I am ashamed to say that I have never set foot in many places in Gansu. This is my second visit to Lanzhou. As a province that has been holding back the national GDP, Gansu people will always encounter some questions about children's shoes that have not learned geography well.
"Which province is Gansu?"
"Isn't Lanzhou a province?"
"What? Lanzhou is from Gansu? "
"Are you short of water? Do you live in the desert? "
An underdeveloped place will inevitably be misunderstood and discriminated against. But poverty can't erase the customs of a place. On the contrary, I think it is the underdevelopment of a city that can retain its original flavor, and the local culture and modernity need to be reconciled.
It is no exaggeration to call Lanzhou a city living in the cracks.
In the gap between the bare mountains, a strip-shaped city is rooted in a Yellow River. Looking down at the night sky, where the lights are flashing, it must be fireworks.
The first time I went to Lanzhou was the third grade, and I went to the middle school affiliated to Northwest Normal University. I didn't pass the exam, but I only remember writing a solution word under each question on that math paper. In addition to the scribbled exams, the memory of Lanzhou is to dig holes everywhere to expand roads, and then miss the bus home due to traffic jams. I'm going to Lanzhou this time and I'm still digging and repairing the subway. I've been repairing it for four years.
The moment I walked out of the airport, I told my friend who picked me up that Lanzhou was still the same and had not changed at all. As usual, it's freezing. As usual, I can't wait for the bus. When I couldn't squeeze in, I still took a dollar casually, but it was also very kind.
This time I went to Lanzhou to see the Yellow River, eat beef noodles, drink mutton soup and make friends.
Maybe it's because I'm a native of the northwest, accustomed to the loess and water in the northwest, accustomed to the slightly harsh accent in the northwest, accustomed to the bare mountains everywhere, especially in winter, even the evergreen pines and cypresses faded to khaki, so I smiled and said that I had no experience of traveling in Lanzhou at all.
So what?
Friends who have been together for ten years are all here, curled up in bed and watching movies together, sharing each other's lipstick and eating hot pot together before going out. Do not need any travel guide, do not need any courtesy, do not need any greetings.
I am practical in everything I do.
During the ten days in Lanzhou, except for catching the bus on the last day, my friends and I didn't go out before noon 12. The reason is laziness and cold.
The temperature difference between northwest and Lanzhou is bigger than my home. When you come to Gansu in summer, you must eat yellow river honey, which is sweet to your heart, then drink yellow river beer, and then lean on Zhongshan Bridge to listen to people shouting and bragging.
Northwest in winter is another feeling. The bald Baita Mountain looks whiter and greener. The Yellow River at the foot of the mountain is blue, with the Yellow River railway bridge and the whistling north wind. It is solemn and depressing.
The temperature in the northwest is not as low as that in the northeast, but the wind in the northwest drills people's bones, cuts their ears and freezes their faces.
When the sun shines in the early morning of winter, you can't feel much temperature. This is light. Breathing into the glass can form small ice.
It is much warmer at noon and suitable for going out. The pedestrians on the road are wrapped up, and the big cotton-padded jacket mask is standard. People exposed for a long time must have earmuffs and gloves.
I wandered around Lanzhou wearing a woolen coat and threatened never to go out without a warm vest. A lovely little girl gave me her warm clothes, haha!
Tell an episode of warm vest.
I never like to wear warm clothes, which makes me uncomfortable and can't eat. Therefore, when I go out to eat with my friends, I must wear a warm vest, so that I can save everyone's food and drink!
At night, there are stalls everywhere in Xiguan, and shiny glass lamps are hung. Young stall owners and girls painted enchanting makeup, flat and thick eyebrows, thick black eyelashes, upturned nose and red lips. They are feminine but unpretentious, and their voices will be very painful. They are full of Lanzhou dialect. Generally, Jiangnan men can't be healthy even if they can't be provoked.
In Lanzhou, I usually eat a bowl of beef noodles to fill my stomach before going out. As one of the three snack giants in China-Lanzhou Lamian Noodles, braised chicken rice and Shaxian snack-Lanzhou Lamian Noodles has let many people know about this place.
But there is no one in Gansu named Lanzhou Beef Lamian Noodles Lanzhou Lamian Noodles, only beef noodles. Besides, Lamian Noodles and beef noodles are two different things.
After I went to Nanjing, I was surprised that Lamian Noodles could add tomatoes, eggs, cabbage and other ingredients. Noodles are different and taste completely different.
The noodles of beef noodles are coarse to fine, two fine, three fine, fine and capillary, with a buckwheat edge; From wide to narrow, there are big width, two width and leek leaves.
