The Last Adventure

I once was told that all good travel stories should start and end at the airport.  Well, that is especially true in my case, so here goes:

Jack and I took a taxi with Mohsen to the Hong Kong airport and waited around for 4 hours after eating the delicious meal of Burger King and Mohsen left for his plane.  We listened to music, talked about family issues, crazy relatives, and had our palms read... And we were excited to walk up to the counter to receive our tickets to go back to The States when Jack was then called over to the Business Class line.  I thought it was because he was moving up to first class, so I jokingly cursed him out across the ticket counter.  Then, he found out he was originally called over there because his flight (which also means my flight) was delayed by 2 hours and 45 minutes.  It was only a 40 minute flight!  We were smart to schedule a gap between our flights back, but we didn't expect our first flight to be delayed by almost 3 hours due to a category 3 Tropical Storm.
Our itineraries state that of our 4 flights each, Jack and I have 2 of them together from Hong Kong to Guangzhou and then from there to Los Angeles.  Once we reach L.A., we split to go to our respective cities of Dallas to Saint Louis and Minneapolis to Kansas City.  Our first layover is in Guangzhou together and lasts for 2 hours.  Well, you can see the difficulty of getting on that plane to go to L.A. if our first flight to get there is almost 3 hours late...  So we had a problem.  After communicating with the Chinese airline officials for an hour, we were forced to sit and wait in the airport an additional 6 hours until they could find an alternative solution for us.
Their first solution: "We can take you to San Francisco today and you can figure it out from there.  Is that close to Kansas City?"  I laughed, "Uhm.... No.  Try again."  So they went back to figure something else out.
Their second solution: "We can take you to Guangzhou and get you a hotel room and then you can talk to the people at that airport in the morning."  Jack said, "There is no way I'm explaining this situation over again..."  So they went back to figure something else out again.
Their final solution: "We can put you both up in a hotel room in Hong Kong, give you dinner, breakfast, and lunch vouchers for food at the hotel, give you free shuttles to and from the airport, and rebook your entire itinerary for the following day."
Me - "So there's no way you can get us anywhere into the United States in the next 24 hours?"
Airline Official - "We're sorry, but no."
Jack pulls up Orbitz on his phone.  "There's a flight that leaves in 2 hours that is exactly what we need, just on a different airline."
Airline Official - "I'm sorry, but that's not an option right now."
Both of us - ".....What?"
Apparently it had to do with not being able to book us on another airline's flight without permission or something like that.  And even though they had supposedly rebooked us on our American Airlines, they couldn't do anything about the other airlines in China.  We didn't believe that for a second, but they were adamant on not booking us on anything but their airline.  We had no choice. We took the third option.
Considering all the consequences that could happen, it ended up being a pretty good deal.  We both got separate rooms inside the Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel - each with a king-size bed, a lounger and desk area, flat screen tv, and a glass rain shower.  It was actually pretty awesome.  Until it came time to get food... The vouchers covered practically nothing!  We still had to pay over $100 Hong Kong Dollars for dinner and breakfast was a rip-off, that's for sure.  But the accommodations were rather nice, so we dealt with it.  When we got back to the rooms, though, we each had a message on our answering machines that the airport wanted us to call them back the next day between noon and 1pm regarding our flights for the following day.  Since our checkout time at our hotel was at noon anyway (and trying to communicate in a foreign language over the phone would be practically impossible!), we just decided to go back down there and talk to them face-to-face.
The next day, at noon, we were back at the Hong Kong airport and walked up to the desk that called and left us messages.  They said, "I don't know what you're talking about..."  So we confirmed our flights and plans and were told to wait for 4 hours until the airline desk opened back up again.  In the meantime, we called each of our American airlines and found out that our Chinese airline did not actually reschedule our itinerary for the next day... They just "reserved seats" and said we could figure out how to get tickets for those seats on our own.  Right..... That wasn't going to fly with me.  (Haha, get it?!)
