The best-spent $2.50

BEFORE I get to the best-spent $2.50, here's the best-so-far-spent $2.

After hauling our backpacks for too long finding out accommodation, we dumped them opposite the Nanjing University International Students' dorm for some lunch.
An English menu, stools outside and a few moments to eavesdrop on westerners speaking Chinese...sweet.

Wes had a very impressive-looking "Princess Chicken" dish - minced chicken (not enough of it, a bit fatty, he said), chopped chillies and the main attraction - a mountain of roasted peanuts coated in a sticky chilli sauce. Wes declared it a bit too much so after finishing the plate - and his protein quota for the week.
Thinking of my need for veges, I got spicy eggplant with rice - chunks of peeled steamed eggplant in a mildly spicy sauce flavoured with garlic and ginger (very unexpected but popular flavours in dishes here, as well as coriander and aniseed).

On to the best-spent $2.50. Across the lane we spotted a bicycle hire stall. We returned later and set off to check out what Nanjing had to offer.

Everyone rides bicycles - the crappier the better, which means we were extremely lucky then, 'cos I reckon we got the two shittiest bikes in all of Nanjing!
Two entire lanes are devoted to bikes and scooters (as well as electric bicycles - very popular) in the three cities we've visited so far, cordoned off from car traffic so it feels quite safe, Mum (!).
And what an excellent way to see as much of a city as possible.

A few kilometres down, three touristy sites later and two steamed buns for fuel...the best-spent $2.50.