Back from my long weekend in Chengdu, thanks in no small part to my guanxi with Policeman Zang, who helped me buy bus tickets in the crazy traveling fervor that accompanies Chinese festivals. This past week was not only Mid-Autumn Festival, during which I had to choke down a moon cake to celebrate while failing at making a paper boat to sail on the river, but also National Day, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The train we took back to Hechuan was completely packed with standing-room only tickets, and I was boxed into my window seat by a four-generation Chinese family, complete with a six-year-old child who flinched every time I looked at him and his spicy instant noodles.
Amidst the temple-hopping that accompanies any Chinese sight-seeing, there were also frequent breaks to take advantage of the abundant Western food restaurants in the city (seeing as there are none in Hechuan), including Pizza Hut (Hawaiian pizza!) and a Tex-Mex restaurant (burritos!); I also managed to meet up with a couple of friends I studied with last summer in Harbin for 烤肉. And of course, I also went to the Panda Breeding Center, where I spent five minutes watching three pandas fight each other, clearly the highlight of the trip, and possibly my life.Today: headed into Chongqing city to celebrate Peter's birthday in style, seeing as everything closes in Hechuan at 11:00 p.m.
THAT PICTURE IS KILLNG ME WITH ITS CUTENESS
ReplyDelete(the one of the pandas, obviously)