Days 162-165: Chengdu (and Leshan)

Overall, I liked Chengdu. There were some issues and problems, but we definitely had some fun as well.

Monday was mostly spent travelling. Sichuan Airlines wasn't too bad. I thought it was interesting that the airline stewards walked in the aisles giving people sweet buns and asking if they wanted chili sauce with their food (of which we got a lot, not just one little chicken wing as we do on China Eastern). I was pleased with how quickly we got through the Chengdu airport--so much easier than Pudong! We registered for a shuttle for the Panda Reserve and had the dinner buffet later that evening. Not bad--a lot of steak, pork, watermelon, salad, brie cheese, and even chocolate fondue.

Me in the lobby of the Crown Plaza--note the Panda theme!

Tuesday we went to the Giant Panda Reserve, which had to be the highlight of the trip for me. We got to see pandas eating bamboo, sitting in trees, wrestling with each other, and even sleeping. Also, we got to see red pandas, and at one point we saw eight pandas in one area at once!!  So we had fun while we were actually there. However, we had a terrible time getting back to the hotel. The concierge initially told us to take a taxi back due to the holiday traffic, so we (naively) didn't think this was going to be difficult. But Kerry kept trying to Didi us taxis and no one would come. We finally ran into a cab driver who made us pay 100 RMB to take us back, so we reluctantly agreed. In the evening, we had a nice dinner with Elizabeth and some of her colleagues--an outdoor meal! There was this one dish with "double-cooked pork" and greens that was phenomenal, and another with beans. We avoided most of the Sichuan spices. After dinner, we toured the Kuanzhi Xiangzi (the Wide and Narrow Alley) with Elizabeth, which was mostly a busy shopping district with lots of food and things to buy. They were even selling brains and pig snouts in the street! Unfortunately, the cigarette smoke got to me after awhile; in most of the city areas in China, we have to wear our Vogmasks just to be able to breathe--not necessarily because of pollution, but because smoking is EVERYWHERE. You just can't avoid it.

Pictures from the Panda Reserve:

New Year's Eve celebration at the Panda Reserve.

One of the first pandas I saw!

This panda liked to walk around a lot.

Wednesday Kerry wasn't feeling too well, so we spent the first part of the day just resting in the room. Later in the day, when I was more rested, we ate at a Chinese restaurant in the hotel (goose, pork ribs, veggies, and mashed potatoes). The manager was very nice to us and spoke English very well. Around 4 pm, we did get out and went to the Wenshu Yan monastery and temple, which included a vegetarian tea garden with people playing folk music. The buildings, temple, and gardens were lovely. It was really beautiful: a nice part of old China in the city. I bought a cute little New Year's Dog (red, of course) from a street vendor for only 15 RMB (about $2). Not bad!  We had dinner at the hotel: there were some folks from the Phillipines singing American songs from the 70s, such as Captain and Tenille and the Carpenters.  Amusing!

Pics from the stunningly beautiful Manjushri Hall at the monastery:

Manjushri Hall

Detail from the hall.  A guard animal!

The last full day we were there we went to the Leshan Buddha, the largest Mayietra Buddha statue in the world. We had to leave (in a private car, which we had to pay extra for) with our guide, Terry, at 7:10 am!!  Terry was a very short 28-year-old young man who was very knowledgeable about China and its culture. Overall, he was a good guide. He showed as a lot of treasures at the Leshan Buddha area, and made sure that there weren't too many spices in the lunch that was ordered for us (double-cooked pork, kung po chicken, green veggies, and rice). As with the Wenshu area, lots of beauty here: statues, a temple, and of course the huge Buddha. However, it took 2.5 hours to get there and another 2.5 hours back, and we couldn't do the boat ride we wanted. We wanted to ride on a slower beat to see the entire statue, but once we were in line we were told that "the water was too low," so if we wanted to see the whole statue, we had to go in a speedboat. So we did! We climbed into a speedboat, each given a useless orange life jacket, and given a speedboat ride out to the statue. We were allowed to take pictures for five minutes, and then the driver took us back. So that was a bit disappointing. And the crowds were crazy: people we waiting in 7-8 hour lines to walk down to see the Buddha more close up!  I just don't have that kind of patience, but I'm told that Chinese are used to lines. The biggest issue I had is that we had to pay $400 for this trip, and we only saw the entire Leshan Buddha for all of five minutes.

Pics from the Leshan Buddha trip:

Me with a tiger statue, on the way to the Buddha

Close-up of the Leshan Buddha.

Scary temple statue.

View of the Leshan Buddha, from speedboat.

