After a really long week last week, I was super ready to for the weekend! Thank goodness we only have classes Monday through Thursday!! Thursday night was amazing. I went to Muse 2 (there are 3 Muses in Shanghai, Muse, Muse2, and Muse Underground) for House of Gaga. Around 11 or so the most legit Gaga impersonator on the planet performed for about 20 minutes. Everything about her, from her costume and hair to her singing, was so on point that I was almost fooled into believing it was Gaga herself!! Muse 2 was still fun after she left. They had huge light up Styrofoam glow sticks. I ended up staying there until 3:30!!
Friday we had a field trip to Tianzifang and the Shanghai Antique market. Tianzifang was really cool. It is a bunch of little alleyways filled with shops and stores. Unfortunately, we only had an hour to spend there so we are definitely going to go back. After Tianzifang, we went to the Shanghai Antique Market. Of course since this is China, most of the "antiques" there are fake. It was still really fun to look around at everything though. I didn't buy anything because most of it was dirty to make it look older. Friday night the NYU students that live on the other side of our dorm were hosting a party at a club called Not Me. It was called Baijiu Meltdown, but I stayed far away from the Baijiu. It was pretty lame. The NYU kids were DJing and they were not very good. Guess there is a reason we haven't hung out with them at all this semester.
Saturday was really gross and rainy, but we decided that we needed to be more adventurous and go explore Shanghai some more so we decided to go to the Fake Market. The Fake Market is a bunch of shops that is actually in a subway station in Pudong. It was super cool!! A lot of the fakes were really good. Lucy and I both got Marc Jacobs wrist-lets for 100RMB. Not too bad!! Laura and I also ended up finding a place that sold DVDs. I got all 6 season of Sex and the City, 4 seasons of Dexter, and 12 movies for 470RMB. We were all really tired and the weather was super gross, so instead of going out we stayed in and had a double feature movie night. It was really nice, relaxing night!! The first one I have had on a weekend here!!
On Sunday, Lucy and I went to meet a Chinese woman, Jeuce, that Lucy knows through her uncle. We ate at a place called Osteria and it was delicious!! They had a 2 courses for 88RMB special for brunch, so first I had eggs for breakfast, and then I had a pizza for lunch!! Talking to Jeuce was a lot of fun. She actually lives in Tianzifang, where we were on Friday. She works for a Chinese App company. She also writes a blog on "wine and spirits" and is getting flown to France this week by a Cognac company because of it!! Lucy and I talked to her about the cost of apartments because we really want to get an apartment together here next summer. We had a great time, but we couldn't stay too long because we had to get back to school and do homework.
Tonight, Lucy and I ordered from Shanghai Sherpa, a restaurant delivery service. We got sandwiches from a really good deli. I was super excited because mine had avocado on it!! I have a mid-term tomorrow unfortunately and I should probably be studying for that instead of doing this. Who knew my blog would become my new source of procrastination?
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Saki BOMB
This past week has been pretty busy since I had been gone from Shanghai and school work for an entire 10 days, but it was still great! On Wednesday, I helped teach English at a migrant school in Shanghai. I had 1st graders so they were absolutely the most adorable things I have ever seen before in my life. They don't really speak much English so we taught them the alphabet and how to say things like "I like bananas". Actually I didn't really do much teaching because my partner is practically fluent in Chinese. So I let him be Pat Sajack and I am Vanna White, aka I smile and point a lot. Some are concerned that if I speak English to them no other English speakers will be able to understand them because of my more southern pronunciations of words. I just think that everyone would think they were cooler.
When Thursday finally rolled around, I was super excited to go out. We had a nice turn table (aka Lazy Susan) dinner and then went to G+, yet again, for the 5 drinks for 50RMB deal. It was pretty fun, but I think we are not going to go back again for awhile.
Friday we went shopping. It was pretty successful for me. I got a new skirt (hot pink!), 2 dresses, and a belt. I also found a really great dress for my Halloween costume (a sexy clown), but it was 300RMB so I didn't end up getting it. I was super bummed because you don't find obnoxiously bright hot pink and yellow dresses everyday, but I guess it's just on to Plan B (which is a surprise) now. Friday night was all you can eat and drink sushi for 160RMB. We went with a group of 19 people, so it was pretty wild. I tried Saki for the first time!! As well as doing several Saki Bombs, which were my favorite because you put the shot of Saki on chop sticks on top of your glass of beer and then bang on the table until it drops into the beer. It was a little messy, but that always makes things more interesting. Unfortunately, the large amounts of sushi and beer were not so good for me, so I didn't stay out long before heading back home.
