In Beijing for the next ~4 days, watching people run around in circles, so blogging will resume next week. Until then, food: As another alternative to strictly Chinese food, Lanzhou or Xinjiang Noodles are an excellent choice. It’s basically the Pho of most Chinese cities. I’ve taken a liking to this particular shop, which isn’t far from the University. It’s run by a family of Muslims. It is interesting how some of the locals occassionally treat them – the other day I was eating and a gentleman next to me started asking one of the young girls “do you really speak common Mandarin? I don’t think you understood what I said. Why don’t you understand?” In these rare instances I become rather agitated, and tend to violate the prime directive and start engaging the individual in question, trying to determine if they are just mean people, or mean only to non-Han minorities. You find all sorts.

I liked this picture so much I even made desktops:

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Here’s a sample of the delicious hand-made noodles, for only 4Y:

I find this picture oddly compelling. It’s also important to note the extensive availability of fruit here. The best prices can be found at mobile street-stalls like these:

Uighur Muslim migrants continue to make China liveable, by offering alternatives to the homogenous flavors of greasy-oversurgared-MSG-ridden-Chinese fare. The most common are simply barbecued sticks of meat, lamb being the most delicious (see second picture). All provided by friendly fellows like these:

And they also have simple types of Naan, again, an excellent alternative:

All for only ~$1.20.