My Affair with Macarons

Macarons! My first encounter with macarons might have been at Bouchon Bakery in Times Warner Center back in 2006 during one of my weekly pilgrammages to the bakery. While gazing at the glass display case, anxiously trying to decide what to get as the line inched inevitably forward (my favorite remains their epic nutter butter sandwich cookie) my eyes made contact with a box of adorable, round, pebble-smooth macarons, stacked gracefully under the glass. If memory serves me right, I bought a brown, chocolate flavored one, but by the time I eagerly opened up my paper carry-bag, was crestfallen to see that its beautiful shell had cracked! To make matters worse, the whole thing pretty much shattered after my first bite. Although it was not a winner on my list that day, I became intrigued nonetheless. 

Fast forward 1 year, and I was living in London, on a weekend trip to Paris with a good friend. It was a Sunday, it was in August and it was raining. Unsurprisingly, absolutely nothing was open...except... a cozy little pastry shop on a corner with its lights on. My first thought, after experiencing a highly unsatisfactory croissant the day before, was to check out the pastries so that France could be redeemed in my eyes as the culinary standard for pastries and confections. However, when I saw the brilliantly colored macarons simply dominating the store, I knew it was macarons that I must get. I bought a box of belligerently expensive (but beautifully packaged) macarons to take back to London with the full intention of sharing them, but proceeded to eat every single one by the next day. That store was Laduree, and my relationship with macarons was never to be the same again.

Although Laduree's macarons were beautiful, I was slightly disappointed at how they tasted compared to how I imagined they would taste based on their flavor names. It wasn't until I moved back to New York a few months later, when I stumbled across macaron cafe in Herald Square during a stroll in the neighborhood. It was another serendipitous encounter, and one which made me fall in love with the gorgeous, bite-sized concoctions. Their macarons are thicker, chewier and the salted caramel flavor offers 3 truly sultry and satisfying bites, putting you on cloud 9 with music in your ears for a brief moment. Everytime I passed by (which was a lot, considering I worked and lived nearby), I would purchase 1 or 2 macarons, hastily stuff them in my bag to avoid temptation, only to end up taking them out again to admire, and popping them in my mouth. When it comes to macarons, I have no self restraint.

I finally learned how to make macarons this summer at the Cooking House in Malaysia after eating my decent share to make me somewhat of an authority to judge them. Everyone has different preferences, but I tend to like a fudgier cookie inside with a lightly crispy shell that only breaks in places where you bite into it. I don't like fillings that are too creamy and always look for a shoot of intense flavor (after all, macarons are desserts in a bite-sized package). Below is the recipe I learned how to make macarons with, and comes from Pierre Herme. I have inserted my own notes in blue. 

However, before you start, here is a list of supplies needed (read this first!):

Pictured: Digital kitchen scale, water cup measure, stainless steel mixing bowl, piping bag, piping nozzle, oven

• Pastry /wax paper (prepare in advance): I use Glad baking sheets and cut them to the size of my baking pan. It’s helpful to cut out a bunch of pastry sheets in advance and place them under a heavy book so that they are flat when you need to use them.
• Paper Grid (prepare in advance): I created a grid using  a crayon and a piece of paper the size of my baking sheet to use as a guide under my baking sheets when piping the macarons. The grid squares are 1.5 in x 1.5 in and I can make 15 macarons using this grid with my small oven. You can use this paper grid over and over again.

