Today was the first day we got to sleep in for the past 4 days and boy was it much needed. The days here seem so long because we are so busy and always doing something. When we woke up this morning Max's dad took us down the street to a local buddhist temple. It was really brightly colored and was made with the ancient chinese architecture. There were many rooms and they had different statues of the different gods to pray to in each room. In the middle it was really open and there were little stands where they were burning in-scents. Because the temple is in a tourist town it has a little gift shop in the front, but other than that it was a very spiritual place and was very cool to see. When Max got in he prayed to one of the gods and showed us how a traditional Buddhist would pray. It was pretty similar to kneeling and bending up and down at the hips like islam. It was pretty cool and I actually prayed to one of the Gods that Max told us represented long lasting and healthy relationships. The temple itself was pretty small and low key which reminded me like a Buddhist version of College Park Church.
After we saw the temple Max's dad took us to a place he had found the night before for lunch. The food we had was really good but we made the mistake of telling Max we were hungry. Apparently in Chinese the meaning of hungry is different than in America because the amount of food his dad ordered was about 3 times as much as we could eat, even when we were hungry by American standards. The food was really good but we had tons of left overs. After lunch we went back to the market for a little while just to pick up some last souvenirs we didn't get the day before. Today was just supposed to be chill because we had to check out of the hotel at 2pm and catch a flight to Chengdu at 8pm.
So we made our way through the market this time haggling much smarter with the shopkeepers. Some of our new tricks we had up our sleeve included when Gordon wanted to get something that I had gotten yesturday the shopkeeper set her price much higher than I haggled her to, so I showed her my version I bought and Gordon told her what I paid and she had no choice but to give him the same price. She actually thought it was funny that we caught her and she had a pretty good laugh as she lowered the price. The other funny thing we really used to our advantage was the walking away technique that we mastered yesturday on accident. Today we set our price lower than what we were willing to pay and literally walked away if they wouldn't drop, and like magic, as soon as you turn your back the next thing you hear is "Okay, Okay, Okay, your price."
With a much more successful day of haggling under our belt we were about to leave and George was making his last deal. I stayed back to help with the haggling and because we were cutting it so close to check out time Max and Gordon walked ahead. When George and I pick our heads up to leave after we get his last item Gordon and Max were nowhere in sight. Thinking that they just turned the corner and were heading to the post office, which was the next stop before the hotel, George and I pick up the pace to catch them. We walked around the corner where it seemed like a reasonable place to stop and wait for us and we still couldnt see them anywhere. Confused we turned back around to see if they stopped somewhere earlier on the same street we were. We walked all the way back to where George got his last thing and they were still no where to be found. So we start walking and leave again to see if they were farther up. Now we were really getting nervous, because of course I haven't paid any attention to where this market was in comparison to our hotel and George has no idea either. Gordon, who is not with us at this time, is the only other one that knows how to get back to the hotel besides Max. So we go back to check and see if they are now looking for us in the market still walking down the same little street for the third time before we just think they have gone to the post office without us. Its getting closer and closer to the check out time and neither George nor I am sure of how long its actually going to take to get back to the hotel. We decide our best option is to just try and retrace our steps back to the hotel and meet them there in time for check out because they probably just went to the post office and are already on their way back to the hotel anyways. Well the great navigators that George and I are, made it about 100 yards across the street before we realized that was as far as we could remember was the right way. At that point George thought we should go to the right and I thought we should go to the left. So first we went to the left, until, a quarter mile down, I second guessed myself. So we took off in the opposite direction making it another quarter mile past where we started before we realized we were right the first time. When we realized we were right the first time we didnt really know the right way, but we did know that we were going the wrong way. So as we pass the same point directly in front of the market for the third time the local taxi drivers knew we were as lost as we did and began yelling at us to let them help, but we dont know the chinese name of our hotel to tell them where to go. Also recognizing a street name would have been as likely as getting mauled by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day. But lucky for us there was a map on a bus stop near by that, although was completely in chinese, had the international you are here sign to save the day. We did know that our hotel was right by the south gate of the city wall so we were able to find our way based on some of the pictures on the map. Finding our way just in time we made it back to the hotel at exactly 2pm. Unlucky for us we found Max's dad in the lobby, but no Max or Gordon. We used Max's dads phone to call Max and He and Gordon were still at the market looking for us now for 30 minutes. Since neither George nor I can use our phones here we couldnt have called Max to find them and apparently they were standing in the front of a little shop about 50 yards ahead of us just waiting the whole time. So by just our luck we managed to cross paths at least 5 times, while looking for each other, and still couldn't find each other. But they ended up making it back before we were charged for a late check out.
