In 2007 I went to Lanzhou in Central China on a two-week mission for my school, ISUGA. I stayed on the Lanzhou Commercial College campus in a flat belonging to the college. I also met staff of the University for the Minorities, a second partner of ISUGA in Lanzhou.

My visit was a remarkable and once-in-a-lifetime experience. The key points are:

• The college staff and students were extremely hospitable. I couldn't have been looked after better.
• The campus was an open and friendly place; I felt very much at home.
• I was right near the canteen and had a "free" meal ticket! Chinese meals three times a day without paying! WOW!
• Lanzhou is a large city on the banks of the Yellow River, so-called "cradle" of Chinese civilisation. It was an amazing experience to spend time here.
• The city is at 1600m above sea level on the edge of the Tibetan plateau: it took me a week at least to acclimatize, especially as the atmosphere is very dry and often quite full of sand from the Gobi desert and coal-dust from the heating station and elsewhere!
• The streets teem with life and there often seems to be food on sale every 10 meters, especially near the university.
• The bus service was good with announcements on entering each district both in Chinese AND English, even though Lanzhou is two hours by air from Shanghai, right in the north centre of China.
• I took a LOT of photos, including some we made up into a booklet to be seen HERE.