Uncornered Market Travel Blog - Travel Wide, Live Deep

Budapest: Exploring the Markets, Baths and Architecture

by Audrey Scott

Hungary stands distinct in Middle Europe: it doesn't resemble its Slavic, Germanic or Romanian neighbors in language or features. Even more rare for this region, Hungarians like heat – in their food, in their baths, and even in their relationships (Hungarians are known to take public displays of affection to a whole new level).

Budapest Markets — Spicy peppers all around the markets of Budapest.

Although we visited Budapest, Hungary's grand capital, several times in 2000 as we transited from Western to Eastern Europe, our visit this year proved more rewarding.

From the fresh markets to the grand open baths, here's why.

A Chinese Food Grab Bag

by Audrey Scott

To close our Chinese food series, we share a few miscellaneous bits, bites and highlights that we just couldn’t shoehorn into the previous segments. We remember fondly the Chinese dining experience: refrigerator cases full of greens, skyscraper piles of tofu, the flash fry technique, earthy-brown soy and sesame oil chili pepper sauces, and copious condiments.

The Chinese consider the number eight lucky. We can all use a little luck, so we limit our list accordingly.

Sichuan Cuisine

by Daniel Noll

While Sichuan food is available around the world, Sichuan dishes take on an almost electric quality – in both color and flavor – when served in China. Here’s a sample of our favorite Sichuan meals from our travels through the Sichuan Region of China.

Estonia: Two Days, Two Perspectives

by Daniel Noll

Tallinn's Old Town in Fisheye — A fisheye view of Tallinn's Old Town.

Upon our second visit to Estonia since Audrey concluded her Peace Corps stint in 2000, we wondered what we would find.

Guizhou, China: Ethnic Markets and Villages

by Audrey Scott

A checklist: four days, three ethnic village markets, stacks of smoked dogs, and one testicle stand. Guizhou Province exuded tradition; it was China at its most authentic and at times its most eye-popping.

We paid a visit to the province, described in guidebooks as one of China's most underdeveloped, to experience a group of ethnic village markets clustered around the town of Kaili. Although the timing of our visit did not coincide with any ethnic festivals (the standard draw for the relatively few tourists that visit the region), there was no shortage of everyday market pageantry and visual stimulation.

Top 10 Chinese Dumplings

by Daniel Noll

Steamed, fried or boiled; round, crescent, or amorphous; meat or veg; thin-skinned or thick, dumplings in China form a universe all their own.

By no means are we experts in Chinese dumplings. That's a life's work. But we can offer a brief primer and the best of our dumpling experiences in China.

Xishuangbanna: China’s Deep South

by Audrey Scott

Two days of roller-coaster travel on unpaved roads and in old buses cramped with members of the Chinese Olympic Spitting Team. It was a long road to Xishuangbanna.

Hot Pot Fever

by Daniel Noll

Clinging to the theme of sweaty, shirtless men, we bring you our reflections on hot pot in China.

Terraced Rice Fields and Ethnic Markets of Yuanyang, China

by Audrey Scott

When a jovial, inebriated, shirtless man boarded our bus with a meter-long pipe (think Cheech and Chong go to China), we figured we were slipping even further off China’s organized tourist trail.

Top 10 Xinjiang Dishes

by Daniel Noll

We begin our Chinese food series in the same place we entered China: in the city of Kashgar in China's western frontier province of Xinjiang. Like the native Uighur people and their culture, food in Xinjiang province resembles Central Asian and Turkic cuisine more than stereotypical Chinese food.