Saturday night was more chill. I went with Laura, Mike, and Lucy to get American food. I ate a chili cheese dog, which I pretty much never even eat in the US, but it was really great at the time. We got done eating really early so we went to a nearby bar, Windows Too, that we know has super cheap drinks and hung out. A random Canadian man ended up buying us a round of B52s that were pretty delicious. That night was also the kick off night of Pride Week in Shanghai and so we went to the kick off party at Lounge 18. It was really crowded and expensive, we paid 234RMB for 4 tequila shots, so we didn't stay for long. Just long enough to hear a drag queen sing "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, which we obviously sang along with. After leaving there, we met up with a few more CIEE kids at Windows Scoreboard. It was pretty chill we just played some beer pong and flip cup while singing along to the 90s music they were playing.
I was pretty exhausted Sunday and mostly just did homework and caught up on TV shows. Today I was still craving some American food, so we once again had Meiguo Mondays at Malones where I had a delicious Hamburger with potato wedges. I think tonight we are going out to hear live jazz music. I am pretty excited because I have never really been to any jazz places before. This one should be a good time!
When Thursday finally rolled around, I was super excited to go out. We had a nice turn table (aka Lazy Susan) dinner and then went to G+, yet again, for the 5 drinks for 50RMB deal. It was pretty fun, but I think we are not going to go back again for awhile.
Friday we went shopping. It was pretty successful for me. I got a new skirt (hot pink!), 2 dresses, and a belt. I also found a really great dress for my Halloween costume (a sexy clown), but it was 300RMB so I didn't end up getting it. I was super bummed because you don't find obnoxiously bright hot pink and yellow dresses everyday, but I guess it's just on to Plan B (which is a surprise) now. Friday night was all you can eat and drink sushi for 160RMB. We went with a group of 19 people, so it was pretty wild. I tried Saki for the first time!! As well as doing several Saki Bombs, which were my favorite because you put the shot of Saki on chop sticks on top of your glass of beer and then bang on the table until it drops into the beer. It was a little messy, but that always makes things more interesting. Unfortunately, the large amounts of sushi and beer were not so good for me, so I didn't stay out long before heading back home.
Saturday night was more chill. I went with Laura, Mike, and Lucy to get American food. I ate a chili cheese dog, which I pretty much never even eat in the US, but it was really great at the time. We got done eating really early so we went to a nearby bar, Windows Too, that we know has super cheap drinks and hung out. A random Canadian man ended up buying us a round of B52s that were pretty delicious. That night was also the kick off night of Pride Week in Shanghai and so we went to the kick off party at Lounge 18. It was really crowded and expensive, we paid 234RMB for 4 tequila shots, so we didn't stay for long. Just long enough to hear a drag queen sing "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, which we obviously sang along with. After leaving there, we met up with a few more CIEE kids at Windows Scoreboard. It was pretty chill we just played some beer pong and flip cup while singing along to the 90s music they were playing.
I was pretty exhausted Sunday and mostly just did homework and caught up on TV shows. Today I was still craving some American food, so we once again had Meiguo Mondays at Malones where I had a delicious Hamburger with potato wedges. I think tonight we are going out to hear live jazz music. I am pretty excited because I have never really been to any jazz places before. This one should be a good time!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Golden Week Part III: Sanya
We arrived in Sanya in the afternoon and someone from our hostel, yet again, met us at the airport. However, instead of getting private transportation, he just hailed a cab for us. It was kind of a waste of money, but we did not know that at the time. The taxi stopped at a kind of sketchy side street and told us we were there. We walked down the sides street that was muddy and wet (it was drizzling) and finally found our hostel, the Thornbird. It was on the second floor of a rather shaky looking building. We climbed very steep, not sturdy stairs to the second floor and checked in. This was the first hostel where we had a six person room instead of a four person room; however, we lucked out because we were the only four people staying in the room. In fact, it seemed as though we were the only four people staying at the hostel.
Our room consisted of three sets of bunk beds and a set of small lockers. The beds were two pieces of plywood with a sheet over them. There was also another sheet for us to use for covers. It was definitely a let down after our previous hostels. Also, the bathroom was a toilet, a shower, and a sink all in one. There was no separation between any of them, it was just one big open room. Thankfully, there were two sinks for us to use in the hallway because the bathroom was rather disgusting.
We needed a pick me up, so we decided to go to dinner at a restaurant called Fat Daddy's that some other girls in the program who had been in Sanya earlier in the week recommended. I had the most amazing burger that had sugared pineapple and avocado on it. We also ordered a pitcher of Mojitos that were the best mojitos I have ever had. Our glasses even came with a cane of sugar in them to bite on. Our waiter actually ended up being a former CIEE student from North Carolina that moved to Sanya, so that was pretty cool. We chatted with him for awhile and made plans to meet back up with him the next night so he could take us out to some clubs. We went back to the hostel and went straight to bed.
Although I was exhausted and had been looking forward to bed, I slept horribly. I was 100% sure my bed was going to break and I was freezing without a blanket. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sarah's alarm went off. We got up and had breakfast at the hostel. Thornbird had a more traditional Chinese breakfast, which was not bad, but it seemed like our food had been sitting out for awhile and would continue to sit out.