• Digital kitchen scale: This is essential! All of the ingredients are given by weight, and you need to be very accurate with the amount of your ingredients. I like digital scales where you can re-calibrate as needed using different containers.
• Candy thermometer: Another essential item! This is needed to check the temperature of the sugar syrup in Part B as well as to check the temperature of your oven. Make sure it’s long enough so you don’t burn your hand when you need to check the temperature of something.
• Metal (stainless steel) mixing bowl: I like using a wide faced / small-bottom steel mixing bowl for beating egg whites. I am not sure if the material matters, but this size and design makes it easier to move a hand mixer around when beating.
• Seive: The holes shouldn’t be too fine but they shouldn’t be too large either. ½ mm holes should be ok, but you may just have to try using one first to make sure.
• Piping bag: Buy a big stack - you’ll need several of these each time you make macarons and for piping fillings.
• Piping nozzle: A metal nozzle that you need put at the bottom of the piping bag. Mine is about ¼ inch in diameter.
• Mixing bowl of any material: Must be big enough to contain and mix the egg white + almond batter.
• Small saucepan: One that won’t burn at the bottom to boil the sugar and water mixture.
• Cup measurer: To measure the amount of water used for boiling the sugar+water mixture (75 ml for the full recipe, 37-38 ml for the half recipe.)
• Plastic spatula: Have a sturdy but bendable one that won’t break when mixing (batter can get quite stiff in Part A).
• Oven: I have a small Tefal convection(?) oven at home. I've tried using combination microwave ovens as well and it works as well except those tend to burn the tops a bit faster
• Electric Mixer: I use a 20+ year old Philips electric hand mixer. Any will do!

Basic Macaron Recipe for Shells

Makes about 100 shells / 50 macaron sandwiches

Note: I find that halving the recipe yields an optimal amount for the home cook (i.e. 1 full piping bag and ~30 macaron sandwiches), but cutting it down to ¼ of this recipe makes it too difficult to beat the small amount of egg whites in Part B.

Part A

300 g ground almond

*15 g green tea powder / cocoa powder if making green tea or chocolate macarons

300 g icing sugar

110 g egg white

Part B

300 g castor sugar

75 ml water

*30 g flavored syrup if adding a flavor - add when sugar dissolves

Part C

110 g egg white

Method

1. Mix ground almond and icing sugar together. If you are making green tea or chocolate macarons, mix in the green tea powder or cocoa powder as well in the bowl. Sieve Part A .

2. Add the 110 g egg white in part A into the ground almond and icing sugar mixture. Mix into a paste with a plastic spatula. Set aside. Note: add in powdered food coloring at this point if you have powdered coloring. I use liquid coloring and add it in at a later stage.

3. Using another clean bowl (I prefer a stainless steel, round bottom bowl), whisk the egg white in part C until soft peak forms. 

4. Dissolve sugar in the water in a small pot and heat sugar syrup to 120 C (test with a candy thermometer). Note: flavoring goes into the syrup at this point, so don’t forget to do so when boiling the sugar and water! Also 110 C works better for me.

When it has reached 120 C, gradually pour into the meringue. Beat until hard peak. Note: I start beating the egg whites until soft peaks form, then I pause for a minute to dump the water and sugar (don’t stir) into a small pot while inserting a candy thermometer into the mixture. I then go back to mixing the egg whites again until the syrup mixture bubbles and the thermometer reads 110 C and turn off the heat. Then I hold the pot and let the syrup flow into the egg whites slowly while mixing. I mix on a high speed until peaks are stiff (see photo) but it doesn’t take that long (3 mins or so of high speed beating). Add any food coloring when egg white and sugar mixture is stiff!

5. Gently fold meringue into the paste (for this batch, I made pink shells by adding red food coloring to the egg whites).

Fill the batter into a piping bag and pipe into a parchment paper. The filling should have magma-like consistency. Note: half of this recipe fills exactly 1 piping bag. Make sure that the tip of the piping bag is cut straight across so that the filling doesn’t come out lopsided.

6. Leave it to form a skin on the surface (does not stick onto you finger) in cold, dry place for approx. 1 or 2 hours. Note: There may be an optimal time to leave the skins out for drying but I haven't figured it out exactly yet (i.e. if you leave it out to dry for too long, the macarons may come out lopsided or have feet that are too thick. If you don't let it dry enough, the tops crack). The right amount of time depends on how dry or humid your room is. Make sure you put on the decorations before the skin forms. Lastly, don't worry if there's a little tip left over right after piping - they usually die down as the shell spreads when drying. Don't push the tip in with a wet finger as it leaves the macaron too wet and unable to dry normally!

7. Bake at 150C for 15 mins. Note: this really depends on your oven. For mine, the tops burned at 150 C, so I needed to reduce the temperature to 130 C and bake the macarons for 8 mins on the upper level and then 15 mins on the lower level for the bottoms to form a solid crust that doesn’t get left on the paper when removing.