Buckwheat is like a triangular prism. I've never eaten it before, and I always find it hard to digest. This time, I ate a bowl recommended by my friend. It was not as hard as I thought, and it was very chewy. I don't like to eat capillary, it's too thin, the thickness of 4 or 5 hairs together, and the noodles are pasted in the soup before I eat two bites; The width of leek leaves is similar to that of leek leaves, which is suitable for people with indigestion.
Beef noodles can also be eaten dry. Sprinkle some oil on the noodles, just like the process of serving soup, except that the soup is in another small bowl and it is delicious when mixed. It's too hot in summer to eat dry.
Beef noodles pay attention to a clear and white, three red and four green Huang Wu.
Soup is a clear soup made of beef bones;
White is white radish slices, and radish is fishy. I like radish soup best. If I don't want meat, I want more radish slices.
Red is Chili powder with red oil. I bought a ticket and got a super bowl filled with oil and spicy food. The master drew a parabola with a long spoon, and the bowl was light red.
Green is chopped green onion. I like noodles with lots of chopped green onion.
Yellow is the color of noodles, and the master has to pull a lump of noodles many times. Finally, the bread in his hand was made several times, which was particularly long, and it was also a test of Master Lamian Noodles's craftsmanship.
We like to eat raw garlic and garlic noodles. Although it tastes great after eating, it is raw and spicy, which is great with noodles.
Sure, you can have some side dishes and a salted egg. I like to eat soup and eggs in a bowl. The small piece of beef in the bowl is not enough to plug the teeth. If I had more money, I would like a plate of beef. This is called flying with meat and eggs, and my life is complete.
If you go to Lanzhou, there is a three-story super-large beef noodle shop called Yunfeng Beef Lamian Noodles by the Yellow River of Zhongshan Bridge.
I also recommend a beef noodle shop called Tashan Banpo, where I fell in love with soba noodles. I went directly to the second floor and ordered a set meal, a plate of ordinary beef, a plate of beef tendon, an egg, a cup of tea and a potato chip. The meat gets wet in the soup first, and the beef tendon becomes small pieces in the mouth until the stomach swells.
The rice in the northwest is heavy in oil and salt, and there is much oil in the noodles. After the dish is served, there should be a layer of oil under the plate. Friends who like light food are afraid of not being used to it.
Lanzhou is quite close to Dingxi. I seriously doubt that all the potatoes in Dingxi have been sold to Lanzhou. The streets are full of potato chips, small potatoes, potato chips and fried potatoes.
I recommend Masan potato chips, ten potato chips, ten bean skins, a bowl of wide noodles and a cake. Potato chips in the cake are spicy and delicious. I ate five whole meals of potato chips in Lanzhou, and my friends laughed that I had never seen the world.
Every city has a so-called snack street. Confucius Temple in Nanjing, Huimin Street in Xi, Hubu Lane in Wuhan and Where Street in Hangzhou. Lanzhou is no exception. After 10 in winter in Lanzhou, few shops are closed, but the night market on Zhengning Road in Lanzhou is still steaming in the afternoon of 12. The night market usually starts when there are scattered light spots on the street around dusk, and all of them are Hui people.
Small potatoes are soft and spicy, but they are cold-resistant; Generally, baked rice cakes are brushed with sweet sauce, and Lanzhou can brush with hot sauce; Eating fried bean jelly and stuffed skin in winter and fish with bean jelly in summer is excellent for relieving summer heat, but I don't think fried bean jelly is as delicious as my roadside stall.
You must drink milk and egg paste when you go to Zhengning Road, or you will go for nothing.
Since "China on the Tip of the Tongue" was made by Grandpa White Beard, there are several more milk and egg pastes in the night market, and more and more people are waiting in line.
Boil a small pot of milk, beat in three eggs, finally sprinkle raisins, peanuts and sesame seeds, drink a bowl of hot water, lick the corners of your mouth, and walk out of the oiled paper shed comfortably with a shy stomach.
There are many local products on Zhengning Road. Winter pear is rock sugar Sydney. Big rock sugar and pears are heated together in a warm pot.
Reminds me of catching a cold when I was a child. My mother always wakes me up in the middle of the night for steamed pear meat. My favorite drink is sweet water at the bottom of the bowl, which moistens the lungs and relieves cough.
Soft pears, frozen in the cellar, bought back and put in the heating room. After thawing, pears become soft and watery, and their functions are similar to those of winter pears. ?
There is a nature barbecue near the night market. The first roast chicken feet, amazing four seats. Boiled chicken feet, covered with pepper. Brush with oil and bake. They melt in your mouth and the bones can be picked clean in your mouth. If it's spicy, you need a bowl of mutton soup and a bite of baked oil cake to suffocate the Yellow River beer. There is nothing difficult in the world!
