Today, I did something I haven't done for years. Strange times. I usually call these "train noodles" as the only time I really ate them was on long train journeys as little else was available. But now with high speed trains all over the place, journey times have been slashed. It used to take me two whole days to get to Beijing. Hong Kong took 14 hours - Now it's 5.
Opening the packet, I find this.
Dried noodles, four packs of chemicals and a folding plastic fork. From top left and moving clockwise, the four packs are dried veg and shrimp (I guess there was about half a small shrimp in there); taste powder (chicken bouillon and MSG); soup flavouring (?); vinegar.
After carefully scutinising the dried veg and discarding anything yellow which may be the dreaded c@rn, these ingredients are combined and boiling water applied, the pack resealed and left for a bit. I used to know exactly how long until they were ready - the amount of time it took me to smoke one cigarette, but I gave up smoking twenty years ago, so that no longer helps.
Actually, they weren't so bad, but I'll probably not be back there for a long time. I hope.