Fortunately, our American airlines were nice enough to fix our problems for us or at least give us the instructions we needed to fix them from Hong Kong.  We spent the remaining 3 hours 'til the desk opened playing cards, drinking much needed coffee, and reminiscing over old school toys that are now popular overseas.  When the desk opened up, we were the first in line!  It was confirmed to us that our flights were matched up, we were booked, and all that needed to happen was our tickets needed to be printed out so we could jump onto our first flight in 2 hours!  And yet.... we didn't have tickets.  The question on our mind: "Why?!"  It took the airlines 1 and a half hours to print out our tickets, giving us 30 minutes to make it through security, customs, and get to our gates.  Well, after security and customs, we had 5 minutes to make it to our gate.  The Hong Kong airport is huge.  And our gate was at the end - of course.  We were sprinting towards our gate on the moving sidewalks with the Hong Kong security yelling in the background, "No run!  No run!"  Needless to say, we didn't listen to them much.
We got to our first gate, boarded the plane 30 minutes late due to another delay, and sat on the plane for an additional hour.  When we finally reached Guangzhou, we had 30 minutes to make it to the transfer counter to pick up our second set of tickets, through the China customs line, past security, and to our next gate.  First mission: Transfer counter - there's a huge line and only 1 person working the desk.  I yelled to the front of the line, "We have 30 minutes to make our international flight!  Can we please just get our tickets?!"  The lady at the front yelled back, "Yeah, right.  Good luck with that!"  The 3 Australian ladies standing in front of us were chatting with us in pleasant manner, but at this point in time I was so frustrated and worried about having to stay another night in China that I did not have the patience to chat back.  Some lady near the front let us in front of her so we could receive our tickets and run over to customs.  Jack and I both got up to the counter and were told to step aside.  .....WHAT?
Our passports were taken from us and given to an official in another room.  We were told to "just sit and wait for someone" to come talk to us.  Right....... We had 5 minutes remaining and the gates are supposed to close 15 minutes prior to departure.  We could see the guys with our passports communicating back and forth in Mandarin and knew it had something to do with our stamps, but nothing was wrong enough to get us called into the office as well.  They just strolled out casually and handed our passports over like it was no big deal.  We ran to meet them half way and ran up the escalator to the international terminal.  Finally reaching the security, we ran into a hefty line due to the fact that the security machines were broken and there was only 1 person who had to check each bag manually.  "You have got to be kidding me."
The 3 Australian ladies from the transfer desk caught up to us in no time and started laughing at how we were in such a hurry and still got delayed so much that they caught up to us while skipping along.  Past security, we managed to find ourselves running, again, to catch the plane to Los Angeles.  We made it to the gate 10 minutes later and the door was still open!  We ran up to the attendant and handed her our boarding passes and she stopped us before we ran onto the plane.
"Where's your tickets?"
"...What tickets?"
"Your E-Tickets.  We need your boarding passes and your E-Tickets."
"Why?  We have passes!  We just want to go onto the plane before it leaves!"
After a couple minutes arguing in broken Mandarin and a bit of English, she just let us board...  We didn't even get to our seats before the plane started moving.  In fact, my seat belt wasn't even buckled when the plane was taking off on the runway.  It was at this point that Jack and I looked at each other and realized we didn't know where our checked bags were.  And yet, we really kind of didn't care.
15 hours later, we were landing in Los Angeles!!!  We got off the plane and the first person to greet us said, "Good evening!"  In English!  We could read all the signs and I asked a lady where the transfer gate was and she not only understood me, she answered back!  It's amazing how much you didn't realize you missed until you get them back again.  We went through U.S. customs (and the guy didn't really believe I was who I am in my passport when all other customs I'd been through had absolutely no problems) and then to the baggage claim on the off-chance that our baggage was there.  Well, guess what - the last 2 bags to come out were ours!!!  We proceeded past security, over to the 4th and 5th terminals in LAX, received our next two tickets back to Saint Louis and Kansas City, said our tearful goodbyes, and went on our own paths.  We both got on planes back to our homes and everything that happened in the United States went swimmingly.  And that was it.
I had quite the adventure in China.  From getting lost in Shanghai, meeting Maria in Beijing, getting sick in Chongqing (twice), and delayed in both Kansas City and Hong Kong - it was probably one of the most fun trips I've ever had.  Definitely the most memorable!  And even if I got hives from being allergic to the food or E.Coli food poisoning for two weeks, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.  So, until next time...

