As part of our recent kitchen experiments making things we’ve not made before, we recently decided on making Chinese Pot Stickers. The great thing about Pot Stickers, in my opinion, is that they’re a mixture of all the best parts of a dumpling: They’re both crispy and they’re soft and steamed. And delicious.

There are plenty of recipes abound for Pot Stickers, but the main thing is to have a mixture that tastes good and sticks together without being goopy. I made a pork and ginger mixture, with cabbage. I threw some minced ginger, minced garlic, cabbage and ground pork along with some soy; an egg bound it together. I smelled the mix a few times until it seemed to have the right amounts of the flavours I wanted. Justine did the same, but with cabbage, mushrooms, spring onions, carrot and a couple of eggs as it wasn’t very sticky.

The great thing about living in the “Asian” part of the city is that it’s super easy to find Wonton wrappers. We grabbed a small packet (which we later found out had 50 wrappers) to use. Assembling the dumplings couldn’t be easier: Put a teaspoon of your mix into the middle, fold the dumpling wrapper over, and pinch it a few times to seal and look pretty. At least it sounds simple — and it was, up until the the pinching part. Luckily, Justine recognised the technique was the same as making a pastie, so after a few duds and a larger number of poorly assembled dumplings, I got up to speed. To pinch the dumplings once folded, you pinch a small part of the edge of the wrapper, then fold a small part back over itself, then pinch that closed.

After completely ruining two of the wrappers, we ended with 48 dumplings, and a lot of left over filling. Cooking the dumplings is a simple affair. To cook, cover a pan with sesame oil (other oil will do, I’m sure), throw the dumplings on and let sizzle for a minute or two, until the base is crispy. The dumplings aren’t stuck to the pan which is a good sign that the name may be misleading.

Once you think the dumplings are cooked enough on the bottom, throw a cup of water into the pan and cover straight away. Since you have hot oil cooking there will be an almighty sizzle with oil splattering everywhere. As I had to cover the pan I used the lid as a shield and slammed it onto the pan as fast as I could. The immense steam pressure inside causes the usually-tight-lid to bounce around in what I find an extremely amusing display. Leave the dumplings steaming for a few minutes and you’ll find the liquid evaporates pretty fast. Once it has evaporated you just need to let the dumplings cook for another couple of minutes to crisp up again.

And this is where Pot Stickers get their name. They’ll be stuck to the pan pretty well now. An egg flip or spatula will get the off the pan quite easily but you need to be careful. The final result was delicious, fun to make and very easy. While it does take some time to assemble the dumplings, you can do other things, such as get drunk, chat or listen to music, so the time passes quickly enough. We froze around half of the dumplings (eating 12 each sounds like a lot, but they’re pretty small).

These are certainly something we’ll make again.

That we had to get up before 5am, pay through the nose (though it’s still cheap compared to prices back home!) for a private car and spend 90 minutes driving here was all forgotten the moment we saw stepped foot onto the Great Wall.

It was compounded by the fact that we were the only ones here — in fact, the first ones here for the day — and could not see anyone in either direction. At least for a time.

We decided in Mutianyu as Badaling — the most popular spot — is always busy, no matter what. Simatai, the closest unrestored area, was a bit too far and even though it is “the real deal” it doesn’t have the look of the Great Wall. It’s more like walking on rubble so our choice in the end was probably the best compromise.

The day we visited was also the day I feel extremely ill; luckily though, I started feeling sick while in the car on the way back. I made it back to our hotel, barely, but since we’d assigned little else for the rest of the day nothing was lost. I thank my body for holding out long enough to avoid an extremely uncomfortable and embarrassing incident.

The colours in this series of shots I took are great — the pinky-orange of the sun hitting the bricks makes for beautiful colouring. Shots I took later, as buses of tourists began to arrive, are far duller as the sun began to hide behind clouds.

We really had everything working for us on this day. The ride up on the chairlift was brilliant — our feet skimmed along the treetops — and amazingly silent. We had the Great Wall all to ourselves (which, in China, is no easy task!) with an incredible sunrise. The ride down on the toboggan, which must have been at least two kilometres long, was great fun too. Perfect.

Day Seventeen – 17th Nov 2008
Hong Kong
22:52 – Salisbury YMCA, room 1439

As today was yet another “travel day”, we slept in and generally wasted away the morning.