The macaron should come off of the baking sheet very easily and leave no mark. If it's sticking to the sheet, let it bake for a few more minutes (sometimes the sides of the bottom crust turn slightly brown and indicates it is done):

There should be a 'feet' that form uniformly around the edge 

Pipe the filling onto the shells when cool:

Sandwich together, and ta da! Finished macaron!

I like macarons kind of fudgy in the middle:

Some fun pictures of finished macarons followed by additional notes:

Some additional comments on the ingredients and general process below:

Ingredients:

• Almond: Ground almonds (i.e. almond flour) bought from baking supply store. I usually buy in increments of 500 g and can make a good 3 batches using the half-recipe
• Eggs: Some say you need to let them age first. I use fresh ones but leave them out on the counter to reach room temperature for an hour or two before using. You can make lemon curd or other recipes that require egg yolks
• Icing sugar: Plain old icing sugar, any brand
• Caster sugar: Plain old regular sugar, any brand

Other notes:

•  Time: Macaron-making is really time consuming, not just in measuring out the ingredients, but time spent also includes piping, waiting for the skins to dry (1+ hours) as well as baking. I usually set aside an entire afternoon (at least 4 hours or more) to make these and try to do as much as I can in advance, such as preparing the baking sheets and sifting the dry ingredients.
• Seiving: The most tedious and time-consuming part for me is sifting the ground almond and icing sugar through a sieve because it takes forever if done manually. Try to do this ahead of time when you have downtime in front of the TV and then you can take a break and put the mixture aside until you need to use it.
• Egg-separation: Separate the eggs really carefully using several different bowls if you need to (i.e. cracking the egg and separating in 1 bowl, then transferring the egg white to another bowl for egg-white collection to prevent contamination)
• Beating eggs: You don’t need to beat the egg whites too much initially (2 mins until the egg whites become somewhat like stiff soap suds) before adding in the sugar syrup. (see picture above).  After adding in the sugar syrup, you also don’t need to beat too long until the peaks become stiff. However, if using a hand mixer, I like to make really rapid, rough strokes zigzagging through the mixture. Once the mixture feels firm and leaves a relatively straight peak when you stop beating, it’s ready to mix into the almond + icing sugar mixture. (picture above)
• Piping shells: Hold the empty piping bag with the left hand on the bottom supporting the area right above the nozzle, and use a spatula to spoon in the batter with your right hand. Some people rest the bag in a cup, but I end up having a wilted nozzle which prevents me from piping straight if I do that. 
• When cutting the end of the piping bag, make sure you do so in a swift, straight motion so that the hole where the batter comes out is smooth and round.
• Pipe aiming the nozzle in the middle of the square on the grid and squeeze with both hands, keeping the piping bag straight until the batter spreads around the middle and the edge of the circle touches the grid line. The batter should be thick enough to not drip when moving the piping bag across the paper.
• There might be a small bump / tip on the shell, but that should disappear as the macaron spreads. You can also push it down with a wet finger, but I don't recommend it, as it leaves the surface wet and makes it difficult for the skin to dry.
• Transferring macarons: The piped meringue will not move around, so you can lift the baking paper to set aside while you pipe more on a new baking sheet.
• When dry, lift the wax paper with the macaron shells on it directly onto a baking pan (again, the shells won’t move).
• Filling: Make sure the macarons are thoroughly cooled before piping filling. Filling is just as important as the macaron shells although they’re mostly hidden. You don’t want something too dry, but not too wet or sticky either otherwise it won’t work well with the chewiness of the shells.
• Maturing and eating: Macarons taste better after being left in the fridge overnight in full-sandwich form. Let them come to room temperature before consuming.

Happy macaron-making! Signed, Mei

8 Amazing Days in China

June 28 - July 5, 2011


“In search of the Best Rice Noodles in all of Guilin"

Guilin ‘s name comes from the 桂 ‘Gui’ (Osmanthus) trees that grow all over the city. In September, the flowers bloom and the entire city is filled with the sweet fragrance of Osmanthus flowers. The region is known for its Karst mountains, breathtaking views along the rivers and expansive caves filled with elaborate formations.

