User profile: blueice

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Forums > Food & Drink > ErKuai (耳块) Recipes?!?

news.kunming.cn/km-news/content/2011-03/01/content_2434134.htm (btw, you'll have better luck searching for it as 饵块)
here's a video: www.tudou.com/programs/view/_IMO6eTj53Q/

The article is in Chinese, but basically you need to soak the rice (use glutinous rice or a mixture of that and/or high quality short grain rice, like a high grade japanese rice) in water for a few hours (2+hrs) and then steam it directly (about 40 min). After the rice is steamed, run it briefly through some cold water, the rice shouldn't be soggy and its consistency should be even a little harder than normal rice. it needs to be ground down into little bits and then mashed and kneaded into a sticky consistency.

After the dough is formed into a shape it is aired out to dry....voila, erkuai!

However, the mashing is really quite a hassle and I would either suggest you get someone to send you/bring you some erkuai (it's on taobao) or just buy 年糕 available in chinese/asian supermarkets and slice it really thin to pretend it's like erkuai. Sure, it's stickier than erkuai, but definitely much more widely available.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Visa renewal.

A lot of people go to the Laos border because they have multiple entry visas which limit them on the amount of time they can stay each entry (this varies from 30-90 days usually), due to the cheaper overall travel price, many people choose to do the Laos run for this reason.

However, it sounds like you need a new visa overall which probably won't work as well.

I'm not sure on the logistics as I've never been to Laos, but I would suggest either 1) do an HK run and get an L visa which is safer since Chunjie is just around the corner, or 2) contact a KM language school ASAP (as many schools had their last class on Friday, Jan 13th) and pay money & beg for them to apply for a student visa right away so that you can stay. Schools are especially shutting down now for the holidays so if you need anything you should act fast!

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Ah, just in time to show off for the Expo. We are a respectable city with a working Metro! Speaking of which, I took the airport line a few weeks ago, and there was hardly anyone riding it. It was definitely a stark contrast to the multitude of people fighting for seats when it first opened, which makes me wonder how is the city going to get any of its investment money back when the masses are aren't riding the newly built Metro(s)?

i went to and from the airport yesterday on the shuttle.

in short, there are 3 lines, however the departure and return route doesn't always have the same stops.

here's a picture of the ticket, with the routes...
tinypic.com/r/2vvn80p/6

it's 25rmb per ticket, and the shuttle departs every half hour. if you have inquiries, you can also call the hotline: 0871-7115051

i rode the #1 line from xiaoximen (西驿酒店 west inn kunming) and travel time was about 40min.

the "miniature stone forest" is quite a joke, as they're just rocks... albeit the rocks are the same kind as the stone forest ones, but there's really nothing special about them. if you're there already for a nice walk on xishan, you can check them out, but definitely not worth a special trip.

Reviews

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i have to say i was kind of disappointed by my visit, as the fish and chips were okay, but not amazing.

it's definitely a little more pricey than i expected, but my friend really liked his burger.

the atmosphere was nice as well as the courteous staff (pretty amazing service, especially for china!)

i was kind of surprised when the server turned on the tv to the food network...???

if you really like genuine beer and want a burger and don't mind spending 80yuan per person then this is your spot.

it's really amazing that a small city like km has a place like this, but i probably won't go again, as almost any pub in thailand, hk or shanghai would be better on all counts.

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After reading reviews here I was pretty excited to visit, especially with the breads and cakes in mind.

However, I guess 11am is too early as we were informed due to the cold weather that the dough needed more time to rise and fresh bread wouldn't be available until 12:30ish.

This is understandable, but for a place that's supposedly known for its baked goods, it would have been nice to have a notice on here saying what time bread is available so that we could have planned accordingly.

Having lived in China for some time and being used to unfriendly service, it was still a little strange when the girl behind the counter didn't bring the menus or point them out to us even after we told her we were there to eat (用餐). After staring at the blackboard for a bit, I found the menus laying by the register and brought them over to our table myself.

It was also strange to us when we inquired about the all day breakfast special (which was written on the blackboard as well as in the menu) when the girl told us it was only available on Sundays. If this is true, it didn't make sense why it was written on the "Daily" specials blackboard and the menu didn't mention Sunday only either.

Unperturbed by this, we still ordered a few other items.

The "tomato soup and naan bread" was basically what we deemed as DIY pizza with the "tomato soup" tasting like tomato sauce (or a salsa at best) with the "naan" being toasted pizza dough with a little seasoning. The tomatoes used in the "soup" were also pretty sour. I think it would have been better if they had served the "soup" with some tostitos and listed it as chips and salsa instead.

The beef lasagna tasted great but was only kind of lukewarm. It made us feel like it had been frozen and they just didn't heat it up enough...

The pizza tasted great but had so much oil (puddles of oil on the cheese) I felt like it would easily send our cholesterol over the top; thus, a slice TO heaven.

To their credit, the food was served very promptly and the overall quality was still acceptable. I guess it's a nice quiet place to hang out but not really eat. The prices were also very reasonable.

Some places leave you with a satisfied feeling and thoughts of "When can we come again?" Others, unfortunately, like this one just merit an "That was okay, let's eat somewhere else next time".