The Final Few Days

We made a brief pit stop back in Shenzhen before heading over to Hong Kong for the next few days.  Apparently the whole city of 9 million didn't even exist 50-60 years ago and now it's one of the most successful Special Economic Zones in all of China.  It seems the city has done well - it's built up with golf courses and clean buildings.  The pollution is contained only to the water, it seems, and the sky is so blue!  "If you drop a seed, it will grow."  As Na - my former TA and growing friend - was commenting, it's as if China keeps popping up these huge cities every few years and never failing to succeed.  "China can't afford to take any steps backwards.  It's too big to fail."

Meanwhile, back in Hong Kong, I was kind of surprised at how dark it is there.  I'm not sure if it was because I went out on the town mainly at night or if it had to do with the constant overcast sky and rain due to the summer weather.  Either way, it drips there.  Water (I'm assuming) falls from the corners of street signs and umbrellas over the stores to make a permanent dark mark on the sidewalks below that serve as your only warning before you feel something wet fall onto your shoulder or forehead and slide down your face in a slow motion-like movement that you wonder what consistency the liquid was really made up of...  That happens a lot, even when it's not raining.  And it's supremely annoying!
But on the more interesting side, it's lit up at night like Old Town Orlando!  The neon lights of Vegas combine with the walkways of New York and the streets of Beijing to create the most interesting city China has yet to offer.  The nightlife is pretty good.  Much better than anything Missouri has to offer, at least.  But like the rest of China, there's still a huge gap between the classes.  It really becomes obvious when you're walking down the streets with a McDonald's and Starbucks in a skyscraper on one side and a mom & pop shop inside a laundromat on the other.  We didn't have a lot of time to really get to explore the city - we were given one day to do what we wished.
So I hopped next door to: Macau!
The section of islands are really just Vegas surrounded by water.  Only bigger.  It's mainly hotels, casinos, beaches, and these wonderful custard egg tarts that are a Portuguese specialty (also mentioned previously).  Deciding to go check it out because I had nothing better to do with my time and I didn't need a visa to visit if I was there for less than 30 days, I took a ferry and headed on over to Macau.  Besides only being able to walk around and explore for 30 minutes, my only regret is not going at night.  It must be beautiful at night.  I can just imagine all the casinos and hotels lit up along the Cotai Strip.
I left my hotel around 11am and walked on over to the subway to get off at the southern tip of Kowloon.  After walking what seemed like an eternity, I made it to Hong Kong City and the ferry station... Only to find out the next available ferry was at 1pm.  2 and a half hours later, I stepped off the ferry, went through customs, got my passport stamped in a very pretty aquamarine color, and hopped onto a random bus for a free ride to the casino of my choice - The Venetian.

Now, I wish it had been to my knowledge where each of the major casinos were located because The Sands was right next to the ferry station.  The Venetian was not.  In fact, The Venetian happens to be on the farthest tip of the island farthest away from the ferry station!  25 minutes later, I was wondering if our bus driver was really a kidnapper or Oriental suicide bus-bomber in disguise who randomly chose our group of tourists to send flying off the top floor of some soon-to-be-famous skyscraper due to the international phenomenon he was about to create when we finally pulled up to the bus depot of the casino.  The bellhops open the double glass doors for you into the hotel and I was immediately surrounded by red carpets leading up to the casino floor and ceilings painted like that of the Wieskirche pilgrimage church with images of pastoral angels and rococo architecture.  The second floor contains a small river running through shops of Guess and Calvin Klein with Italian men giving rides on gondolas, singing songs under the "sky" painted onto the ceiling and smells of Italy that float through the air conditioning.  It's really quite something.  They went all out on this building - and for good reason.  The Venetian, I heard, happens to be the 5th largest building in the world (largest in Asia) as well as the largest casino in the world.  If you're going to have those kind of stats, you'd better live up to them, and The Venetian does not fail to disappoint.
After walking around the casino floor and musing through some shops, it was time to leave.  Jumping back on the bus, ferry ride across the pond, then reentering Hong Kong - I tried to find a short cut back to the subway to make it to my hotel in time for our final program dinner.  Well.... I found it.  But then I also happened to find something which I interpreted to mean "shortcut back to the original destination you were particularly looking for!"  It lied to me.  I ended up walking across Kowloon Park where the locals were playing basketball and football in some pretty shady, unwell lit areas.  About halfway through the park, I realized I was being followed by some guy in a red shirt since I left the ferry station, so I stopped under a gazebo where a few other people were laying out under the shade and waited for him to pass before continuing on my journey back to the hotel.  I managed to make it in just enough time to get ready and have a bit of girl time with Beth and Lindia before meeting the rest of our crew for dinner.

We took the subway to the restaurant and the elevator to the 14th floor for some serious views of Hong Kong at night.  Simply wonderful.  We said our formal goodbyes over some really good food and left at the end of the night with tickets to our plane rides waiting for us the next day.  But before actually going to bed and getting a good night's rest like we should do, we all decided to go out on the town one last time.  After wandering around meaningless streets for a bit, we ended up dancing until the sun came up and accompanied that with a McDonalds' breakfast a few hours later.
Jack, Mohsen, and I checked out of our rooms around noon and headed to the airport - saying goodbye to China for the last time.

