Sunday, January 6, 2013

Pandamonium!

November 8th-11th 
The weekend after Kelsey’s birthday, we decided to head to Chengdu.  The goal was to see the pandas because Kelsey is obsessed with them.  Also, my friend Tao lives there and I had been promising to visit since before I came to China.  So, I -with the help of Team Lidu and our friend Madi- meticulously planned our trip.  We booked hotels, purchased train tickets and planned yummy treats for Kelsey.

Thursday night Molly, Matt, Kelsey, Madi and I piled into Mr. Chen’s car and headed to the train station.  Although Mr. Chen is very kind and I appreciate the fact that the school pays him to drive us around, I was incredibly annoyed when he pulled out his phone and started showing us video that he had taken of the Chengdu pandas.  This, of course, ruined the surprise that we had worked so hard to conceal from Kelsey.  Kelsey was a good sport though and continued on as if she knew nothing.  Shortly after that brief interlude of ruining, he drove us to the train station. 

Unfortunately, our train was late so we got stuck waiting in the station.  Leave it to the westerners to find crazy ways to entertain themselves.  Molly immediately pulled out a bottle of liquor that she had stowed away.  Meanwhile, I pulled out some PB&J sandwiches so that we wouldn’t be total drunkies (See, Mom and Dad!  I am responsible . . .).  Alas, the bottle was small (about the size of a flask) and was soon gone.  We went to the little snack stores in the station and asked around.  Apparently, it is illegal to sell hard liquor inside the train station[i].  Anyway, we wandered into one of the little stores and Matt, who speaks really good Mandarin, managed to find someone to sell him liquor under the table.  Literally, he slipped it to Matt under the table, while I presumably purchased some legal beverage items (Again, Mom & Dad, responsible.  I’m keeping everyone fed and hydrated.).  Victory was ours!  We took our new treasure back to the others and commenced merry making. 

The train arrived and we all pushed through the mass of people and loaded on to the train.  Remember that whole thing about no lines while shopping?  The same is true for trains.  Except that there are tons more people who are all carrying luggage trying to shove through the same three exits.  Then, everyone begins frantically walking or running to the cars even though there is plenty of time to get inside and sit down.  It is quite a lot of fun actually.  It’s like an obstacle course, may the best shover win! After escaping from the mass of shovers, we got in our car, claimed our seats and headed to Chongqing.  Initially, we were heading to Chongqing as a diversion maneuver so that Kelsey would suspect that maybe we were not actually going to Chengdu (Seriously, this was an elaborate operation.  There were code names and there was even double-speak.  Curse you, Mr. Chen, curses!).  However, that quickly changed and then because our train was late we were unable to meet up with our Chongqing friends anyway.  We ended up checking in at our hotel and then heading to McDonalds[ii].  We then ended up at this strange, low-key bar.  There were Christmas decorations and pictures of Barack Obama on the walls. There was a karaoke room in one corner, which was more like a small closet with glass walls, a TV, a couple of chairs and two microphones.  There were TVs tastefully scattered throughout the rest of the bar so that the non-singing patrons could watch the music videos and see the karaoke words as they listened to the singer sing.  After sitting for some time, we finally convinced Madi to sing.  Shortly thereafter, we convinced Kelsey to sing a touching rendition of “My Heart Will Go On.”  This greatly pleased the bar attendants and the patrons.  We then decided to call it a night and head back to our hotel.  The next morning, after a rather satisfying McDonalds breakfast (God, thank you for creating hash browns.  Amen), we all went back to the train station.  Matt and Molly were on their way back to Lidu and Madi, Kelsey and I headed towards Chengdu[iii].  

Friday afternoon we arrived in Chengdu, and after briefly getting lost, showed up at our hotel.  The hotel was actually pretty nice.  Hotels in China are strange places.  They are cheaper and safer than hostels.  However, every night someone (at almost every single hotel we have been to) will slip little business cards with pictures of women on them that you can pay to come “spend time with you.”  Now, prostitution is super illegal in China and sex is a taboo subject so I am not quite sure how this custom became so popular.  I think that it would be really interesting to talk to these women.  According to a friend of mine, many of these women are university students.  It’s not that I don’t understand the motives for prostitution, it’s just that being a prostitute in a society where talking freely in public about sex (especially for women) is frowned upon must be hard. 

Shortly after dropping our things, we visited a Starbucks.  I know, I know, so much Western food!  This trip was more of Western binge than anything else.  We were in the city so we took advantage of that.  Sometimes, you just need to feel like your back home, so to Starbucks we went. Next we met up with Tao.  Tao went to Knox College in Galesburg Illinois (for you, Roger Taylor!) with me and is a native of Chengdu.  Wonderful man that he is he immediately supplied us with Tex Mex and then took us to a club that plays current Western music, had Western bartenders, and was filled with other Westerners.  Like I said, Western binge.  It was really nice to not be the only Westerners within a fifty mile radius.  In Lidu, we are the only ones so everywhere we go we get stared at or asked a number of questions.  It is particularly hard for Kelsey because she has long, blonde hair and bright blue eyes.  We had a lot of fun dancing and talking.  It was super nice and relaxing to know that we could dance or drink without being watched or accosted by strangers. 

Tao grabbed us a taxi and we all headed back to the hotel.  Sadly, tired and tipsy me left my camera in the taxi L.  Oh, well.  You win some and you lose some.  It was old and starting to act strange anyway.  Besides, if I am going to pretend to be an adult, then I should be more responsible for my things.  Lesson learned. 

The next day, we woke up and went straight to Starbucks for coffee and cinnamon rolls.  We then hopped back on the metro, met up with Tao, and headed to the panda reserve.  It was everything that we had dreamed of and more.  Pandas are adorable.  The red pandas were even cuter.  They look like little foxes!  Kelsey and the rest of us had a brief conversation about whether she should steal one, but she decided that it would be a bad idea and that China would probably frown upon that. 

After a few hours at the panda place, Tao, Kelsey and I headed back into the city.  Madi went to go visit some of her friends.  We wandered around Chengdu for a bit and then ended up at Pizza Hut for dinner.  At which place, we introduced Tao to all the wonders of stuffed crust.  Tao then walked us back to our hotel and we all said goodbye.    

Sunday morning Kelsey and I met up with Madi and got on the six-hour non-bullet train back to Fuling.  Chengdu was wonderful and I cannot wait to go back there.  It is a fairly clean, relaxed, beautiful city and I highly recommend going there.  Everyone was pleasant and I felt completely comfortable.  I had a great time and sincerely hope that I get a chance to spend more time there than just one crazy weekend.[iv]



[i] Although, it should be noted that public drinking is allowed in China and you will not get in trouble for having an open bottle of alcohol with you.  It is frowned upon to be drunk in public, especially women.  You can be drunk, but you need to be a classy drunk. 
[ii] I hadn’t eaten McDonalds in almost two years.  It was heavenly. Never has a cheeseburger and fries been more loved than these were. 
[iii] I need to point out here that the bullet trains in China are super nice.  Not only are the seats incredibly comfortable, but the bathrooms are nicer than any train bathroom I have ever seen.  You know you have lived in China when you rate everything based on how nice the bathroom is . . .

[iv] A special thanks to Tao for being awesome! .  

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