This week
was the national holiday in China, so basically everyone takes a whole week
off. So we had no class! So I went with 3 other girls in my group, Ashleigh,
Tiffany, and Laura, and we went to Chengdu in Sichuan province. It was really
fun! Definitely an adventure though. We were all by ourselves!
We started
off our trip by a 28 hour train there. We left right after class ended on
Thursday. The bummer was that we only had seats, we didn’t have beds. Let’s
just say it was a long night. We had only bought our tickets about 4 days
previous, though, so there weren’t any beds left. We were really glad to get
off the train on Friday night!
Saturday I
got to see my old friend Evan Koepfler, who is studying abroad in Chengdu for
the semester. It was so good to see him! He helped us find a bunch of things to
do around the city for us to do while we were there, which was really helpful.
It was really weird to see him in China though!
That night for dinner we ate the
spiciest food I have ever eaten. It was soooooo spicy!! I didn’t even think it
was possible!
On Sunday we went to a nearby town
called Dujiangyan and saw an old irrigation project that is actually still in
use today. It was really cool because there were a bunch of traditional
buildings, along with a temple. It was right on the river, so it was really
pretty. After that we went to the main square in Chengdu, which was really cool
at night because the buildings and fountains were all lit up. After that we
went to find some moon cakes because that day was the full moon, so it was 中秋节,
or Mid-Autumn Festival!
Monday we woke up early and went to
the Giant Panda Research Base! We got there in time to see the pandas eating
their breakfast, which was good because I don’t think they do much for the rest
of the day besides sleep. They were so cute! We got to see a bunch of giant
pandas, and we also saw some giant panda babies. We are also able to see the
red pandas, which are much smaller and look kind of like foxes. We went in to
the red panda nursery, which was cool because the fence around the walkway had
holes in it, so the pandas could come in and out of the walkway and walk where
the people were! So they walked right by us, which was really cool. We didn’t
get to pet them though, apparently they can be vicious.
After the pandas we went to a
monastery in a nearby town. It was really pretty! We were able to see a giant
hall that had 500 individualized statues of Buddhist monks or disciples. We
also got famous; about 15 or 20 Chinese people wanted to take pictures with us!
It was like a giant party. We were the only white people in the entire
monastery. It was really interesting because I didn’t see hardly any white
people in Chengdu, and when I did they were usually with a tour group.
After the monastery we caught a bus back to Chengdu and then
went to a traditional street in Chengdu, where there are shops that sell
trinkets and really good snacks. There were a ton of people there! One of the
shopkeepers could blow animals out of melted sugar, it was amazing. We ate
dinner there, and we basically just got a bunch of different snacks that were
all really tasty. I also ate a quail, which was really tasty, but it was kind
of weird because it still had the head and feet on it. I didn’t eat those
parts, though :P
Tuesday we
were planning on going to hike a mountain, but it was raining, so we decided to
just stay in the city instead. We did a little shopping, and saw 2 more
monasteries, which were really cool. We also went to a big shopping street with
higher-end shops, and that was fun.
Wednesday
was our last full day of vacation.
We decided to go hike up the mountain that we had planned on doing Tuesday, but
it turned out to be a huge hassle. We got on the subway at about 11:00 in the
morning, and then had to take the bus to Dujiangyan again, and then another bus
to the mountain, and then another bus to the back of the mountain, which was
apparently the better side. By the time we finally got to the place we wanted
to be at, it was 4:30 in the afternoon. And, of course, right before we got to
the back, it started pouring down rain. It’s not that I mind the rain, I just
don’t have a waterproof camera! So that was a bummer. We hiked for about an
hour and a half and then had to go back to catch the bus to get back to the
front of the mountain. Luckily we found a bus that would take us directly back
to Chengdu, so that was nice. After we got back to the city, we had planned to
go eat dinner at an American place that Evan had told us about. When we called
that place though, we found out it was closed, but we found another American
restaurant that was really tasty. I had a giant hamburger that was super
tender, and it was really tasty.
So that was
my trip to Chengdu! I am writing this from the train on our way back to
Nanjing. Luckily this train will only take about 25 hours, and we have beds, so
that is really nice. We will arrive home tomorrow morning. This weekend our
group will be performing on a TV show called Jiangsu’s Got Foreign Talent, in
front of the whole country, so…that should be fun. Wish me luck!