Tex-Mex in China

This past Wednesday was an eventful day!  Not only was it Linh's birthday, but Brian's was the next day as well!!!  Deciding to celebrate both at once on Thursday night, we all woke up early on Wednesday to visit the Dazu Rock Carvings.  Especially considering I had just finished a class that focused a lot around Buddhism in China and Japan, it was really neat to see the Wheel of Life and various other Buddhist influences carved into the large stone structures that towered well above your head.  They were everywhere!  On the side of buildings, standing alone in a garden, carved into the walls of caves... you name it!  And they were incredibly detailed.  Some not in so pleasant of a way.  When we got to the portion that depicted Hell in Buddhist form, well, let's just say I'd rather not go to hell... ever.  The content was so graphic, I didn't know whether to be impressed or scared...
Afterwards, however, we went to Old Town and got some custard from a local stand and wandered up and down the antique streets.  I got my fortune told by rattling around sticks in a bucket and waited for one to fall out.  My number: 66.  I opened up the box and read my fortune.  It said if I lost something, don't bother trying to find it and if I'm looking for a boyfriend or marriage, wait for a better time.  The Chongqing professor who read it said it wasn't so good, but actually it really wasn't all that bad.  I've had worse.  ...I think.

We found a random stray kitten, a happy drummer statue, a small little girl afraid of an even smaller dog, lots of local foods (and smells), a puppy!  There were men playing some sort of dice game on top of a barrel like you'd see in older movies, too.  They were laughing and pointing at one another as each took his turn.  They made me smile.  I tried fried dough, too - a local favorite.  Tasted kind of like funnel cakes without the powdered sugar.  Pretty tasty.
On Thursday, after class, we found a Tex-Mex restaurant to eat for dinner.  That's right - an American style Mexican restaurant in China.  Go figure... But it was actually really good!  Linh and I split some chicken fajitas with chips and salsa and refried beans - all of which were new to her!  Our Chinese buddies surprised us and joined us for dinner, arriving last minute, putting our group of 16 up to well over 20 in a restaurant that seated 16 comfortably.  It was so loud and so much fun!  Most of the Chinese students ate tacos since it was their first time with Mexican food and some were adventurous enough to try enchiladas (which were a huge hit!).  We tried explaining it's spicy, but not Chongqing spicy - like the "hot pot."  It's a different kind of spicy. They understood immediately what we meant as soon as they bit into their first bite of salsa!  Salsa wasn't as big of a hit, though....  Refried beans were, though!
We all had a grand ol' time before heading back to the dorms to celebrate Linh and Brian's birthday with cake!!!  I bought Brian a small and green white cake with fruit on top and Linh a small pink white cake with a very big, smiling face that reminded me of my roommate!  She's always smiling.  It also had marshmallow creme on top in the shape of curls with two little pink bows and was super cute, just like Linh!  Her buddy, Huang, brought over a huge chocolate and white cake with fruit on top and a little stick that says "happy birthday" in Mandarin.  They then proceeded to sing "Happy Birthday" before totally ripping the cake apart.  They stuck their fingers inside and smeared icing all over everyone's faces!  And the more smears, the better.  It seemed as if their goal was to ice your entire face!  And everyone got to put some on Linh.  It was quite a good time.  I got it on video. :)
Following the cake cleaning fiasco, all the American students went out for their last night in Chongqing!  We found a strip of nightclubs, tested out which one was the best for dancing, and spent the entire night singing to American songs and boogying our hearts out.  It was the perfect ending to our time in Chongqing.  Unfortunately, towards the end of the night, when I was about to leave, someone shoved past me as I was talking to Rachel (one of the student managers) and stepped on my foot.  However, he did not just step on it, but ended up grinding the bottom of his shoe against my toes and ripped my nail halfway off... It hurt.  A lot.  And that's a huge understatement.  Blood was starting to pool under my foot as I waddled to the bathroom, trying to clean it up, but to no avail.  I managed to stop the bleeding and go home, but the next day when I woke up, I found my toe (the big one on the right foot) swollen and purple.  So I went to the doctor for the third time since we first got to Chongqing!  (The first time was for E. Coli food poisoning...)  The doc did a small operation that involved numbing the toe and ripping off what was left of the nail.  Now my toe is a giant white cotton ball!  But at least I can wear flip flops.

