Saturday eats

9 am: one peach, a bit too firm, and not too sweet. More for crunch and aroma. It hasn't been a good summer for juicy, eat-over-a-sink peaches.

12:30 pm: a plate of jiaozi (pork and chive dumplings), got the large plate - 20 dumplings, for $1.50. A cold bottle of Sprite, I should bring my own Coke next time. Satisfying, perhaps too much so. Comfort food at its best.

1:00 pm: a large glass of chocolate milk tea. I wasn't sure it would work, and I still prefer regular milk tea, but it wasn't a bad way to cap my midday meal.

Contemplating dinner options, nothing attractive. I may have to wait till after work, maybe get one of the roasted chickens from the street grillers.

Was hit in the nostalgic solar plexus to find that the row of stores and restaurants that used to border the gate of Xiamen University and Nanputuo Temple are gone. Two years of walking up and down that path, buying cds, eating in the little eateries, gone. All the memories no longer have a place. The Uni is probably on an expansion fit again, or beautification roll. I think it leaves the atmosphere a bit lacking. But that's China for you. Neverending change.

Walked around Xiada, students will be flooding in in two weeks, so this is the perfect time to visit campus. Relatively quiet, a bit too hot and humid, but a pleasant walk down tree laden streets, and enjoyed strolling around the park. Walked down to the beach through a hidden path I remembered and it was as pleasant as ever. Nothing much changed down that walk. I would love to go back after a rainstorm, when the paths are wet, and the leaves carpet the way.