After breakfast, we went in search of an ATM yet again. We got money and then decided to buy a coconut because that is what Sanya is known for. The coconut we got was a red coconut, which was actually green. The guy we bought it from cut it so we could drink the milk out of it and gave us straws. We walked down toward the beach and drank the milk, which was not bad. We did not actually go on the beach because the beaches where we were staying were covered in trash and the water looked brown and polluted. When we finished drinking the milk we tried to get our coconut open so we could eat the meat, but no one would help us get it open! We headed back to the hostel because we were supposed to meet a driver who was going to take us to a hot springs resort at 12:00. However, when we got there, the girl working the front desk told us he actually would not be there till around 1 so we went around the corner and grabbed some lunch. Finally we got in the van to go to the hot springs!
Our ride to the hot springs was a little sketchy and we offroaded it some as well as taking some roads that were in much need of repair. Once we got there, we were given little electronic wristbands and then shown to a ladies locker room. We each had lockers that our electronic wristbands opened. Inside was a towel for us to use and shoes for us to wear. We changed in to our bathing suits and then went out to hit up some hot springs! It was an overcast day which was lucky because not too many people were there. There were tons of different springs, some man made and some natural, as well as an infinity pool and huge play area with water slides. Some of my favorite and most unique springs were the coffee spring, the milk spring, the fragrant liquor spring, and the fish spring. The fish spring was my absolute favorite! In this spring there were tons of small fish that would come up and eat the dead skin off of your body. It sounds kind of weird and gross, but it was actually amazing! At first the sensation was really weird and kind of tickely, but once you got used to it, it was awesome! Sarah and I were really the only ones into it though. When it was almost time to go, we went back to the locker room and showered and then grabbed a snack at one of the restaurants.
When it was finally time to leave, we discovered there was a small problem. Something apparently had happened to the bus we had taken up to the hot springs and so we had to take a different one back. Which would have been fine, only it meant that we had to squeeze 15 people into a car roughly the size of a minivan. Lucy, Sarah and I were put into the back seat, which was extremely wobbly. The entire ride home we were terrified that our seat would fall back into the back door and some how make it open and we would all go flying out of the back. Thankfully that never happened. However, not too long after our first stop letting people off, our seat completely broke! There were some free seats in the front so we moved up to those, but it was still quite the experience!
Finally we made it back to the hostel alive and in one piece and got ready to go out to dinner. Lauren was not feeling well so she stayed in. Lucy, Sarah, and I went to Dolphin's Bar and Grill for dinner, which was amazing! We had spinach and artichoke dip for an appetizer and then I had fettuccine alfredo for my meal. We tried lots of different cocktails and they were all pretty great! After dinner, we went back to Fat Daddy's to meet up with our waiter from the night before. He had to close that night, so we had to wait for a bit. He gave us a free round of mojitos and we sat and talked to some other Americans. Next, Lucy and I ordered Pina Coladas that were served in an actual pineapple! It was one of the best drinks I have ever had!! By the time our friend was done closing, we were too exhausted to go out so we just walked back to our hostel and went to bed.
After another night of not very great sleep, we woke up and decided to have brunch at the Dolphin, which is where we had eaten dinner the night before. By this time we were all extremely Shanghai sick!! Brunch took awhile and after eating we took about a 15 or 20 minute cab ride to Yalong Bay. We bought tickets to go out on the beach there. First we had to walk through a seashell museum, which was pretty cool. Sarah and I bought sun hats in the gift shop! Once we left the museum, there were several vendors selling all kinds of goods. We bought a coconut, not a red one, a normal one, and drank it pretty quickly. We hung out looking around at different things and Sarah tried to find the perfect set of pearls to buy! Finally we finished our coconut and we took it back to the guy who sold it to us and he cut it open for us. It was the best coconut I have ever had!! While we were wandering around we saw an entire group of Chinese tourists in matching Hawaiian outfits. It was pretty fantastic.
We went down to the beach and changed into our bathing suits and paid for a set of two chairs and an umbrella. Lucy, Sarah and I got into the water for awhile, but it was overcast and we got chilly pretty quickly. We laid out for a little while on the beach, but we were salty and soggy so we decided to change and head back. We showered at the hostel and then went in search of Dongbei Jiaozi Chang restaurant. It was not as good as we expected, but it was not too bad. We walked back to the hostel and packed up our stuff and then had an early bedtime.
The next morning we eagerly sprang out of bed, happy to be going back to Shanghai! We went to Fat Daddy's to get their clay pot breakfast, which was eggs, potatoes and other things cooked in a clay pot. It was phenomenal! We grabbed a cab to the airport, breezed through security and got on our flight. When we landed in Shanghai we grabbed our bags and then headed for the Maglev. Then we caught the subway the rest of the way back. On the subway, a Chinese boy was facing Lucy and I. He kept looking at us and finally shouted ""外国人" (foreigner). Then his mom smacked him in the face. It was pretty funny. We spoke to him some in Chinese and told him we were "美国人" (meiguoren). After that he kept looking at us and
saying "美国人". It was a great way to end our trip! We got back to the dorm and went to dinner at one of our
favorite restaurants 学友 (xue you, study friend), with some friends and it was great! Then I had a lot of work to
catch up on because today I had a test and oral presentation. I managed to do pretty well on all of it though!
