row 1: typical lunch; chongqing style ma la tang: you pick from a range of ingredients on a stick ranging from .50 – 1 kuai, and they cook it all up in a numbingly spicy broth. total: 8 kuai ($1.20)

row 2: also typical lunch; possibly most delicious zheng jiao (northern-style dumplings) i’ve ever had. 4 kuai (60 cents)

row 3: the charming, quaint sculpting in time cafe in wudaokou. on the right, audrey showing off her appropriately cute omelet with tomato eyes :)

row 4: the place mall. containing the largest LCD screen in the world. very vegas, according to steffen. on the right, a very crowded pub quiz at the bookworm last night. at the bottom that’s (well, the backs and sides of) laura, the sweetest english girl  ever; and tony, an incredibly good friend and staple in my beijing life (hku kids… yeah. i know hahaha). one of these days when people aren’t so camera shy i gotta take some portraits of my friends here, ’cause they’re what makes this whole thing what it is.