The idea to visit came as I was browsing AirAsia destinations and stumbled across gorgeous pictures of rice terraces and stunning landscape straight out of traditional Chinese brush paintings. When I showed them to my mom, she enthusiastically endorsed the renowned beauty of the region. Cheap tickets made it an easy decision for us to take a trip there. It was to be the last major trip I would take before embarking on real working life again. Unfortunately, Jie had to work so she couldn’t join us this time around.

A few tips for travelers who intend to go – Guilin gets scorching at the end of July, so try to go in May before it gets too hot & humid, or in the fall when the Osmanthus flowers bloom and the weather is cooler. Rainy season runs during the spring and summer months, but rains are sporadic and usually only last for a few minutes. The weather is entirely unpredictable - intense sunshine can follow stormy clouds and pouring rain and vice versa so have an umbrella on hand at all times. The beginning of July is also when students go on summer vacation, so definitely avoid holidays where tourist sites will be overcrowded, almost guaranteeing an unpleasant experience. Bring toilet paper, because none are provided, and don’t be too appalled if there are no doors or flushing mechanisms for squatting toilets. Just hold your breath, finish quickly and don’t look back. Lastly, everything is negotiable, from cab fares to souvenirs to traffic tickets and toll fares (yes, we experienced all of these firsthand). There are back alley ways to doing anything, and the biggest joke of all is on the tourists who have no clue about what is going on. Lastly, there is a significant price differential between the ‘listed’ ticket price and the price for locals and tour guides, so it is often worthwhile to book through a local source.

Day 1: Arrival to Guilin

We got up abominably early again to catch an AirAsia flight to Guilin on June 28^th and arrived approx 10:30 in the morning after a comfortable 4-hour flight (we ordered the pancakes for breakfast, which were surprisingly delicious! 2 enthusiastic thumbs up).  I had booked the hotels online in advance, but left the specifics for what to do upon arrival. Competition for business is fierce and the Chinese have unmatched skills of persuasion – as soon as we picked up our luggage, we were flagged by a tour agency and within minutes, dad was handing over a handsome stack of bills for 3 days worth of tours in Guilin / Yangshuo area.

Guilin airport

We referred to our tour guide as ‘Wu3 Da4 Jie3’ (Wu  Big Sister), a home-grown Guilin local who spoke at an extremely frenetic pace and found every other opportunity to jump on additional tour business opportunities with us. As she drove us to our hotel on Chongshan road (we stayed at the Vienna Hotel – recommended), she explained to us that in Guilin, the women work while the men stay at home or perform more menial work (her words, not mine!). After spending a decent amount of time checking in (Chinese regulations insist all guests need to have their passports registered and scanned), we headed to the restaurant on the 3^rdfloor of our hotel called Meili Chuan. We were excited to eat signature Guilin dishes, but were disappointed when none of the waiters were helpful when we asked for recommendations. Sad face.

Following lunch, we did a city tour with the guide as our drive – Stops included:

·      Solitary Beauty City: This place was named after the famous poet Yan Yanzhi of the Southern Dynasty. There is a natural stone chamber located in the east of the hill and it is believed to be the study used by Yan Yanzhi when he was the Magistrate of Guilin 1,500 years ago. We also visited a cave where we learned about different gods (each god protects someone based on their year of birth), and another stone cave which had the poem that included the line: ‘桂林山水甲天下' (Guilin’s scenery is the most beautiful on Earth) engraved on the wall, which went on to be the first line people think of when they hear of Guilin.

Traditional building at Solitary Beauty City

·      Pierced Cave (Chuan Shan): This is where we saw our first glimpse of the awe-inspiring caves of the area. There is amazing lighting throughout the cave, which is controlled by the tour guide and shuts off as soon as a group leaves a viewing site.

Famous ballet slipper formation

·      Li River cruise to see some famous hills such as Elephant Trunk Hill and Fubo Hill. Each hill had a story behind it and the local saying goes that 30% of the formations actually look like their name and the remaining 70% is up to your imagination (三分相像七分想像).  