The next night was our farewell dinner with all the Chongqing students, the professors, and even a representative from one of our company visits.  We ate shrimp, pork, mushrooms, potatoes, crab, soup, tofu, and some very lovely little egg tarts that were to die for! We ate 'til we were full with "food babies!"  It was so delicious.  But incredibly sad because that meant our time in Chongqing has come to an end.  At the airport, they accompanied us to the drop-off/security point and cried.  There was lots of reminiscing, laughing, and hugging.  But we knew we had to go.  I wish I could smuggle them in my luggage.  They're small enough, right?
Next up: Hong Kong!

The Search for Pandas

My free day in Xi'an started today at 7am.  Linh and I got up early to get some breakfast and set out around 9:30 towards the south gate of the city.  There's this giant brick wall that surrounds Xi'an due to the fact that it used to be the main capital of China and still is for a few of the provinces around here.  We climbed up the stairs to the top of the wall (seems counter-productive, doesn't it?) and rented a couple bikes for 2 hours and had a blast just cruising around the city!  You could see the roofs of most buildings, including a few people taking baths on their roof, and enjoy the traditional Chinese music playing from the speakers around the wall.  I was happy as can be as I pedaled my way across the uneven wall, lost in my own thoughts, trying not to think about how sore my bottom was going to be from the small bike and large bumps in the path, not knowing the date, the time (although I should, 'cause the bikes have to be back by noon...), or what I have to do tomorrow even.  It was exhilarating, to say the least!  Really a cool experience!
At least that was until the last leg of the trip where my body decided it didn't want to go on because it was hungry, tired, thirsty, pretty badly burnt, and everything was uphill by that point.  But I finished, dangit!  And it felt so good!  Chocolate ice cream (I think it was chocolate...) was my reward.
After crashing back in the room for a while, I realized the one thing I really wanted to see in China were the giant pandas.  A nice gentleman at our hotel informed me earlier in the week they were going to be at the 2011 World Horticulture Expo.  I HAD to find the pandas... How can you go to their motherland and not see them?!
So I left Linh asleep on the bed and set out to catch the #4 bus..... which never came.  Back at the hotel, I was explaining my situation and they informed me to go on a different day because today was already over.  It was only 3:30!  The receptionist explained in broken English, what I believe were the hours of the Expo (10am-5pm) and that to go on a different day would be the best idea.  I said, "No, I leave tomorrow morning and I really want to see the pandas!"  A bellhop overheard me, went outside and came in with a very confused looking man.  The bellhop pretty much hooked me up with a personal driver (who spoke absolutely no English) and said it would take at least 1 hour to get there, so if I wanted to go now and have him also take me back, it would cost 300 yuan.  Well, at the time that sounded like a really good idea so I paid the man and we were off!
We made it as far as the signs told us to go... and then got lost.  All the "Expo ->" signs pointed in the same direction, but by the time we got to the "SITE" there was no site!  It was just a massive intersection where all signs pointed towards the center!  Somehow we went out through the exit and found parking back by the entrance again, which we missed for the second time, and ended up walking half a mile towards the intersection again.  My driver (I don't know his name!) did go up to a food stand, though, and buy a bottle of cold water for me, which was incredibly kind!
After being pointed in a seemingly shady direction, we found the security gate that is the entrance to everything in China!   A very nice man was trying to talk to me the whole time in English, which was greatly appreciated, but by this time all I wanted to do was find a ticket to the Expo and get in before they closed the panda exhibit.  It's 4:45pm and my driver and I were frantically trying to find the ticket booth and this guy just will not stop following me wherever I go.