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| The Thornbird Hostel |
We needed a pick me up, so we decided to go to dinner at a restaurant called Fat Daddy's that some other girls in the program who had been in Sanya earlier in the week recommended. I had the most amazing burger that had sugared pineapple and avocado on it. We also ordered a pitcher of Mojitos that were the best mojitos I have ever had. Our glasses even came with a cane of sugar in them to bite on. Our waiter actually ended up being a former CIEE student from North Carolina that moved to Sanya, so that was pretty cool. We chatted with him for awhile and made plans to meet back up with him the next night so he could take us out to some clubs. We went back to the hostel and went straight to bed.
Although I was exhausted and had been looking forward to bed, I slept horribly. I was 100% sure my bed was going to break and I was freezing without a blanket. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sarah's alarm went off. We got up and had breakfast at the hostel. Thornbird had a more traditional Chinese breakfast, which was not bad, but it seemed like our food had been sitting out for awhile and would continue to sit out.
After breakfast, we went in search of an ATM yet again. We got money and then decided to buy a coconut because that is what Sanya is known for. The coconut we got was a red coconut, which was actually green. The guy we bought it from cut it so we could drink the milk out of it and gave us straws. We walked down toward the beach and drank the milk, which was not bad. We did not actually go on the beach because the beaches where we were staying were covered in trash and the water looked brown and polluted. When we finished drinking the milk we tried to get our coconut open so we could eat the meat, but no one would help us get it open! We headed back to the hostel because we were supposed to meet a driver who was going to take us to a hot springs resort at 12:00. However, when we got there, the girl working the front desk told us he actually would not be there till around 1 so we went around the corner and grabbed some lunch. Finally we got in the van to go to the hot springs!
Our ride to the hot springs was a little sketchy and we offroaded it some as well as taking some roads that were in much need of repair. Once we got there, we were given little electronic wristbands and then shown to a ladies locker room. We each had lockers that our electronic wristbands opened. Inside was a towel for us to use and shoes for us to wear. We changed in to our bathing suits and then went out to hit up some hot springs! It was an overcast day which was lucky because not too many people were there. There were tons of different springs, some man made and some natural, as well as an infinity pool and huge play area with water slides. Some of my favorite and most unique springs were the coffee spring, the milk spring, the fragrant liquor spring, and the fish spring. The fish spring was my absolute favorite! In this spring there were tons of small fish that would come up and eat the dead skin off of your body. It sounds kind of weird and gross, but it was actually amazing! At first the sensation was really weird and kind of tickely, but once you got used to it, it was awesome! Sarah and I were really the only ones into it though. When it was almost time to go, we went back to the locker room and showered and then grabbed a snack at one of the restaurants.
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| Sarah and I in the fish spring |
Finally we made it back to the hostel alive and in one piece and got ready to go out to dinner. Lauren was not feeling well so she stayed in. Lucy, Sarah, and I went to Dolphin's Bar and Grill for dinner, which was amazing! We had spinach and artichoke dip for an appetizer and then I had fettuccine alfredo for my meal. We tried lots of different cocktails and they were all pretty great! After dinner, we went back to Fat Daddy's to meet up with our waiter from the night before. He had to close that night, so we had to wait for a bit. He gave us a free round of mojitos and we sat and talked to some other Americans. Next, Lucy and I ordered Pina Coladas that were served in an actual pineapple! It was one of the best drinks I have ever had!! By the time our friend was done closing, we were too exhausted to go out so we just walked back to our hostel and went to bed.
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| Lucy and I with our Pina Coladas in pineapples |
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| Drinking out of the coconut in front of the beach |
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| Sarah and I in our hats |
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| Part of the beach in Yalong Bay |
saying "美国人". It was a great way to end our trip! We got back to the dorm and went to dinner at one of our
favorite restaurants 学友 (xue you, study friend), with some friends and it was great! Then I had a lot of work to
catch up on because today I had a test and oral presentation. I managed to do pretty well on all of it though!
Golden Week Part II: Xi'an
Our train arrived in Xi'an at 11:20 and our hostel met us again and we took a van to Xiangzimen hostel. The hostel was absolutely amazing! The architecture was old traditional Chinese style and huge! There was a restaurant and a bar as well as a people who did laundry for us! Our room was really nice and the bed was the best one I have had so far in China. We were sad we were only going to be staying in the hostel for 2 nights.