At night, our guide took us to eat Guilin rice noodles at a local stall. Guilin rice noodles are actually a thicker, springier noodle than the name implies (the rice noodle we refer to is a thin glass-like noodle and often stir-fried). The noodles can be prepared several different ways, but is most commonly dry, mixed with some spicy oil, and scattered with a few peanuts and shaved dried meat. You can also ladle on various spices, finely diced spring onion and spicy chopped preserved string bean provided on the side. Noodles are measured out in liangs (50 g units) and people usually order 2 or 3 liangs for meals. The bowl can then be polished off by pouring in soup and drinking the bits left in the bowl. This is a popular breakfast food and super cheap (about 2-3 CNY or less than $0.50 for a big bowl). We also learned that the Guilin district government provides mass bowl disinfecting services, so none of the restaurants need to clean their silverware. After dinner, we went to watch the Dreamlike LiJiang show which showcased incredible Chinese acrobatics with a modern, artistic twist.

Guilin rice noodle

Day 2: Longji Rice Terraces

On our second day, we were craving a traditional Chinese breakfast of you tiao (fried dough sticks) and soy milk, so we asked our guide to take us to her local neighborhood for breakfast. It was a popular place serving many staples we were familiar with, as well as new dishes we had not seen before. There were tiny stools to sit on  and my favorite was the strips of egg crepe that reminded us of the Taiwanese 蛋屏 ‘dan bing‘ but had the egg mixed into the batter beforehand. It would have been perfect with the addition of some oyster sauce. Food was cheap and soy milk was 1 yuan each!

After breakfast, we took a 2.5 hour drive in the drizzling rain to the Longji rice terraces. Guilin is hilly and inhospitable to large-scale farming, so this was the solution to making paddy fields work in the rough terrain. At this point, we were slightly concerned about hiking up to the terraces in such dreary weather but stayed optimistic as we were told that the weather can change suddenly. Since it was still raining when we reached Ping An village on the mountain near the rice terraces, we ate an early lunch at one of the restaurants near the inns. The lunch consisted of the villagers’ signature bamboo rice, which is glutinous rice cooked in the bamboo and filled with bits of meat and taro. The rice was extremely fragrant and I loved the slightly charred bits of rice that came off the wall of the bamboo. We also enjoyed farm fresh dishes with veggies picked from the restaurant owner’s front garden.

Bamboo rice

Luckily, by the time we finished lunch, the rain had reduced to a drizzle, and we were able to start climbing up the terrace, beginning with the no. 2 viewing point. We had no idea where to go, but found a tour group as we were going up the steps, so decided to join them for part of the hike. Once we reached the no. 2 viewing point, we had a phenomenal view of the terrace due to the sea of clouds left over from the rain. There was a photo op set up where we could pay 5 CNY to dress up as minority villagers and have our pictures taken with the rice terrace as the background. Since we weren’t sure if we would ever go back again, mom and I decided to entertain ourselves and dressed up as Ping An princesses!

After having our photo fun, we followed some German backpackers who were hiking to the no. 1 viewing point. On the way there, we passed by a shop being manned by two women who were part of the long hair tribe. The women of this tribe can’t cut their hair until they are married (at which point, they cut it once and let it grow again). Of course we had to take a picture with them too:

Another interesting thing we saw was the hua2 gan1 (bamboo stick carriage) which are used to carry people around the terraces. We walked for another 3-4 hours and almost forgot how to get back to our starting point until the woman at the restaurant we ate at hailed us down. After nearly collapsing from exhaustion, our guide drove us back and we promptly headed to soothe our feet at a massage parlour for CNY 30 each.

For dinner, we went to a food-court like place near our hotel and walked around the night market. We realized that night markets in Guilin are very different from the ones we are used to in Taiwan – they sell mostly crafts as opposed to food and are relegated to a separate section near the road.

Day 3: Guilin -> Yangshuo

On our third day, we checked out of hotel and set out to ride the Li River cruise to Yangshuo. The rafts on the Li River are actually made out of plastic and run on motor since the river is so large. However ,the Yulong river, which is smaller, is still navigated by traditional 2-seater bamboo rafts rowed by a bamboo rafter. Our destination was the karst mountain scenery which makes up the backdrop of the 20 RMB bill. 