"Where you from?"
"United States."
"Uh, sorry... I don't know."
"America?"
"Oh, Kobe Bryant!!  I love!"
"That's great...." (Still looking for the ticket booth.)
"San Francisco?"
"No, Kansas City."  (Losing my patience with this guy.)
"No way!!  I love Mariah Carey!"
"What?  What does that have to do with-  ...nevermind.  That's wonderful.  Look, I'm trying to find tickets..."
"Oh, you looking for tickets?  I have tickets!"
"..............................WHAT?"
He leads me over to his group of friends who are obviously scalpers, but sell me the ticket at face value, so it's fine by me.  He then leads me over to the entrance, still saying, "I am friend from America!"  I'm pretty sure he was still shouting it over and over again as I was entering the park.
Upon scanning my ticket, the ladies at the entrance were kind enough to at least smile at me as I tried to explain that I want to find the panda exhibit before the park closed in 10 minutes.   After a few seconds of confused faces, I got out my handy-dandy Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrase Book and pointed to a picture of the panda bear on the second page.  "Panda?  I want to see the pandas."
Get this: The lady I was talking to just laughed and walked away after taking my book out of my hands.  She goes up to another lady and before I know it, she's openly mocking me, pointing to the book and mimicking my tone of voice, saying, "Pan-da!  Pan-da!"  Definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto.  How rude!
Another lady was nice enough to give me a map in only Chinese (but hey it works!).  She pointed to a little black and white graphic of a bear.  The entrance was on one side of the map.  The panda exhibit was on the other....  Crap.
She pointed down a certain road, I smiled and thanked her (and took my book back from the other lady), and I RAN.  I was darned if I was going to pay 300 yuan for a personal driver and another 100 yuan to get into the Expo and not get to see the pandas!  About 5 'til 5pm, I was over halfway there but knew I wouldn't make it in time.  I stopped by a volunteer who just happened to figure out what I was saying by the phrases in my book.  That thing comes in handy, man!  (....And the lady at the gate laughed.... geez.)  I found out that the park doesn't actually close until 8pm!  SWEET JESUS, there is hope in the world!!  Needless to say, I walked the rest of the way.
I got all the way to the bottom of the map where the little panda graphic was calling my name and found people standing in a line for nondescript "Animals."  Figuring I've got nothing to lose, I got in it.  Hoping it was to the right animal, I found myself facing a long and winding path of families and strollers all waiting to see the "animals" just like me.  About 1/2 way through the line, I found a sign that I interpreted to say "Sorry for your wait, but the animals are closing at 6pm whether you get to see them or not."  It's 5:35 and this line was not moving much.
But to my surprise, 15 minutes later I was in!  And the first animal exhibit: PANDA BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!  Finally, I was there!  ...And the display was empty.  Next one, also empty.  I kept telling myself, "It's okay... I've made it this far.... They've got to be here somewhere, right?"
Then, out of what seemed like nowhere, one appeared from its domain outside!  And she was HUGE.  And fluffy!!!  And soooo cute!  She was just lying there on the concrete floor, licking her paw and I could almost touch her.  Her fur was waving in the wind and looked so soft, I was just amazed at her immense size and weight.  I went outside to see the other 3.  There was another adult lying in the sun, legs sprawled out on either side, watching all the people go by.  Right as I got there, though, it looked right at me and smiled.  Now, I know that they always look like their smiling, but I was there and she was smiling at me, dangit!  There were also two cubs playing upside down on their wooden structure, sunbathing and patting at each other.  After taking 22 pictures and 3 videos of 4 pandas, I was done and left the Expo.  There were tons of other plants and structures and animals to see, but I knew my driver was waiting out in the heat and I didn't want to be long.  I got him a cold bottle of water on the way out, too.