We prepared to say our goodbyes to mainland China; I hailed a taxi to take us to the airport and luckily the first agreed—a few days earlier one had refused our destination—although I’m not sure he relished the idea. The large electronic clock which played a tune and chimed hourly, all throughout the night, will not be missed.

Although we have experienced many crazy drivers here in Asia, our taxi driver appears to be the sum total, or perhaps exponentially so, of all these drivers. Lanes meant little to him, to say nothing of speed limits. Blind corners? Personal challenges! Trucks? Minor obstacles! Justine mentioned it was like watching someone play “Need for Speed”, but given the proximity of foot traffic, I’d say “Grand Theft Auto”. As the car approached surely what must have been it’s terminal velocity—120km/h—it began to shudder so violently, with such force that the seats shoot from side to side, the doors nearly working themselves loose. Toll booths seemed to sooth this savage beast. We arrived unscathed.

The airport and flight were as airports and flights are: Long, boring, tedious, and full of lining up and waiting.

A long train ride and short metro ride later and we were at our hotel. Though we’d booked a double room they gave us a twin. It took the two of us complaining as a team—twice—to get it fixed. We got what we wanted, four floors higher (14th floor) and a great view of Hong Kong.

Since we’d never done it, we ordered room service for dinner. Vegetarian curry and fish and chips. Ahh, to eat real food again!

Photos taken today: 91
Photos taken to date: 4420

Day Sixteen – 16th Nov 2008
Xi’an
21:14 – HQ Guest House, apartment 503

A bit of a lie in this morning. Breakfast in bed was all packaged, bought from a supermarket yesterday. We ate dry chocolate muffins and drank warm milky tea in a plastic cup – it contained “Q Chunk Fun”. I don’t know what it was, but it was certainly chunks, but not fun. Maybe Q.

We wandered the Muslim Quarter—I can’t recall ever having seen Chinese Muslims—checking out their interesting street food. I avoided, having learned my lesson. Justine never eats that sort of stuff anyway.

Somehow, we ended up in another market, which meant we bought more junk we probably don’t need, which meant I ended up bartering for junk Justine wanted.

In the exact centre of town is the Bell Tower; the bells are large and if you pay you can ring them. But not the good ones. From the top of the tower you can see the four main streets of the town, imaginatively named “North”, “South”, “East” and “West” streets (or avenue, or road). It’s kind of like the view from the Arc de Triomphe. But not as high. Or as many streets. Or as picturesque. Or as clea.r

Next was the nearby Drum Tower. I’m sure the name gives it away. Many more drums here than bells in the other tower. One must have been fifteen feet in diameter, and was much longer than high. Like everyone else in China, I ignored the notice posted and gave it a small whack, the sound was deep and resonated for a long while. Impressive.

Back in the Muslim Quarter we checked out the Great Mosque. Even though it’s supposed to be of both Muslim and Chinese design, I don’t see anything but Chinese influence. Except for the obvious: washrooms, Qur’an, prayer rooms, of course. Ironically, I think it’s one of the more Chinese things we’ve seen, and thought the place was serene and pretty.

Again it was about dark so we returned to our apartment and settled in for the night.

Tomorrow is yet another travel day, the last leg of our trip. We spend five nights in Hong Kong.

Photos taken today: 180
Photos taken to date: 4329

Day Fifteen – 15th Nov 2008
Xi’an
22:46 – HQ Guest House, apartment 503

The beds of the train were supposedly “soft sleeper” (we had the private “Deluxe” room) but the beds were like wooden planks. In the middle of the night I woke with terrible back pain from having no support. Luckily, the blanket was quite wide so I put it under me and wrapped up in it, which helped a little.

On the platform were people holding signs for pickups. Ours wasn’t there. We had the address so no big deal. However, there was a guy waiting for us outside the station. He simply hailed a taxi, spoke some Chinese and let us go. Alone in the taxi we arrived at an alley where a young lady got in the front and directed the driver down the alley, handing him some cash. It turns out she was the person we were to meet.

The place we’re staying is an apartment complex off a main street. It’s a new but cheaply-made apartment. Two bedrooms with enough beds to sleep twelve people.

We checked in and hung around the place for a bit then headed out to walk back to the station to catch a bus to see the Terracotta warriors. Xi’an is—to me—like Beijing may have been ten or fifteen years ago. Dusty, dirty, many old buildings – many being demolished and many being built.

