The first order of business is to not die, and therefore food. After registering at BLCU today it was way past lunch and I was very hungry, so I went to a local restaurant. I asked if they had tofu (你有豆腐吗？, thank you Jun) but they didn’t. They did however realize that I wanted some vegetable dish and showed me the menu. Since explaining that I don’t eat meat or fish (which were swimming next to me) didn’t deter them, I ordered something that looked vegan enough. Tea was served with the food, but since I was thirsty and hot I asked to have some water too. Much to my surprise, the water was even warmer than the tea. I though this was simply the custom, but was later told it’s because the tap water is undrinkable, so they boil it first. After eating, I went to buy a bottle of water.

I tried my luck at the food game again some hours later and went to ask at a street stand if they had tofu. They didn’t, but once again this resulted in me being shown the vegetarian options. Paying was interesting... the price was 1 yuan, but I tried paying with a 1 jiao bill, which is 0.1 yuan. To add to the confusion, the jiao is called mao in speech, so reading on the bill is of no use. Anyway, a child explained to me and I was able to pay for the meal in full.