All I really wanted was to climb the Great Wall, see the Terra Cotta Warriors, and pet a Giant Panda.  While I didn't get to pet him, I did get to at least see them up close and that is good enough for me!  I went back out to the entrance where my driver was waiting and was immediately bombarded with vendors trying to sell me keychains with the little red mascot of the Expo on them for 10 kuai (slang for "yuan").  On the way in, I heard one person yelling 1 kuai, so I went to find him, but my driver pulled me away!  He then turned around and was holding two giant plush dolls that resembled the little red mascot with a flower on his head.  He pointed to me and then to the plush doll and then to me again, saying something in Mandarin.  I said I didn't understand and he shoved the plush doll into my arms, symbolizing it was a gift from him to me.  Now, inside the Expo they were selling for no less than 68 yuan!  I didn't know what to do except thank him profusely and hope he understood!  We found the car and drove home where he opened the doors for me and I thanked him again with 100 kuai.  He refused at first, because there's no tipping in China, but he was spectacular during the whole thing.  He made sure I found everything and didn't just drop me off and say, "see ya" as he drove away!
500 yuan, 3 hours, 22 panda pictures, and a sore bottom later... I am a happy camper.
Look for uploaded panda pics on Facebook! :)

The "Furnace of China"

Xi'an is known for being the oldest capital in China, for the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum, and for its temperature.  Let's pretend you're in Florida and you happen to want ice cream because it's rather warm outside.  Well, what happens?  You go to the store, pay for ice cream, and then eat it.  That doesn't happen here.  You can still go to the store and pay for it... but instead of eating it, you're more likely to be licking it off the ground before you even get your cash back from the cashier.  Or, if you're like me and you realize the nastiness of eating things off the same ground that people hack up loogies on daily (which is the most disgusting noise when you're trying to eat) and you get your ice cream in a cup, you're more likely to be drinking your ice cream and slurping up every bit of it because it's at least still a little cool.  Ice cream is a big deal here.  Baskin-Robbins knew that.  They're very popular here.
But besides the heat, it's rather pleasant here!  The people still drive like maniacs, but at least it's more controlled than that of Shanghai, Beijing, and especially Chongqing.  And everyone's nicer.  It feels more like home here.  I would actually consider living here.
The first thing we did when we arrived was look around.  We are lucky enough to have a hotel that's right in the center of the city and next to all the major shopping areas.  Not just any shopping area - Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Emporio Armani are all right next door.  The shopping mall down the street has the largest McDonald's I've ever seen and Subway is in the same district as Nike and Adidas.  And the mall... well can you just say AWESOME?  The only bad part: everything is for size Chinese.  Tall people, such as average-sized Americans, can wear an extra large if you can find it.
Yesterday we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.  It was really amazing!  The history behind everything is a little unreal and not at all what I was expecting: There was a king who found a beautiful woman and made her his concubine.  Well, apparently she was already pregnant with a businessman's son before arriving at his place, had the kid, and the kid lived at the palace.  Well, the king didn't have any kids of his own so when the king died when the boy was around the age of 13, he was next in line for the throne because they didn't really have anyone else.  The boy was allowed to rule upon reaching the age of 22 and immediately conquered the 6 surrounding territories, made a common currency, and united the entirety of China by calling himself Emperor.
Well, this Emperor only ruled for 14 years (until his sudden death during a tour of his country) and in that time he not only united China, but also built the Great Wall!  His tomb was held secret and took over 40 years to complete even after his death, but he was placed inside with over 8,000 known figures made of terra cotta clay (each modeled after an individual person!) with thousands of bronze weapons to act as his personal army in the after-life.  Some short time later, the tomb was raided by farmers who took the weapons and broke the warriors and burned down the building, not to be seen again for another 2,000 years...  Until a farmer was digging a well and happened to pull out a random clay head!
The roof of his personal tomb was inlaid with pearls to represent the heavens and the floor with bricks in a map of the Chinese kingdom.  Also, there's a river of mercury that flows somewhere down the middle of it with treasures all around that everyone in their right mind is too scared to take due to the still active and very poisonous mercury that's EVERYWHERE.

But in the meantime, we toured the 3 known pits of the warriors and the restoration factory of where they take the broken pieces to be fixed or molded into a new shape to resemble the one that was broken.  They know there's more pits out there... we just haven't found them yet and already this is the largest tomb in the world!  It's twice as large as the great pyramid of Egypt and when President Bill Clinton visited the tomb, he claimed it to be the 8th Wonder of the World.  He also visited the farmer who found it and asked for his autograph.  The farmer didn't know how to write, so he left him his thumbprint.  The farmer is now literate and signs his name every day for those who visit and pay for him to sign his book inside the Terra Cotta Museum.  President Clinton also said, "If you go to China and you don't see the Terra Cotta Soldiers, then you can not claim you have been to China.  It's like going to Egypt and not seeing the pyramids.  You can not claim to have truly been to Egypt."
The faces on these men are outrageously detailed, too.  They used to be very vibrantly colored, but as they bring up the pieces out of the dirt and into the air, the color fades within 2 days.  The Chinese are not taking anymore out of the tomb until they have the technology to preserve the color.  There is only one that has retained its color.  It's also the only one that still remains in 1 piece!  It's the kneeling archer and the most precious piece they own.
The history in this country is simply outstanding...  At least now I can truly claim to have been to China!

Sad Dumplings...

