An ethnic Dai (傣族) woman dishes out a meat-filled meal at the Gengma (耿马县城) Buddhist monastery.

We stopped for our second lunch at small restaurant on the side of the road before our exit from Hebei province. The town was probably the most miserable place we've seen so far, with a "truck-stop" atmosphere and an an acrid smelling chemical plant spewing who-knows-what into the air. Despite the poor surroundings and the unhealthy look of the little restaurant, we had an excellent meal of delicious steamed beef buns (baozi) for a dollar. The owner, Mr. Zhang, told us that his type of baozi was famous in Beijing, although none of us had ever had them.