It took us about 3 hours for our enjoyable Li River cruise and we had lunch by the river at a local restaurant after our ride. Our guide then drove us to the center of Yangshuo and we visited Shangri La along the way. Shangri La is a scenic viewing point that was opened by Taiwanese businesspeople a few years ago, and mimics the original Shangri La in Hunnan made famous by the folklore of a traveler who entered a cave while sailing and discovered a magical place filled with plum flowers that was never to be found again upon his return to his home village. We also saw some other key sightseeing destinations such as Moon Hill and a large Banyan tree that was so big, its branches that extended to the ground grew into new trees.

At night, we walked along West Street, which is a street famous with restaurants and originally a key destination for westerners. We had dinner at one of the restaurants near the entrance of the street, however mom and dad were both unimpressed with the Guilin rice noodles that the restaurant served up. We then proceeded to watch the Liu Sanjie show which was directed by Zhang Yimou and was a spectacular show using the river and mountains as a natural stage. The performers used bamboo rafts to move from one side of the river to the other which had an effect that made it look like they were floating on water. There was fantastic use of lighting and vivid visuals to showcase the different minority tribes in the region.

Day 4: Yangshuo

We vowed to go biking as this was one of the ‘must do’ items I had read about in Yangshuo. After having a leisurely breakfast at the hotel next to the river, we rented bikes for CNY 20 and decided to also rent a guide for CNY 30 so we wouldn’t get lost. Dad rode a double bike with mom and I rode on my own. It was mom’s first time riding a bike! Dad was a bit nervous since it was hard to navigate a 2-seater, but did a fantastic job considering we had to pass by busy streets and uneven, narrow country roads. 

We rode through winding roads and agreed that this was an entirely different experience from seeing the scenery through the windows of a car. The expansive mountains and farm fields made us feel like we were enshrouded in the natural beauty of our surroundings.

After 30 mins or so, we arrived at the yulong river and ended up taking a 2 hr bamboo ride down the river. This was a fun experience, as we got to ride down several mini-waterfalls when the river changed elevation. There were also floating bamboo rafts that sold bbq fish, beer and steamed corn. About halfway down the river, we bought some corn at one of the stalls and found that it was delicious! The kernels were very chewy – and I learned that this type of corn was called ‘glutinous rice corn’. Our bike guide met us at bottom of river and we all rode back together. Mom, dad and I then had lunch at our hotel restaurant (Riverview Hotel), where dad declared he had just been served the best Guilin rice noodles so far! In the afternoon, we booked a tour to see the Silver cave in the afternoon with a local tour and guide.

Silver Cave

On the way back, we stopped at a bamboo fiber store, where the champion persuasion skills again caused us to buy a bamboo fiber hair towel and socks for dad. For dinner, we ate at Lotus Café restaurant, which was a great vegetarian restaurant recommended by tripadvisor. Had vegetarian lion head meatball, a taro dish, pumpkin soup and steamed buns called woh woh tou (they were like mantou), declared best meal so far. It was the theme of the ‘tou2’ : ‘lion tou2, wowo tou2 and yu4 tou2. We shopped around at night around West Street until we were tired and headed back to our hotel.

Day 5: Xin Ping

We continued in our progression from medium city to rural town and departed for our last stop, Xin Ping, on our fifth day in China after having breakfast and then walking around the Yangshuo market in the morning, where we picked up some dry Guilin rice noodles to bring home. I had booked a B&B that was in a small town called DaHeBei, across the river from Xin Ping town. To get there, we first, took a mini-bus from Yangshuo bus terminal for 7 RMB which took about 45 minutes. Once we arrived at the bus station, we were instructed to take a ferry from the pier to the other side of the river. However, we didn’t see a river, so ended up asking a street passer and found out it was about 1 km away. Since we had a bunch of luggage, we flagged an an open-air mini van for 10 RMB which took us to the pier.

