Monday
Breakfast at my favorite bakery. They have an assortment of delicious breads and pastries, some stuffed with cream or red bean filling. I always eat breakfast here, and there are so many good things it never gets boring. Every pastry is 1 kuai, which makes it even more amazing.
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| My bakery |
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| Typical breakfast foods |
Lunch is a fried egg/pork type sandwich that I unfortunately don't know the name of. It basically tastes like someone stuffed pita bread with bits of meat and then fried it in oil and an egg with bits of onions and scallions. So delicious, and only 2.5 kuai.
In the afternoon I'm feeling a bit tired so head for some caffeine. This involves my favorite tea shop, where I pick up some lemon tea and a snickers bar. The owner knows me so well she doesn't even need to ask how I want my tea made anymore. Tea = 2.5 kuai, snickers = 3 kuai.
I cook a pretty boring dinner for myself at my apartment-- your basic ramen noodles with a few frozen dumplings thrown in (3.5 kuai).
Daily total= 12.5 kuai/$2.08
Tuesday
Usual breakfast. Lunch involves a stop at my favorite kebab stand to pick up some Chinese sausage (2 kuai). I have only really tried the sausage because I have yet to work up the nerve to taste the chicken feet or various other meats I can't identify. Then a stop at my drink place in the afternoon, the convenience store for some chips (3 kuai), and a dinner of homemade pasta and marinara sauce (6.5 kuai).
Daily total = 15 kuai/$2.5
Wednesday
Fried red bean deliciousness for breakfast. I grab an egg and ham sandwich from the same bakery for a lunch of 2.5 kuai, plus some strawberry milk tea for 3 kuai. For dinner I head down to one of the various noodle stalls that line the entrance to my school and grab some take out noodles with vegetables for 4 kuai. Dessert includes a snickers.
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| Noodle stand |
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| 7CUPTEAS- my tea shop |
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| Iced lemon tea |
Daily total = 13.5 kuai/$2.25
Thursday
After my breakfast I get the urge for something more Western for lunch. Luckily there is exactly one fast food chain in Hechuan (KDS- no idea what it stands for) and it happens to sell fried chicken. It is no KFC, but it comes pretty close. So I head downtown and come back rewarded with a fried chicken sandwich, French fries that make me feel like I’ve died and gone back to Chicago, and a coke. I don't even like fried chicken that much at home, but here it is a rare treat that I indulge in once or twice a week for 17 kuai. I'm still so full at dinner that I just grab a sausage kebab and a pastry to go.
Daily total = 21 kuai/$3.5
Friday
Last day of the "diet" and I'm feeling good about myself. 1 kuai breakfast and another of my fried egg/pork sandwich things for lunch. Since I've only spent 63.5 kuai at this point, I indulge at the convenience store on campus and buy a pack of oreos, some Lay's chips, and a coke for 12 kuai, leaving me at 75.5 kuai with only dinner left.
And then, something goes wrong. When I go on a walk through a previously unexplored part of town, I come across a bakery. And not a Chinese bakery like I go to for breakfast every morning, but a real live Western-style bakery that sells cakes and pies. It is so enticing I am immediately drawn inside. Everything is a bit expensive by Chinese standards, but I just have to know what that chocolate cake tastes like. So I give in and buy a slice for 14 kuai.
Sadly, it is very dry inside, although the chocolate on the outside is amazing. I have now made it my goal to try everything in that shop. Cheesecake is next on the menu...
So after my small indulgence I finish up the week back at my local noodle stall, having spent a total of 93.5 kuai/$15.58. Only 3.5 kuai over budget, and severely under budget if you subtract my last minute temptation. Not bad, all things considered. I probably could have done it for less had I taken out some snacks that I have become addicted to or if my students were around to take me out to eat since they always insist on paying. Of course, I could also have done it for more had I insisted on eating at restaurants every meal...
Conclusion: Living on $3/day in China is not bad at all.
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