As soon as we got there we showered and then went to get lunch in the Muslim quarter. Our food was not that great and our waitress was not very nice either. The Muslim quarter was also extremely crowded, as was all of Xi'an. After lunch we went a got Starbucks, I had a Mango Passionfruit smoothie that was amazing. Lucy's mom was also in Xi'an on a tour so then we caught a cab to her hotel, the Shangrila, to surprise her. She was taking awhile so we sat in the hotel lounge and had cocktails. Finally Lucy's mom and grandma arrived! Her grandmother was doing something with the tour group, but Lucy's mom treated us to an amazing dinner at the Thai restaurant in the hotel. After dinner, Lucy's mom was exhausted and went to bed so we headed back to our hostel.
After getting back to our hostel we went in search of an ATM. On our way back, Lucy and I spotted a spa that was giving 90 minute 88RMB foot massages. We had not gotten massages yet, so the two of us decided to go! The spa was really nice. We ordered tea and sat in the couch like lounge chairs in a private room and watched a movie about Confucius. The masseurs started out giving us arm and hand massages and then mine also massaged my stomach, which was a little awkward. Lucy's masseuse had left the room during this time, so she did not get a tummy rub. Then they massaged our feet and calves for a really long time. It was fabulous! Just when I thought they were finished, they told us to roll over and they also gave us back massages! It was a pretty well spent 88RMB!! We headed straight back to the hostel after that and went to bed.
The next morning we got up and gave our laundry to the attendant upstairs. We had another great American style breakfast. Sarah even got a cappuccino that had a foam bear face on top. Then we set out to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers! We sat on our bus waiting to leave for almost half an hour, but we finally we started to make our way!
Our first stop was a factory where they still make Terra Cotta Soldiers. We toured it and saw how they make the soldiers by putting local clay into little molds before letting them dry for long amounts of time. After seeing how they were made, we were taken to a shop where you could buy them! Since my Daddy had wanted a life sized Terra Cotta soldier and horse for our front yard, I almost sent them to him as a joke. However, it would have been several thousand USD and I did not think he would find it that funny. Instead I bought him a horse and soldier that are each around 8 or 10 inches high. I hope he likes them!
After the factory, we headed to the actual site of the Terra Cotta soldiers. First we watched a movie that gave us some background on them and then headed out to the actual pits. Pit 1 is the largest with the most complete set of warriors. It was a truly amazing site to see! I definitely understand why it is the 8th wonder of the world. You could look at the soldiers and see each unique, individual face. The time and effort put into the soldiers was fascinating. Pit 2 was still in the process of being excavated, but still had some pretty cool things to see. The 3rd Pit was mostly not excavated and not very exciting. Then we went to a museum which had more back ground on the Terra Cotta soldiers and the people who made them.
Next, we went to a the Mausoleum of an Emperor, which was basically just a mountain because it is too dangerous to excavate anymore due to harmful chemicals in the soil. That area was pretty boring and we did not stay for long. We left and arrived back in the city a little after 6.
After getting back to the hostel, we decided to look into doing a bike ride on the city wall. It took us awhile, and some pretty scary walking in the gutter of the road, before we finally figured out how to get on the wall. Once we were up there we decided just to walk along it some and have a little photo shoot outside of one of the pagodas on it. After all of the days excitement we wanted dinner so we went to a restaurant called De Fa Cheng, where we had an 18 course jiaozi meal! It was super cool because several of the jiaozi were specially shaped like different things. We had ones that looked like a fish and ones that kind of looked like a flower basket as well. As we were eating, we noticed that an older group of Chinese men kept taking our pictures with their high tech zoom lens cameras from across the restaurant. I am sure they got many attractive pictures of us shoving food in our mouths. On our way out, we walked past them and they asked to have pictures with us. I am sure those were much better!
Back at the hostel we went down to the bar and had a couple of drinks. We chatted with the hostel manager, whose name was Jim Beam (he was Chinese so this was the English name he chose, we loved it!). Then we sat in the hostel restaurant and played cards for awhile. We went to bed not too much later because we had to catch a taxi by 10 to get to the airport for our flight to Sanya! The hostel got a private taxi to take us, which was pretty sweet and we got there just fine. Although Xi'an was really cool, we were excited to travel to Sanya because the air pollution and crowds in Xi'an were awful!
As soon as we got there we showered and then went to get lunch in the Muslim quarter. Our food was not that great and our waitress was not very nice either. The Muslim quarter was also extremely crowded, as was all of Xi'an. After lunch we went a got Starbucks, I had a Mango Passionfruit smoothie that was amazing. Lucy's mom was also in Xi'an on a tour so then we caught a cab to her hotel, the Shangrila, to surprise her. She was taking awhile so we sat in the hotel lounge and had cocktails. Finally Lucy's mom and grandma arrived! Her grandmother was doing something with the tour group, but Lucy's mom treated us to an amazing dinner at the Thai restaurant in the hotel. After dinner, Lucy's mom was exhausted and went to bed so we headed back to our hostel.