Like Beijing, people are rude, using the “me first” approach to, well, just about everything. People spit on the ground wherever they please, young children are encouraged to do their “business” on the sidewalk or street too. We hadn’t seen this in Southeast Asia.

While wandering around the train station area looking for the bus—many terminals are around the station, but the numbering isn’t logical—an older lady mumbled “laowei”, which is a derogatory term for white people. Certainly not the first time I’ve heard it this week, along with other racist treatment. Honestly, I’m surprised at the whole thing.

After asking a—non-English speaking but nonetheless verbose and helpful—policeman where the bus was we boarded the regular public transit bus to the warriors. It took around an hour.

The complex created for the Terracotta Warriors is both sprawling and uninspiring. It’s like a government complex, with square grey buildings every which way. Still, despite the seeming efforts to make the warriors less interesting, it’s still an amazing sight to see them all lined up, still in formation.

Since it’s winter it was almost dark when we returned to Xi’an. We spent almost three hours visiting the warriors as there is much to see.

As everyone in China seems to eat instant noodles frequently we decided to do the same for dinner. I only ate a little even though the packets are massive. Fighting off the cold, we watched TV on our laptop in bed.

Photos taken today: 128
Photos taken to date: 4149

Day Fourteen – 14th Nov 2008
Outside of Beijing
21:56 – Z19 train, car 8 beds 13 & 14

While I’m not totally healed, I did feel a lot better today; I didn’t need to sit at regular intervals.

We left our stuff in our fancy room, and because our card reader/hard disk had failed took a taxi to a nearby computer store. Out hotel kindly wrote the address in Chinese for us to show the taxi driver.

After some pointing, gesturing and writing down specifications (and bartering, even though it’s a shop) we left with what we needed.

Another taxi took us the 25-30km to the Summer Palace. Even though it’s such a long distance it’s still just considered to be “Beijing”.

The taxi driver managed to scam me (or made an honest mistake) by giving me a 1 Li Yuan note (1/100 of a Yuan) instead of a 1 Yuan note. Since it’s such a small sum (something like $0.0025 at present) it’s no big deal.

At this point we’re a bit over the Chinese architecture here in Beijing, as it’s almost froma 300-year period and many palaces, temples, pagodas etc are similar in design. The Summer Palace has some things of note, though, such as a large boat made of stone (called the “Marble Boat”, even though it’s not marble) which will never float, but looks like a Chinese paddle steamer. There’s also a 750+ metre long covered walkway and what I could only describe as a “Chinese Venice”. A street surrounded by buildings but the street is water, though quite shallow.

We spent much of the afternoon at the Summer Palace and—after a few failed attempts where they drove past, one waving—we caught a taxi back. The sun set in the hour-long ride to the hotel.

Collecting our stuff we took yet another taxi to the Beijing West train station—there are large waiting rooms for multiple trains with hundreds of people. Many eat large instant noodle bowls sold in the waiting rooms; some share and others refill with more water.

Our train tonight—the Z19—has a personal TV for each bed, though we have no idea what’s being said.

Tomorrow: Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors! And food! Maybe!

Photos taken today: 257
Photos taken to date: 4021

Day Thirteen – 12th Nov 2008
Beijing
23:10 – Emperor’s Guards Hotel, room A

Still feeling ill, I slept in late and spent most of the morning in bed.

We headed out late and caught the subway to the Lama Temple—as I didn’t feel the best, the smell of Chinese body odour, stale without much ventilation was unpleasant.

Today we could actually see a blue sky! There was not a cloud in sight. Incredible.

The temple is similar in design to many Chinese “official” buildings (temples, palaces) from the past 500 years. People there burn large sticks and bundles of incense (about two fists in diameter) in each of the small temples as offerings to Buddha. The highlight is a 26m tall statue of Buddha (18m above ground, 8m under) carved from a single trunk of a Sandalwood tree. You can barely see it all with your eyes at once when standing as far away as the temple’s meagre width allows.

I felt a lot better but the BO on the return trip was unwelcome. Weak from not eating (2-3 slices of bread, maybe) I spent yet more time in bed. As we were the only guests, we were upgraded to a much larger and nicer room, which would have cost us 2.5x the price (almost $250 a night).

Photos taken today: 52
Photos take to date: 3764