Lanzhou

Improved weather, a 3 million city, no plan and two days to make the most of it. Did what I do best - caught a random bus and went for a walk. The place has no real center - only occasional concentrations of multi-storey ultra-modern malls and hence people. Underneath all that there's muslims cooking corn cobs and other delicacies - some stalls showcasing cooked sheep head. Miraculously, found some fried potato and kept walking to the Yellow River. It's a actually a deep red. Incredibly strong current. People strolling around in the park near it. Ate deep fried crap once it got dark then went back to the hotel for a bout of the fiery cyclops as a consequence.

The following day started at a net cafe where I met two Chinese girls. Pearl had been studying for her PhD in Wisconsin and had come back for the first time in three years. Her cousin was studying English at a local university. We were going to see a movie together, when it turned out that it had been dubbed into Chinese. Decided we'd meet up at 2 anyway and do something. I went to the station, got my ticket and settled for a beer under an umbrella, having nothing to do. Some guys waved me over to sit with them.

Peroxide hair, cool clothes, I thought they were in a band. Turned out that they were hairdressers. Insisted that I they should give me a haircut for free. I went along with it. At first I thought that the girls at the salon were less than impressed. But after a 20 minute "hairwash", that was in fact a head massage, I was no longer so sure. The haircut took five minutes. Unfortunately, my hair doesn't yield well to Chinese pretty boy hair-do's, but anyway - the stuff keeps growing.

Pearl and Quin needed to go to Pearl's parents' house to retrieve her I.D. to collect some free movie tickets from a newspaper. Thought I'd come along. Pearl's father wasn't impressed with his daughter when he woke up - "Why aren't you cooking him a feast?! He is your guest!!" I had to be diplomatic, commenting on the quality of the watermelon.

The newspaper office involved a number of women sitting around old computers in a musty high rise building. The photographer rocked up and wanted to take pictures of me. Went along with it. Should have asked him if he could get me a modelling job...

We ended up at a local park with a large Buddhist temple, admiring the mineral springs which had since turned to stagnant ponds. Then they took me out to dinner - "but we pay, it is Chinese tradition and you must accept it." The highlight of Lanzhou food ended up being a very simple dish of thick local noodles, coated in mustard and chilli. Awesome.