After getting back to our hostel we went in search of an ATM. On our way back, Lucy and I spotted a spa that was giving 90 minute 88RMB foot massages. We had not gotten massages yet, so the two of us decided to go! The spa was really nice. We ordered tea and sat in the couch like lounge chairs in a private room and watched a movie about Confucius. The masseurs started out giving us arm and hand massages and then mine also massaged my stomach, which was a little awkward. Lucy's masseuse had left the room during this time, so she did not get a tummy rub. Then they massaged our feet and calves for a really long time. It was fabulous! Just when I thought they were finished, they told us to roll over and they also gave us back massages! It was a pretty well spent 88RMB!! We headed straight back to the hostel after that and went to bed.
The next morning we got up and gave our laundry to the attendant upstairs. We had another great American style breakfast. Sarah even got a cappuccino that had a foam bear face on top. Then we set out to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers! We sat on our bus waiting to leave for almost half an hour, but we finally we started to make our way!
Our first stop was a factory where they still make Terra Cotta Soldiers. We toured it and saw how they make the soldiers by putting local clay into little molds before letting them dry for long amounts of time. After seeing how they were made, we were taken to a shop where you could buy them! Since my Daddy had wanted a life sized Terra Cotta soldier and horse for our front yard, I almost sent them to him as a joke. However, it would have been several thousand USD and I did not think he would find it that funny. Instead I bought him a horse and soldier that are each around 8 or 10 inches high. I hope he likes them!
After the factory, we headed to the actual site of the Terra Cotta soldiers. First we watched a movie that gave us some background on them and then headed out to the actual pits. Pit 1 is the largest with the most complete set of warriors. It was a truly amazing site to see! I definitely understand why it is the 8th wonder of the world. You could look at the soldiers and see each unique, individual face. The time and effort put into the soldiers was fascinating. Pit 2 was still in the process of being excavated, but still had some pretty cool things to see. The 3rd Pit was mostly not excavated and not very exciting. Then we went to a museum which had more back ground on the Terra Cotta soldiers and the people who made them.
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| Me in front of Pit 1 of the Terra Cotta Soldiers |
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| Soldiers from Pit 2 |
Next, we went to a the Mausoleum of an Emperor, which was basically just a mountain because it is too dangerous to excavate anymore due to harmful chemicals in the soil. That area was pretty boring and we did not stay for long. We left and arrived back in the city a little after 6.
After getting back to the hostel, we decided to look into doing a bike ride on the city wall. It took us awhile, and some pretty scary walking in the gutter of the road, before we finally figured out how to get on the wall. Once we were up there we decided just to walk along it some and have a little photo shoot outside of one of the pagodas on it. After all of the days excitement we wanted dinner so we went to a restaurant called De Fa Cheng, where we had an 18 course jiaozi meal! It was super cool because several of the jiaozi were specially shaped like different things. We had ones that looked like a fish and ones that kind of looked like a flower basket as well. As we were eating, we noticed that an older group of Chinese men kept taking our pictures with their high tech zoom lens cameras from across the restaurant. I am sure they got many attractive pictures of us shoving food in our mouths. On our way out, we walked past them and they asked to have pictures with us. I am sure those were much better!
Back at the hostel we went down to the bar and had a couple of drinks. We chatted with the hostel manager, whose name was Jim Beam (he was Chinese so this was the English name he chose, we loved it!). Then we sat in the hostel restaurant and played cards for awhile. We went to bed not too much later because we had to catch a taxi by 10 to get to the airport for our flight to Sanya! The hostel got a private taxi to take us, which was pretty sweet and we got there just fine. Although Xi'an was really cool, we were excited to travel to Sanya because the air pollution and crowds in Xi'an were awful!
Golden Week Part 1: Chengdu
On October 1, Sarah, Lucy, Lauren and I finally set off on our Golden week adventure we had so been looking forward too! We stayed out pretty late at a club the night before, so that morning we packed in a tired kind of frenzy. Before going to the subway we put more money on our phones and grabbed some 包子 (baozi, small buns with different fillings). We took the subway for about 45 minutes to the Maglev high speed train. It only took us 15 minutes after getting on that to get to the airport! Normally it's about another hour! The train was really cool and went over 400 km/hour. After getting through security we had a while to wait for our plane. We watched a chubby little boy be followed around by multiple adults, one of them, his grandmother I think, kept shoving food in his mouth. He would also randomly scream. It was extremely entertaining for he was quite the little Chinese emperor. Our flight to Chengdu was 3 hours and I slept for a good portion of it.
When we landed someone from our hostel met us and took us by bus to the hostel. The hostel we stayed at was called The Loft. It was much nicer than I expected. Our room was a little damp and chilly, but overall the accommodations were very nice. One of the girls working at the hostel recommended that we have dinner at a small restaurant down the street. The food was great! We signed up to go to the Panda center in the morning and then pretty much went straight to bed.
