Have you come to look at our Yellow River?

I didn't do any sightseeing yesterday. I hadn't even opened my guidebook. I wasn't really in the mood I guess to see any temples or parks. After my posting frenzy yesterday morning, I decided to clear my head and just walk around the city. Everybody that I had talked to prior to my arrival here in Lanzhou said that this is one of the worst cities for visitors because the pollution levels are some of the highest in China and there is little to see that might interest a tourist. However! I experienced none of this yesterday. Not only was the sky bright blue (I can understand why it was blue in Dunhuang and Jiayuguan, but Lanzhou is a major central Chinese city) and cloudless, and it was warm! Everyone was out for a walk about the city yesterday. And from a look out my hotel window, it appears to be another sunny day.

I had two goals for yesterday: unravel the mystery of the famous Lanzhou noodles, and see the Yellow river, a river in China that has appeared in ancient Chinese songs and poems for centuries. I accomplished both things.

First, the noodles. I discovered that the way these noodles are prepared (by stretching, twisting, tossing, repeat, as described yesterday) is called "la mian (拉面)" or pulled noodles and you can used these noodles to make a variety of dishes of which "niurou mian (牛肉面)" is only one type. There are other types too! For example, for lunch I walked into a small noodle shop off the main road a bit, found the lao ban (老板) or what you would call the owner of the shop, and asked for niurou mian. He said, what kind? And then he began to describe that you can thin out the noodles, flatten the noodles into sheets, thicken the noodles like spaghetti, etc. I said, thin, please. What I ordered apparently is the standard, the original niurou mian. It consisted of long, thin noodles similar (but way better than) ramen noodles, in a broth of spicy soy, oil, and water, and with slices of beef. Not what I expected, but very good. Now realizing there exists many types of niurou mian, I decided to try another type for dinner, shown below. This one is called chao mian pian (炒面片) which are these flat sheet noodles, cut into chunks, and fried with beef and some vegetables. This is more of what I had in mind. And today for lunch I plan on ordering just chao main (炒面) which is just the normal elongated noodle, fried with beef and vegetables. I think I have it figured out...

Chao mian pian (炒面片), my dinner

The "beach" by the river

My other goal was to see the Yellow River which was not a difficult task because it is huge and it cuts this city in half. So you can't really go anywhere without bumping into the river somehow. The place I found the river at consisted of a nice bridge (which had no walking paths but there were so few cars it made no difference - I hung out there for awhile) and a really pleasant park with a small "beach" on the river bank. The park was filled with kids and their mothers, with middle aged men playing soccer, kite flyers, etc. And since it was sunny and warm with a nice breeze coming from the river, the park was filled. Good photo taking opportunity. I took different shots of people in the park, of the river, and shots from the bridge. I stayed until the early evening when the sun began to set. There are mountains on either side of the river that sit just behind the city skyscrapers so the the sunset was going to be nice. I decided to go to a solitary portion of the river bank on the opposite side of the park. There was no one here because the entire riverbank had been cordoned off due to minor construction, and no one was constructing anything at the moment. I found a way, however, to sneak around the barricade by the water, walked beneath the bridge to the other side, and sat by the river to observe the sunset over the city and over the river in the distance. This must have been one of the nicest vantage points in the city to observe the sunset and I watched as the sky turned from blue, to yellow, to orange and purple, and then get dark. That was a first for me in China as well. I was approached by an elderly man during the sunset walking a couple of small dogs (who must have also breached the barricade). He came up behind me and, looking out at the river, said to me in Chinese, have you come out here to look out at our Yellow River? It's nice, isn't it? I said it was, and he walked away. It was a good evening.

Sunset over the Yellow River in Lanzhou

I took my time walking back to the hotel. I took some city shots of the lights and the shoppers at the city square, and made it back to the hotel and crashed.

Today I plan to do much the same except today I will follow the river to the west a bit - there are some parks and temples apparently worth seeing out that way. My train doesn't leave until 9:30 tonight so I have more time to kill. I have another sleeper ticket, which I am happy about, and I arrive in Beijing in the afternoon tomorrow which will wrap up this portion of the trip, the precursor, if you will. I won't get to post again until I settle in a bit.

So, I'll see you in Beijing!