Facing the pier, we headed toward the left-most ferry per instructions by our hotel (there were no signs) to DaHeBei village. Once we crossed the river, we were picked up by someone from our hotel, who walked us to the B&B. The B&B we stayed at was called Our Inn which I found on tripadvisor. It was really cute and had a little front yard and a small walkway. There was a lot of construction going on though, so the path along the way is a bit muddy. The inn had a fantastic view of the mountains which we got to face every time we had breakfast and dinner inside next to the window.

View from the front of Our Inn, Xin Ping

After lunch of steamed ‘baos’ brought from Yangshuo which we consumed on our balcony, we asked our B&B to arrange for a tour of the ancient fishing village nearby and to have someone bring us to Snail Hill. We decided we’d spend the time in Xin Ping hiking and making the most of the natural local scenery.

We waited for 30 mins and finally a skinny, aging ‘bamboo raft driver’ aka tour guide showed up. His last name was Chen and we called him ‘Lao Chen’ (i.e. Old Chen). Lao Chen first rafted us to the fishing village, where the first thing we noticed was pomelos growing on the trees and mom impulsively lifted her arm to touch one of them. They were still green though and wouldn’t be ripe until October.

The ancient fishing village might have been operating at one point, but has officially turned into a tourist attraction, after Clinton’s visit in the late 90s. There was nothing else there except for a few signs proudly proclaiming Clinton’s visit, a few pictures, and some old women selling an odd mix of cucumbers, handicrafts and cold beverages for tourists. One woman even tried to charge us 1 CNY for taking a picture with an unripe pomelo! We were outraged…

After a disappointing visit to the fishing village, we went to hike Snail Hill and stopped by a temple at the base of the hill. However, when we made motions to climb the hill, Lao Chen started making a fuss and said he couldn’t wait for us to climb the hill after we had agreed that’s what our itinerary would include. We compromised and said we’d be back in about half an hour.

We saw some amazing views from the halfway point of Snail Hill but decided to head back down to avoid being abandoned by Lao Chen. Lao Chen then took us back to Xinping so we could buy some drinks in town. We also ended up buying a xiang gua (honeydew-like fruit), a cucumber and freshly picked peaches.

View from Snail Hill

For dinner, we had food at Our Inn where we were really impressed by the dishes. Stand-outs included stewed pumpkin, crunchy cucumber freshly picked from the garden outside (which was better than the one we bought in town for CNY 1) and delicious chopped string beans sautéed with garlic that were also freshly picked from the garden. For our nightly entertainment, we utilized the big screen in the common area and watched the New World starring Christian Bale before collapsing in bed for the night.

Day 6: Xin Ping Continued

On our last day in Xin Ping, we decided to go back to Snail hill and properly hike to the top this time. After breakfast of congee, mantou and toast for CNY 10, we headed out. By this time, the sun was already pretty strong. It took us about 40 mins of meandering through fruit orchards and paddy fields to arrive at the base of the mountain. It then took us another 30 mins to climb up but realized we had already seen the best scenic spot the day before. On our way back down, we bumped into a group of backpackers from Hong Kong who were pretty lost and we showed them the way back to the pier but lost them again halfway through, as part of their group decided to hang around the previous location.

We finally made it back to our hotel after our 3+ hour hike and then stopped in Xinping town because it was a ‘lucky’ day (i.e. a day ending in 3, 6 or 9). A big market is held whenever it is a ‘lucky’ day and we were determined to buy some fresh fruit. While getting off the ferry, we saw a grinning woman carrying a live chicken in one hand and a huge watermelon in her other hand. We were amazed at her strength!

It took us awhile, but we finally found the market and ended up in fruit heaven! There was tons of fruit and fresh produce being sold everywhere. We ended up buying a watermelon (CNY 4 for a medium sized one), bananas (CNY 7 for 5-6 big bananas), tiny mangos (CNY 2 for four mangoes - my favorite! Juicy , sweet and fleshy with a little pit inside – perfect for on the go) and a bushel of lychees (my second favorite). After our fruit-buyig frenzy, we ate at a Guilin rice noodle place famous for its horse meat (!!) noodles that was  recommended by our B&B. But alas, they were still no match for the epic noodles my dad sampled in Yangshuo. Due to our early start, we were exhausted by this point and headed back across the river to Our Inn to rest for a few hours. We headed back out in the late afternoon to climb another hill across the river on the Xin Ping side to see the famous views at sunset. Once we started climbing though, we realized it was steeper than we had anticipated. There was a cell phone tower at the top, so ironically the reception there was awesome (even though it was in the middle of nowhere). The views were spectacular and provided a different perspective of the scenery from snail hill. 