We got up at 6:30 so that we could get breakfast in the hostel at 7 and be ready to leave by 7:20. Breakfast was delicious! They had American breakfast so I had fried eggs, toast and bacon. It was really good! We took a van to the Panda center and met our tour guide named Dora, who looked like a Chinese version of Dora the Explorer. When we saw the first panda, I almost died of joy. They are absolutely the cutest creature I have ever seen before in my entire life. I think I could have watched them all day. The walls separating us from the pandas were quite low and it was really hard to restrain myself from just jumping in and cuddling with a giant, fluffy panda. We also saw red pandas, which basically look like little red raccoon pandas. They were not quite as cute as the originals. Then we got to see the tiniest baby pandas through a window, but we were not allowed to take pictures. They were so tiny! And they were all sleeping in a little pile with one another! It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!
Seeing the pandas was not enough for us though, we each paid 1000RMB (about $150 USD) to actually hold, yes hold in my arms, a sweet baby panda. Actually it was not really a baby, it was much bigger than I expected, but most of it was just fur. That experience now defines my life. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done! The panda, named Qiqi, just sat happily on my lap while one of the workers dipped bamboo in honey and continuously fed it. After they pried him out of my arms, I was given a certificate of panda love and a panda mouse pad! Soooo worth the 1000RMB.
That afternoon we had hot pot, which originated in Sichuan, for lunch. Hot pot is when you get a huge bowl of broth that you heat up in the middle of the table. You order different meats and vegetables to put in it and let them cook and then eat them. Since we were in Sichuan, which is known for its spicy food, we had to make sure we ordered not spicy broth! We went back to the hostel and watched the new Alice and Wonderland and then took naps. We woke up and had dinner at the hostel and then went to a Sichuan Opera. Before the opera we were served tea in a little tea room type area. The tea was excellent! The opera was okay, the costumes were really bright and colorful, but all of the music and singing was pre-recorded, so that kind of took away from the experience. After the opera, we went straight to bed.
The next morning we got up at 5:40 for an excursion to Mt. Qingcheng and Dujiangyan irragation system. On the way there we stopped for suprise baozi! They were delicious! Our entire tour group was Chinese people and our tour guide did not speak any English. Mt. Qingcheng was really cool with lots of temples and such, but it was also quite the hike. We were all out of breath. However, there were elderly Chinese men and women walking up these precarious steps with huge packs on their backs full of potatoes and other vegetables. They made me feel like I really need to pick up my exercise game. While we were going up and down the mountain, children kept pointing at us and shouting "外国人" (foreigner). Several people wanted to take pictures with us because they had seen few or no foreigners before. After our hike, we also had to hike back to our bus. Then we went to a lazy susan style restaurant for lunch that was not very good. We were starting to get tired, but we still had to go tour the irrigation system.
On our way to the irrigation system, we got a little surprise. The bus randomly stopped and we got off and we taken into a windowless room in some random building. In the room, we were basically exposed to a live infomercial on knives and water bottles. I could not exactly follow it because it was entirely in Chinese and I kept falling asleep. Thankfully, it did not last too long and we were on our way to the Duxiangyan.
At Duxiangyan, the first thing we did was cross a huge swinging bridge filled with hundreds of people. Sarah was really scared and said she was not going to cross, but of course she did. I thought it was a kind of fun adventure! I figured there was only a small chance of the bridge actually breaking. On the other side of the bridge we were subjected to yet another long explanation entirely in Chinese that none of us could follow. However, as soon as that was over, all of the people in our tour group started forcing their children to take pictures with us and even getting in them themselves! There were two little chubby twin boys, we referred to them as tweedle dee and tweedle dum, who were especially cute and mischievous! Then we took a little cart to tour the rest of the area, which was basically more pagodas and temple type things. We finally left and returned to the hostel and we slept pretty much the whole bus ride back. We had dinner at a restaurant called 家家好吃 (jia jia haochi, basically home home delicious). The food was pretty good, but we were really craving
sweets afterward. We wandered the streets and finally found a place with desserts and wine. The wine was
really bad, as is most wine in China, and the desserts were a little weird, we ordered pudding, but it was like a
weird kind of milkshake, but good. We gossiped and had fun until we were to exhausted to stay awake any
longer and then we went back and went to bed.
The next morning we slept in some and then had breakfast and checkout of the hostel. Our train did not
leave until later in the afternoon, so we left our bags at the hostel and went and toured Wenxu Monastery. The
monastery had some really pretty gardens and a really great tea house that we went to. We got Oolong Cha
and sat at a cute little stone table and drank the tea and chatted. The tea was really good and the weather was
gorgeous so it was a perfect last afternoon! We went back to the hostel and had a snack of giant baozi and
hung out on the patio of The Loft.
