Is that laundry on those clothes lines? No, those sheets are are actually strands of noodles being hung out to dry. My roving correspondent shot this photo while cycling along the Sichuan-Tibetan highway. (Hint: he's a recurring character on the blog.)

I wish I had brought a camera to this wet market in Shanghai several weeks ago. Hidden away from the fish mongers, tofu mongers, and vegetable mongers, was a closet-sized room that was making a bit of noise. I peeked inside. Noodle makers were rolling out huge sheets of dough in what looks like an enormous pasta machine, and the same machine would cut strands about 20 feet long. They sold the noodles just a few feet away.

How's that for freshness?