiangxi province.

We flew out of Kunming a few days ago and landed in Nanchang, the capitol of Jiangxi province. The flight took us over about 15 forest fires that I spotted from my side of the plane.   The drought in Yunnan is bad, and some are predicting that we’ll run out of water in about a month if there is no rain.  I think the last precipitation was in October.

The wind was crazy in Nanchang as we checked into a cheap hotel (so cheap it had hourly rates, but the sheets were clean) and walked to the train station to try and purchase return tickets.  The trees looked as if they were bending nearly in half.  The next morning, we took a double-decker bus to Jian, where we were treated to a Chinese-dubbed showing of Airplane.  Once there, we were met by our host’s sister and uncle who took us to the family farm.  Now, I’m not exactly an urbanite, but I’m a little soft for the Chinese countryside in winter.   It’s a fair bit colder than it was in Kunming, and raining (go figure).  I can handle the outhouse, but the lack of indoor heating is hard to cope with. 

Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and that’s when the party starts!  I have pictures, but they will have to wait until I have a way to upload them.

I have eleven days before I actually become The Broad Abroad, and tonight my husband and I are hosting a going-away party for all of our Madison friends.  Yesterday was my last day of work, and it was nice that it coincided with our Family Fun night.  I got permission from a few of the parents to take pictures with their children to show to my students in China, but I won’t be posting those online.  Suffice it to say that last night was a lot of fun, and I have pretty high expectations for tonight!  The white elephant gifts are always a hoot.

My lovely husband is making Chinese dumplings, of course, and is getting some rice paper to make egg rolls for me. I love it when my dumpling makes dumplings.

I am making a Greek dish called Revithia that I learned from a professor whose name ended in -opolous.  The recipe went something like this:

Him: “You start with a lot of onions.”

Me: “How many onions?”

Him: “I don’t know…five?”

The amazing stuff he served us didn’t really seem to have onions in it at all.  It was the most amazing grey slop I’ve ever tasted in my life.  It’s apparently traditionally baked in a pot that has been sealed with bread dough and stays in the oven for half a day.  To me, this screams “CROCK POT!”  And so this morning I began chopping 3 gigantic onions.  They filled my (very large) crock pot halfway, but I ended up having space for everything else I needed – chickpeas, some herbs, tomatoes.  Massaging the chickpeas to remove as many skins as possible makes the chickpeas practically melt after  few hours.  Failing this, use an immersion blender

It’s such a simple recipe, but you have to have the resolve to just leave it alone.  This makes it the perfect thing to prepare while you pack everything you own and stick it in storage.

You can find my recipe for it here on Tasty Kitchen.  Since we ate it all before I got a chance to take a picture last time, I’ll be snapping a few tonight to add to the recipe.

Oh kids, let me tell you something.  You’ve never really had biscotti until you’ve picked up the crumbs from your own countertop while in the middle of making a batch.  And I don’t even like biscotti on a normal day.

Inspired by a travel-tips post from the Gluten-Free blog, Book of Yum, I set out to make my own biscotti for munching on the plane to China.  I’m still torn between requesting a vegetarian meal or a gluten-free meal, knowing that neither one is likely to be both.  Whatever I choose, I’ll be supplementing with some of my own food.

I started with this recipe, and promptly modified it, then screwed it up.  I found it odd that it didn’t call for xanthan gum, so I added a pinch anyway.  I don’t think it mattered.  I also added some dried cranberries and used 2 medium eggs instead of 1 large (you’ll see why this is ok in a sec). As for almonds, I bought about 3 cups since my eyes don’t measure very well (and who minds extra almonds?).  I ground up 2 cups before realizing that I was only supposed to grind one. Oops.  The extra egg will help bind that extra cup of dry ingredients together.

Start preheating the oven to 350 now if you have a slow oven.

My approximate measurements are as follows:

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups raw almonds, ground

1 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped or pulsed a few times in the food processor with the…

3/4 cup-ish dried cranberries

Put the above in a bowl with:

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup cornstarch

1 pinch (or slightly more) xanthan gum if ya got it

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Set aside.  Start preheating the oven to 350 if you have a fast oven.

Wet Stuff:

Start with 2 medium eggs beaten until frothy.   Using 2 large is not a problem, and may be a better idea.

Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat into eggs

Add 1/4 cup honey and beat into eggs

Add 3 tablespoons of oil or melted butter and beat into eggs

Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and beat into eggs.

The recipe I used said to stir the dry into the wet, but my dry ingredients were in a mixing bowl and my wet ingredients were in a cereal bowl.  Add it however you please, just make sure you mix that stuff well with a wooden spoon.  It will be a huge, unwieldy clump, and it will not be whiskable.

Lacking the 9×9 pan called for in the original recipe (and having used more ingredients than was likely to fit into one), I used an 8×12 pan lined with parchment.  I’ve never used parchment before, and it’s a bit of a pain trying to keep it from sliding around in the pan while you attempt to smash the huge, unwieldy clump into said pan.  Try oiling your hands, and forget about using the spatula.  You’ll be glad you did.

The cut biscotti ready for its second baking.

Bake it for about 35 minutes.  I took mine out at 30 and it wasn’t done, but it gets baked twice so Iwasn’t concerned. Now, once you take it out and let it cool for a few in the pan, flip it out onto a cutting board to cool the rest of the way.  There will be crumbs.  Eat them, then go distract yourself by writing a blog post or something, because it’s a bad

idea to cut it while warm, though it does create a few more crumbs for your nibbling pleasure.

Once cool, cut it once lengthwise, then every 1/2 to 3/4 inch crosswise.  Use the sharpest knife you have – note the tofu cleaver in the picture. Lay these out on a couple of parchment-covered cookie sheets and bake again at 350, this time for about 20 minutes.  Spy on them at 15 – if they’re starting to brown they’re done.  I took out a few too soon, and they remained soft when they cooled.  You want these puppies crunchy.

They’re good on their own.  Really good.  But I dipped them in chocolate anyway, because I’ve seen coffee shops do it.  And I’m going to make coffee in the morning just so I can dunk one of these.  All the bowls with which I could have fashioned a double boiler were in use, so I used a tiny teflon-coated saucepan on the lowest heat possible.  I just melted semi-sweet chips and dunked them.  I hope you don’t need more detailed instructions for that

The only thing that could make this better is if I could know for certain that I could have access to an oven in China so I can make these again in 2010.  Enjoy!

We lost the salsa today. *sigh*

Mostly, I’ve been incredibly lucky at the airport.  Pre-9/11,the only thing I lost was a multi-fuel camping stove that reeked of gasoline even though it was empty.  I can completely understand not allowing that on the plane, though I was annoyed at the time.

Post-9/11, it’s been a little worse, of course. This deserves a list.

1. I had hair scissors confiscated in Japan during a ridiculous security check during a transfer.  The TSA allows scissors with a 4″ blade, and Japan allows 4cm measured from the pivot.  As measured by a Hello Kitty ruler, mine were 4.5cm.  Why did I pack them in my carry-on?  I wanted to trim my split ends during the flight.
2. A pocketknife was taken in Madison while I was on my way to the inauguration, I think.  It was a $10 special from Meijer at least 10 years prior, and I had forgotten it was in the suitcase.
3. The lighter in Philly was perhaps the most ridiculous.  It had made it through security in Detroit, and I didn’t even know it was in my pocket.  The security guy was playing a “gotcha” game that entertained him greatly.  “Are you sure? Then what’s this?!”
4. I generally avoid having water bottles confiscated by dumping them out in a plant.  The Rome airport had no plants, but I was carrying a Nalgene at the height of the BPA scare so I let it go.
5. And the salsa.  Ohhhh, the salsa.  We picked it up at the fair-trade bazaar I wrote about a few weeks ago, and it was a gift.  It was the one liquid we forgot to transfer to the checked bag.  I wonder if they would have confiscated the ingredients individually, or if it was the chopping and jarring that rendered it “liquid”.  It’s probably good that we went through security separately, because I would have thrown a mini fit.

Despite all of this, I still love flying.  My dad was a pilot, and he got me addicted to the weightless feeling of liftoff.  I enjoy it privately now because yes, I have already told you how much I love the feeling of the wheels leaving the ground.

What have you lost?  Have you sworn off airports forever?  What’s your favorite part of flying?