We left the hostel at 8:45 to catch our train, which Lucy had told us left at
11:20. However, we got on our train, which was already full of people, at 9:15 and it left 5 minutes later. We
were super confused so we checked our tickets and realized it was supposed to leave at 9:20!! We barely
made it!! We laughed about that for quite sometime and about our situation on the train as well. We thought we
had booked soft sleepers and were eagerly looking forward to what we thought would be a Hogwarts Express
type compartment with beds. That was not the case. The car was just set after set of six bunk beds, three on
each side, which no door to each section. We talked a little to some of the Chinese people who wanted to
know where we were from, but not too long after that the lights in the train suddenly turned out and we took
that as our cue to go to bed! We all slept pretty terribly, but the next morning we got to see some really pretty
scenery before reaching Xi'an, the next leg of our tour!
 |
| Me, Sarah, Lauren, and Lucy before setting off |
 |
| Great pic of Lucy and Sarah on the Maglev |
 |
| The Loft |
Seeing the pandas was not enough for us though, we each paid 1000RMB (about $150 USD) to actually hold, yes hold in my arms, a sweet baby panda. Actually it was not really a baby, it was much bigger than I expected, but most of it was just fur. That experience now defines my life. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done! The panda, named Qiqi, just sat happily on my lap while one of the workers dipped bamboo in honey and continuously fed it. After they pried him out of my arms, I was given a certificate of panda love and a panda mouse pad! Soooo worth the 1000RMB.
 |
| Holding Qiqi! |
The next morning we got up at 5:40 for an excursion to Mt. Qingcheng and Dujiangyan irragation system. On the way there we stopped for suprise baozi! They were delicious! Our entire tour group was Chinese people and our tour guide did not speak any English. Mt. Qingcheng was really cool with lots of temples and such, but it was also quite the hike. We were all out of breath. However, there were elderly Chinese men and women walking up these precarious steps with huge packs on their backs full of potatoes and other vegetables. They made me feel like I really need to pick up my exercise game. While we were going up and down the mountain, children kept pointing at us and shouting "外国人" (foreigner). Several people wanted to take pictures with us because they had seen few or no foreigners before. After our hike, we also had to hike back to our bus. Then we went to a lazy susan style restaurant for lunch that was not very good. We were starting to get tired, but we still had to go tour the irrigation system.
On our way to the irrigation system, we got a little surprise. The bus randomly stopped and we got off and we taken into a windowless room in some random building. In the room, we were basically exposed to a live infomercial on knives and water bottles. I could not exactly follow it because it was entirely in Chinese and I kept falling asleep. Thankfully, it did not last too long and we were on our way to the Duxiangyan.
At Duxiangyan, the first thing we did was cross a huge swinging bridge filled with hundreds of people. Sarah was really scared and said she was not going to cross, but of course she did. I thought it was a kind of fun adventure! I figured there was only a small chance of the bridge actually breaking. On the other side of the bridge we were subjected to yet another long explanation entirely in Chinese that none of us could follow. However, as soon as that was over, all of the people in our tour group started forcing their children to take pictures with us and even getting in them themselves! There were two little chubby twin boys, we referred to them as tweedle dee and tweedle dum, who were especially cute and mischievous! Then we took a little cart to tour the rest of the area, which was basically more pagodas and temple type things. We finally left and returned to the hostel and we slept pretty much the whole bus ride back. We had dinner at a restaurant called 家家好吃 (jia jia haochi, basically home home delicious). The food was pretty good, but we were really craving
sweets afterward. We wandered the streets and finally found a place with desserts and wine. The wine was
really bad, as is most wine in China, and the desserts were a little weird, we ordered pudding, but it was like a
weird kind of milkshake, but good. We gossiped and had fun until we were to exhausted to stay awake any
longer and then we went back and went to bed.
 |
| Swinging Bridge |
leave until later in the afternoon, so we left our bags at the hostel and went and toured Wenxu Monastery. The
monastery had some really pretty gardens and a really great tea house that we went to. We got Oolong Cha
and sat at a cute little stone table and drank the tea and chatted. The tea was really good and the weather was
gorgeous so it was a perfect last afternoon! We went back to the hostel and had a snack of giant baozi and
hung out on the patio of The Loft.
 |
| Drinking tea at Wenxu Monastery |
11:20. However, we got on our train, which was already full of people, at 9:15 and it left 5 minutes later. We
were super confused so we checked our tickets and realized it was supposed to leave at 9:20!! We barely
made it!! We laughed about that for quite sometime and about our situation on the train as well. We thought we
had booked soft sleepers and were eagerly looking forward to what we thought would be a Hogwarts Express
type compartment with beds. That was not the case. The car was just set after set of six bunk beds, three on
each side, which no door to each section. We talked a little to some of the Chinese people who wanted to
know where we were from, but not too long after that the lights in the train suddenly turned out and we took
that as our cue to go to bed! We all slept pretty terribly, but the next morning we got to see some really pretty
scenery before reaching Xi'an, the next leg of our tour!
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