There is a tea shop I like very much on Zhengning Road. Call Fang ha.
Putting it on our side means putting it down. Let go after a drink, let go when you go out, let go of the past unwillingness, let go of all the unbearable, stupid men drink and cry, resentful women love with swords, sinners turn over a new leaf and start over.
I think his name is Fangha for a reason.
His signature is sweet embryo milk tea, which contains wine bran. No matter winter or summer, only ice is cold, and big bowls are cheap. A whole cup of 500ml 13 yuan. Drink it to make your heart cool, drink it to despair, and then let go of your depression. During those days in Lanzhou, whenever I passed by, I would buy a drink.
Besides the signature sweet embryo milk tea, I also like the names of other drinks in their family.
Blue Lanzhou, black Lanzhou, red and black, three batteries. Each cup seems to have an unknown story in the streets, mixed with the Yellow River water and the soil of Tashan Mountain, and mixed into a cup of bitter water mixed with the northwest cold wind to make you intoxicated.
It is true that the northwest folk customs are tough.
If high-rise buildings can't compare with Xi 'an, if neon lights can't compare with one tenth of Shanghai's.
If we talk about debauchery, drunken horse drinking, unshaven beard and guessing debauchery, Lanzhou cannot be discouraged.
On the first day in Lanzhou, I saw a group of gentlemen swimming naked in the Yellow River, and I was wrapped up with only one eye. Lanzhou dialect was born with Sha Qi.
When eating in a restaurant, the waiter also speaks in Lanzhou dialect, but I always speak weakly and a little timid, haha.
In the weather of MINUS 18 degrees, the uncle in leather pants squatted outside the store to eat onion beef noodles. The hot noodles were foggy and tangled in his hair.
Gansu people should have smoked in Lanzhou, so Donye. S sang in Miss Dong: "Please give me a stranger's Lanzhou".
Red Lanzhou, Yellow Lanzhou, Blue Lanzhou, Ruyi Purple, Black Lanzhou and Lucky Flying Lanzhou. The prices of these seven or eight kinds of cigarettes range from low to high, and the cigarettes in your pocket are a symbol of status. Men in the northwest are more masculine, just carefully protecting their faces.
Cigarettes have become a social tool for men. When you meet an acquaintance in the street, whether you smoke or not, you should always take out the cigarette in your pocket and be polite.
I've also heard of people who hold blue Lanzhou in their left pocket and auspicious Lanzhou in their right pocket, watching people pass cigarettes.
When I was a child, I always saw my grandmother smoking blue Lanzhou. Now there are few red, blue and Lanzhou, which have faded out of people's sight. There are also many aluminum alloy cubicles on the roadside in Lanzhou. The glass is filled with packets of cigarettes and lighters, and there is a dollar of instant noodles that can be sprinkled with seasoning packets.
Times have changed. I seldom see people handing cigarettes to each other in small streets, both good and bad.
The semi-arid climate in northwest China, coupled with strong ultraviolet rays, makes people turn black easily. Strong men are even more disdainful of skin care and always feel too girly. Therefore, men with dark skin are the majority.
On the Zhongshan Bridge, I saw a tall man in Martin boots and fur coat, singing folk songs at the top of his lungs, and his girlfriend was recording appreciatively.
I'm thinking, this Yellow River, this iron bridge, this barren mountain, I'm afraid I've long been used to the change of dynasties in the world, the horses of Jin Ge, the joys and sorrows.
When I started writing this article yesterday, my classmates said there was nothing to write in Lanzhou, just a bowl of noodles. Don't embarrass yourself if you can't write. I managed to squeeze out more than 4000 words.
Lanzhou is different, different from other cities. It sucks, and it's good. You won't know until you go (please go in summer).
People complain about the smog in Beijing. In fact, the smog in northwest winter is also very serious.
When I passed Xi 'an on my way home last year, I couldn't even see the building on a gray day, and so did Lanzhou.
This remote city in northwest China can't get online, and it has developed very hard and can't keep people. But this city is the capital of my hometown, where my best friend lives. It has my favorite chicken feet.
I chatted with a senior yesterday, and he said Lanzhou is the Jianghu.
We are all people who have drunk the Yellow River water.
Well, in the blink of an eye, I'm in the Jianghu.
Yellow River, Tashanbai,
Eat a bowl of beef noodles and drink a bowl of mutton soup.
Order a cup of black Lanzhou and continue with a cup of three batteries.
Go to Lanzhou and listen to a song "North by Northwest" at Zhongshan Bridge.
? Author | Hu Ran
Ugly picture | Hu Ran was photographed in Lanzhou.