Qufu Day 1: Town of Kong Zi

I woke up early this morning to get on the "slow train" out to Qufu by this afternoon. By "slow train" they mean it only goes 250 km/h (155 mph), so we were still flying pretty fast. I got there early this afternoon, where I found that there are no more train tickets to Qingdao, so I will be spending 6 hours on a bus tomorrow instead - a small sacrifice to get to the pinnacle of Asian beer festivals. After finding an honest taximan, I got to my hostel (the charming Qufu International Youth Hostel), dropped off my junk and set out to find food and stuff to do.

A Quick Trip

Hey all,

Tomorrow I will be setting off on a three city tour for somewhere between a week and ten days. I just bought my ticket to the town of Qufu - Confucius' hometown - today. I'll spend 24 hours (possibly 48) there before heading up to Qingdao for their annual International Beer Festival. Depending on whether or not my friends decide to come up to the "Biggest Beer Festival in Asia," I'll stay for either three or four days. Then I'll take an overnight train over to Xi'An to check out the 1000 year old capitol of China and the Terra Cotta Warriors that reside there. This is the stuff I really loved blogging about last year, traveling around and being a real tourist - or trying to live like a resident - in a foreign city. I hope you all follow along, this should be a fun trip. Here's an easier way to read this:

Qufu: 1-2 days
Qingdao: 3-4 days
Xi'An: 3-4 days

Due to the long train rides, I should get in a few good long posts; even if I can't write everyday. When I get internet access, I'll post whatever I can for all of you. And I'll be sure to take a lot of photos too.

Stephen "Scuba" Lauer

A Vodka Watermelon

Yesterday, I didn't write a blog post; which is lucky for those of you who chose 6 for "number of days until Scuba forgets to write" in your local office pool (I think in all the offices in all the countries in all the worlds in all the possible alternate universes, this pool would still never exist). However, I do have a good excuse for missing: a Vodka Watermelon! Today, I'll show you how this is done.

Hakuna Matata: Means Something in Mandarin?

Badminton in the Park

How to Eat 小龙包

This is 小龙包 (pronounced xiao [shao] long bao) and it is perhaps my favorite food in the whole world. On the outside, they may look like ordinary dumplings, but we learned in elementary school not to judge a book by its cover. Inside, there can be anything - just as long as it isn't ordinary. These ones have meat and a spicy sauce. The other ones I bought here were filled with a yellow curry. Others still have shrimp, crab, eggs, yams, or bacon, always accompanied by some sort of soup or sauce. They are the ultimate evolution of the dumpling. Calling a xiao long bao a dumpling is like calling a human an ape! Or an amoeba!

"Xiao long" means "small dragon" in Mandarin, which also happens to be the given name of Bruce Lee. It's no coincidence. His parents named him after the greatest food in China and told him that if he could be half as fantastic and powerful as his namesake, he would become world famous. And so brought about the greatest kung fu actor of all-time, until the pressure of being as consistently amazing as his dumpling equivalent brought about his early death. This scrumptious dish creates and destroys heroes.

And so one must always obey proper rituals when eating xiao long bao. They are as follows:

Pick up your xiao long with your chopsticks and place it in your spoon. Have your vinegar (I believe Chinese vinegar is mixed with soy sauce. This is unconfirmed, but may explain its deliciousness) ready, you will need it soon. Using a spoon is not cheating. While the fork and knife are foreign to China, spoons are used on a meal-to-meal basis. Let's keep going:

Next, bite off the top and slurp out the delicious juice/sauce/soup/curry from the inside. I originally took two photos, before and after slurpage but they looked exactly the same. Recapping this is making me hungry.

Step Three (or Four if you count biting and slurping two separate steps). Use your chopsticks to drop your xiao long into your vinegar. I usually poke it around until vinegar gets physically inside the dumpling. That may be against protocol, I'll have to ask my superiors.

Finally, using either your spoon or chopsticks - or both - eat your xiao long. This results in temporary bliss, but are you truly satisfied? Heck no! These things are tiny! Back in September, I ate 30 of these little guys! Taste-wise, they are truly in a class of their own, but must be accompanied with another dish in order to ensure the filling of your stomach.

Alternative Method: Step 1, dunk whole xiao long in vinegar. Step 2, eat it. However, do so at your own peril. The rush of flavor from the meat, vinegar, dumpling skin, and juice/sauce/soup/curry can be overwhelmingly good.

While I've seen people prepare xiao long bao, how they make it is still a mystery to me. If I learn how, I'll share the secret with all of you here. And then this will become the second signature dish on my menu at Scuba's Ji Dan Bing and Xiao Long Shack!

Stephen "Scuba" Lauer

鸡蛋饼: Shanghai's Breakfast of Champions

鸡蛋饼 (pronounced ji dan bing) is the best way to start a morning in Shanghai, so I figured it's also the best way to start the blog back up. Ji dan means egg and bing means wrap/burrito; that pretty much sums up the overall concept. Here's the video of how it's made:

There are three ji dan bing vendors within easy walking distance from my apartment, and this lady not only makes the most delicious one, but also makes it the fastest. Her stand is outside of Metro Line 3's Chifeng Lu Station (赤峰路) and one costs 3.5¥ (or $0.54). Let's break this down step by step:


(0:00) By the time I start rolling, she's already putting down the dough straight onto the circular flat iron stove. In five seconds, she's covered 97% of the area with the thick, gooey substance by using a flat metal tool. I imagine that she would destroy me in arm wrestling.


(0:07) Cracks an egg open and covers the whole area (including small holes in the dough) with the same metal tool (wish I knew the name of that). Cooking the dough and frying the egg at the same time - so simple, yet so genius.


(0:15) Throws on some cut up greens and little spiced yellow things. I have no idea what either are.


(0:18) Quickly separates the dough from the pan using the ji dan bing device (there's got to be a catchier name for that). I'm realizing that if I ever want to learn to make this, I need to get one of those.


(0:24) Folds it in half and adds a slimy brown substance. I learned that this is primarily soy sauce and flour, in addition to probably sugar and other things - it's really sweet.


(0:28) She holds up the hots as if to ask whether I want some. I say "dui de" or "correct" which isn't technically the right answer, I should have said "yao" or "I want" - the pressure of my first blog video got to me! Aiyo! By the way, hots in your breakfast is a great wake up call.


(0:32) She puts in some crunchy bread, there is also an option of chewier doughy bits. Both are good.


(0:35) Flips it together and uses the ji dan binger to cut it in half. I stop rolling just before she smiles and gives me a wink. Clearly a rookie mistake.


I'll do better next time,
Stephen "Scuba" Lauer