Around Fudan

I really enjoy living at the foreign student dormitory here at Fudan University on the outskirts of Shanghai. Today I met 3 Liberians (West Africa) and had dinner with a Mexican from Chihuahua at a Muslim noodle place. The area around our dorm has food from almost everywhere. Korean restaurants are the most popular besides the Shanghainese places and there are plenty of coffee places. There is also street food which consist of skewers, 包子 (bao zhi), and the like, which are delicious if you have the courage to try them and the stomach. This Muslim noodle place we went to is very popular among the foreign student set, apparently.. or maybe just us UC students. Four of us ordered a huge thing of Xinjiang Dapanji (Chicken, potatoes, bok choy, an array of spices and noodles), and it was indeed delicious. Also, fyi, Xinjiang is the Uigher territory in China, if that rings any bells.. no?

Yesterday, we went all the way across the Huangpu River to Pudong to have Indian food. The place was called Punjabi Indian Restaurant, it was in a swanky plaza that also had a Jia Le Fu (家樂福), which if you know me is my favorite place in China (jk, its a chain store, kind of like a WalMart, but way cooler). The Indian place had a buffet that was 68 kuai (roughly $9.50) and had a mix of Indian and Chinese waiters. The food was okay, not as good as the Indian food in California though, hah. But there was a guy dressed in traditional clothing and when really hip Indian music played, he danced. It was rather amusing, some Chinese guy went up there to dance with him, very funny. I felt like dancing too, but I accidentally bit into an insanely spicy pepper. No idea what kind it was, but I felt like my mouth was on fire and my lips were bleeding. Most insane spiceyness I've ever felt in my life, gave me a headache . Besides that little episode, I had a good time.

So we've decided to go to Guilin for the National Holiday. Every October, China has their National Holiday, everyone has a week off and everyone travels. So about a billion Chinese roaming around the tourist areas of China is going to be crazy. Guilin is in the Guangxi province of China, close to Vietnam. It's known for its magnificent scenary, so I hope it's awesome and not boring. I also read that they have a lot of horse meat in their dishes.. Can't wait.

Alright for now then, term is starting for those in the Southern UC schools, so good luck everyone!