Since the walk up was pretty steep, mom and dad thought it was best to come back down before it became dark, so  we ended up seeing the sunset by the water at the base of the mountain, which was still spectacular. Finally made it back for dinner and had some yummy taro in a pot as well as a bit of food the owners made anyways for their own dinner which consisted of peppers, eggplant and bitter melon stuffed with meatball (delicious!). Back in our room, we had a phone conference with Jie through skype and tried to keep up with the wimbledon finals but was disappointed that it was not being shown on TV. China local TV consists of about 20 CCTV channels which are all in Chinese. Sigh.

Day 7: Back to Guilin

On our last full day in China, we left for Guilin city in the morning after breakfast. We were originally planning on riding the mini-bus back to Yangshuo and then transfer to Guilin, but we found a bus direct to Guilin from Xinping. We decided to take the public bus on our own to Crown cave (destination recommended by our first guide) since our hotel was near the bus station. After lunch at a Taiwanese serve-yourself buffet place, we found the bus heading toward Crown Cave. However, we didn’t anticipate the number of stops we’d have along the way, and the 40 km route ended up taking 1.5 hours! When the buslady found out we were heading to Crown cave, she convinced us to get the Crown cave entrance ticket from her instead of the ticket booth because she was able to get a discount for us (we ended up paying CNY 130 instead of CNY 140). We think she got a fair bit of commission in the spread but thought it was overall a win-win situation. To enter the cave, we had to take a little electric 2-seater rail car that we rode into the cave. Crown cave was much more run down than the other 2 we saw in previous days (Pierced Cave and Silver Cave) but had a lot of unique features such as going on a train, a boat and included an elevator ride in the cave. At this time, the summer holidays had just started, so there were a lot of noisy kids that definitely took away from the experience. The best part of the cave was the natural waterfall which we had to pay an extra 5 yuan to view. After finally making it back to Guilin city, we went back to get a foot massage at the place we visited a few nights ago. While waiting for our massage, we bumped into our first tourguide again randomly who had just dropped off a few passengers – what a small world!

Day 8: Flying Home

On our last morning, I decided that we needed to try out KFC for breakfast since the menu in China was so unique and there was a restaurant right next to our hotel. We were all pleasantly surprised by how good it was! The store was open 24/7 and extremely clean. We had you2 tiao2 aka fried dough sticks (very satisfying, not oily, labeled ‘an xing you tiao’ since many people are now concerned with how foods are fried, soy bean milk, sweet purple rice porridge and egg sandwich made with flaky chinese pastry bread aka shao1 bing3). 

KFC in China

Egg sandwich with a Chinese twist

Tips and take-aways:

• It is difficult to exchange foreign currency in China and you definitely need to show all of your travel documents to the counter (i.e. passport). Only large banks such as Bank of China can change currency for you, so it is best to have it all taken care of at the airport or before you leave. 
• Red Bull (hong2 niu2) has incredible marketing in China. They sponsor marathons and have logos on every other umbrella in Guilin
• KFCs are everywhere and dwarf McD's
• Everything is negotiable. Everything
• Girls are called mei2 nu3 (pretty girl), waiters are called fu2-wu4-sheng1 and xiao3 jie3 (typical reference to a girl in Taiwan is rude in China)
• Bring toilet paper and get used to squatting toilets
• Waitresses act like they are doing you a favor at restaurants
• There is still use of public humility (i.e. public individual electronic rating systems for staff where patrons rate the staff based on service right in front of them)
• Visit tourist sites before summer vacation and avoid public holidays because they can get crowded
• Chinese minorities are eerily similar to South Americans we saw in Ecuador – they also wear ponchos, have totem poles, are little, have tan skin, thick black hair, scarves and woven fabric bags

Signed,

Mei