WATERMELON WONDER

In the evenings, there are trucks like this one parked on almost every street corner. It is watermelon season right now, reflected by the price, NZ40c per kilogram. After wondering where they could all possibly come from, I asked my "Lanzhou Mum" Jun, who said that they come from the villages outside the city. All very well in theory but when the land outside of Lanzhou looks like this... it's a bit harder to reconcile.

A CHINESE STYLE DINER

As you may have noticed, I have a thing for Chinese breakfasts! This place delivers on that front. Specialising in soymilk (it's called Soymilk King!), it has a menu full of almost every kind of breakfast food you could want. Despite all the variety, the customers are only eating one thing. I had to try it...

HOW TO... MIAN PIAN

We first made Mian Pian soon after I arrived in Lanzhou, when the weather was still somewhat cooler. This homemade noodle dish is most often eaten in winter because after eating it you feel lovely and warm inside. Now that it's getting cold in NZ, I thought you could try it! 

CHENGDU EXPAT

So, after 6 days, I had basically done everything "cultural" that I wanted to do. With one more day, and it being a Sunday, I decided to live like a Chengdu expat for a day, and see what the city had to offer on that front.

BAMBOO SEA

Organised tours in China. While taking away all the hassle of planning a trip yourself, all the extra "value" they cram in sometimes makes you wonder why you didn't just make the effort and do it all yourself.  The Bamboo Sea is a four hour bus trip south of Chengdu, one hour from the nearest city, basically in the middle of nowhere. Once you get there, all of the sites are located in different areas, and the forest is not small so I decided it would just be easier to hop on a tour and let them deal with the logistics. Unfortunately I could not read the tour itinerary so I had no idea what I had signed up for until it was happening!

SAVOURY BITES

These did not disappoint. Chengdu has entire streets dedicated to the noble cause. I spent one very pleasant afternoon eating then walking, eating then walking just so I could try everything!

SWEET TREATS

Flying solo in Chengdu made eating in restaurants out of the question. It is impossible to order a decent meal for one at a proper Chinese restaurant, not cost effective and such a waste! As such, I spent most of my time eating snack foods or  小吃 － small eats as the Chinese so fondly call them. Chengdu has a huge variety and I made it my mission to try them all. For the most part, I think I succeeded. I went with a list and checked everything off, plus a few other things I found while wandering around. Here are the sweet ones, tomorrow, we move onto savoury!