After our little lost stroll through the city, we went to meet up with our same guide we had when we first arrived in Xi'an. The guide was working at a hotel and we met up with him to hang out before dinner. The hotel actually had a room specifically made for an ancient chinese version of table tennis called "Ping Pong." Maybe you have heard of it, but it is a mysterious game that we had a ton of fun playing before dinner. Gordon, Max, and I used to play a lot at Hill, but George never did and Max's dad had never played with us before. We played a king of the table style tournament where the winner stayed on after games to 11. With this great opportunity for elementary learning we finally learned to count to 10 in chinese, which I now remember why kids get so excited when they first learn to count. After our king of the table tournament we played some best out of 3 series' of China vs. USA, where Gordon and I took on Max and his dad. The first series USA defeated the originators of the game, 2-0, but the second series China made a come back to win 2-1. In the rubber match series we were cut short by dinner time and the drivers arriving when USA was up 1 game to 0. Therefore USA is ultimately declared the best ping pong players in the world! All joking aside it was really fun to play with Max and his dad and Max's dad is actually pretty good.
After ping pong we went to dinner with the guide and some of his friends. The dinner was really good and we ate tons of Chinese BBQ. Completely different than American BBQ this was really just pork, lamb, and chicken shish ka bobs. They were covered in spices and were really tender and delicious. At dinner we were eating right before the dinner time crowd was setting in, so we saw the waitresses and chefs coming in for work before the crowds got there. We got to see some of the rituals that the waitress staff and chefs have to go through before work and it was actually pretty weird. When the waitresses get to the restaurant they all wait outside in rows like a military platoon. When the restaurant manager is ready he goes out and calls them in. When they get inside the restaurant they line up in order from tallest to shortest for inspection. The manager would look at each of their clothes as well as hands and hair before each waitress must do a full turn inspection to pass. These rituals although very strange to us, didn't phase Max at all, as if its really common over here. The whole dining experience is different in general here because here they dont tip, ever, and they dont clean up after themselves, even in fast food restaurants, because it is considered the job of the waitress.
After dinner we went to the airport to catch our flight from Xi'an to Chengdu. Chengdu is the capital of the Sechuan province and is know for its spicy food and the hot pot in particular. The flight and airport went much smoother this time compared to the airport in Nanjing. The only problem was our flight changed gates and was delayed about 30 minutes. Landing in Chengdu we found our driver and made our way to the hotel to chill and rest for tomorrow. I really have no idea what Max has planned for tomorrow and I dont even know what time we are going to wake up. I do know that in Georges guide book it says there is the nations largest giant panda reservation about 7 miles from where we are staying, so hopefully we will be able to fit that in and I can bring back a kung fu panda. I guess I wont know for sure until tomorrow so I will see you then! Remember to check out my flikr account, http://www.flickr.com/photos/martyprevitte/ where I am posting more pictures and maybe some more videos soon. Goodnight/good morning and we miss you guys. Also we heard some terrible news tonight in an e-mail about one of our classmates and friends Jonathan Silverstein, from Hill, who passed away yesturday in an accident. We would like everyone to keep his friends and family in your thoughts because we definitely will be here. RIP Jon.
Marty
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