We learned the art of dumpling making at a local Chongqing restaurant!  You pat the dough in flour, flatten it out, and roll it into a thin circle with a rolling pin.  Then fill it with the meat or veggies and squish the edges together to close it up.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, let's just say that somewhere between filling it up and squishing it together, I had issues.  Some others had problems with the rolling part and their dumplings turned out too doughy and thick after being boiled, but not I.  I had problems with the squishing.  Since I wasn't terrible at the rolling part, I decided to take that strength and transfer it into the squishing part by rolling the edges together, then just pressing really hard to make it stick.  And it worked!!  Didn't look very appetizing, but it worked!  The professional ones in the soup they brought out later tasted better, too...  But we won't tell anyone that.
After that, though, the students of CTBU hosted a party for us!  They called it "English Corner" and put on performances that included dancing, singing, various talent shows, and games.  And everyone was really, really good!  There was a girl who loved to sing Lady Gaga, so we gave her the name "Gaga!"   And yes, you have to shout it every time you see her.
One of the games we played was to run around in a circle until someone called out a number.  The goal was to stop and hug that number of people and whomever was not in a group hug was out.  That one was not my strong-suit.  I excelled at the one where you had to pick up ping pong balls with chopsticks out of one box and run over to your partner to drop it in their box before time runs out.  I tied for first place with 9 out of 10 balls in one minute!
In a show of thanks, the guys of our program (there's 11 of them and only 5 girls) decided to do a dance routine they made up earlier that day and then teach the popular moves to the students.  These included "Stanky Leg," "The Bernie," "The Macarena," and "Soulja Boy."  The Chinese students were kind enough to show us part of their culture and sure enough we showed them ours, as sad as it is...  But they loved it!  Especially Soulja Boy.  A few girls did nothing but that the whole time!
It was a grand 'ol time between all of us and definitely brought us closer.  Even with my illness and a mosquito bite the size of my face, this night DEFINITELY made the entire trip worth it!

Forest Chongqing, Livable Chongqing

We arrived at the Chongqing airport last night to the excited waves of students of the Chongqing Technical and Business University.  We were previously each paired up with a "buddy" who will show us around in exchange for practicing their English skills.  One of the students from our program, Tim, is really tall.  Come to find out, his buddy, Elva, is short - even for a Chinese girl.  Upon seeing him, her reaction was priceless.  She immediately cried out sadly, "Oh, Tim.... You're so tall!!!!!!"  It was a perfect way to start the trip.
The students are all so welcoming and excited to see us.  They put us up in the international dorms in which we are 2 to a room, but have a separate bedroom with a common dining and showering room.  Everything is brand new - the desk, the computer chair, the internet cords, the bedding, the microwave, and the fridge!  We get our own private balcony complete with iron bars on top to hang out wet laundry that's closed off with sliding glass doors and a green blackout curtain.  It's incredibly nice!  Elva's already given me a Chinese name as well:  Fan Bingbing.  She claims it's the name of a famous Chinese actress...  I had to look it up just to be sure.
The only thing is the bathroom...  It's an all-in-one type of room.  Let's just say if you're in the middle of a shower and decide you have to use the toilet, it's less than a foot away!  Actually, it might be easier to take a shower if you were on the toilet, honestly.  But it's really okay.  I was wondering for the longest time why there was no place to put toilet paper in the bathroom and just recently found out that it's because you're not allowed to flush the paper or you'll clog up the system.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.  Luckily our bathroom is okay... so far.
The city of Chongqing is made up of 31.4 million people - a population to rival that of the entire nation of Canada.  Four years ago, it was already bigger than that of Peru and Iraq.  31.4 MILLION people.  And they live on a mountain.  They seem to be constantly renovating and upgrading the city.  Immediately upon driving around the outskirts from the airport, it's noticeable just how much better the style of living is here.  They have a motto - Healthy Chongqing, Smooth Chongqing, Safe Chongqing, Green Chongqing, Forest Chongqing, Livable Chongqing.  In response to the water and air situation in China, this Yangtze River city has decided to go green.  As in... plant TONS of trees.  They weren't kidding when they said, "Forest Chongqing."  Beijing has the issue of having too many cars for the current air quality, so they implemented the solution of not being able to drive your car during a certain day of the week (depending on the last number of your license plate).  Chongqing has instead decided to raise the air quality by planting trees.  They already live on a mountain.... they raised the number of trees from a lot to INTENSE.  And it works!
The campus of CTBU is located in a jungle!  The air quality is the best we've experienced yet and the greenery is superb.  It doesn't feel like a campus, but more like a retreat.  They have bridges over vast lakes and small stone pathways through tall trees to get to class.  How cool is that?!  But it's quite a trek... everything seems to be uphill and nothing is located close to anything else.
The students are very fashionable - much more than that of anyone not in the fashion industry in the States.  But then again, with no tax I would be too!  Did I mention that?  Yeah, there's no tax in China.  Anywhere.
Today was a campus tour and city tour.  Unfortunately I had to miss the city tour due to the difficulty my body is having at handling the different foods, but tomorrow should be a better day.  Oh, and we have dumpling-making this week!!