I think I'd like to return to Chengdu, but next time I went to go to the Dujiangyan area, where there's another Panda Reserve where they let you hold the pandas. We probably should have done that on Wednesday instead of the Leshan Buddha. But, as my mom used to say, "Hindsight is 20/20."

Days 159-161: Happy Chinese New Year! The Weekend before Departure

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

Even though it's a holiday, I'm spending much of this weekend working on my online sabbatical portfolio and prepping for my first class in March. So I don't have much excitement to report. I'm just trying to get as much done as I can before we leave for Chengdu on Monday. The next two weeks are going to be travel-crazy: Chengdu Feb. 19-23; Kunming Feb. 23-26; and the Fulbright Conference Feb. 26-March 2.   We return to Shanghai on March 2, and then school starts for me on March 7; next term, I'm teaching on Wednesdays instead of Mondays.

It will be interesting because my friends Zach and Randy are DEFINITELY coming for visits: Zach in March and Randy in April. We plan to go to Hong Kong with Zach and to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors with Randy. Hopefully my friends Crystalyn and Nick will be coming in late May, although nothing is for certain yet. Still, it will be nice to have visitors this term!  Last term, Xuewei visited, of course, but she was coming to Shanghai anyway.

Kerry and I did take a nice walk around Wan'an Road on Friday--it was interesting to see that the fruit market was open, and there were many men crowded under a pagoda. We also saw young people playing badminton on the sidewalk (with no net, as they would in the US!).

Red lantern on our apartment door.

Me outside our apartment building.

Colored pussywillows sold at the florist on the way to Jiangwan Town Station.

We went to the Westin again on Sunday--this time for their Chinese New Year brunch. Only 35 RMB for the cab there--a new low. Great food, as usual: duck, Mexican seafood, cheese, lamb, and even rum raisin ice cream! The whole drill. Sadly, neither of us won any raffle prizes (I have yet to win one...I'm beginning to feel like Charlie Brown!).  Still, we had good food and then walked to the subway, and took that home (Line 10 to line 8 to line 3). We ran into Samira at Line 3; she's going to Vietnam this evening. I guess vacation isn't over for either of us!  She walked home with us, which was nice. And then we settled in, did laundry, packed, and relaxed.

Seafood at the Westin!

Dogs outside a red pussywillow tree, celebrating the New Year!

Tomorrow...Chengdu!  I hope there's no drama.

Days 157-158: Happy Valentine's Day and Happy New Year's Eve!

So these days are celebration times: the American holiday of Valentine's Day and the Chinese holiday of New Year's. However, we haven't been doing a lot to celebrate. Kerry and I have put up some decorations, including purple and pink ornaments on the (otherwise useless) TV, purchased a couple cute stuffed red dogs (it is the Year of the Dog, after all), and placed a red lantern ornament on our door. Red, I have learned, is for good luck, and this is fine with me: red is my favorite color!

For Valentine's Day, Kerry and I exchanged cards, and I got him some Kit Kat chocolates (from Target back in the US) as well as a beautiful rainbow-colored rose from a flower stand outside of Carrefour--gorgeous!

Otherwise, I've mostly been working on my online sabbatical portfolio. It is hard work: not just writing, but a lot of photo adjustment and getting used to the "new" Google Sites. So it does take some time.

Our big "celebration" was that, on Valentine's Day, we went back to Kiwiana in the Hongkou Plaza; however, we waited an hour to eat and had to share out table (half the time) with another couple. We got the fish and chips again that we liked so much last time, and they were still good, but somehow I remember them being better the first time around. However, their desserts were stellar: I got berry waffles with strawberry ice cream and Kerry got ice cream buns--each one was a different flavor! Beautifully presented, excellent taste. We also bought a stuffed kiwi due to our mutual love of stuffed animals. :)

Ice cream buns--Kerry's dessert at Kiwiana!

Days 155-156: Back in Shanghai (The Re-Adjustment)

Our first full day here, Monday, I woke up at 5 am and worked a lot on organizing my USA pictures and then later I did some writing on this blog. I got a bit tired around 1:30 pm and then didn't wake up again until about 8:30 pm. Kerry is still asleep as I'm typing this. We're both pretty exhausted and didn't even unpack much yet. I went back to sleep at about 11--I think I'm still pretty jet-lagged.

Tuesday I woke up about 5 again. We had breakfast and then finished our unpacking; I then worked on my "critical incident" report that I have to give in Dali. I've decided to talk about when I was asked to suddenly start teaching the Honors American Lit. class every other week. Later in the day, Kerry and I went to Carrefour. To get some exercise, we walked to Jiangwan Town station instead of hopping on the 745--we took it to Hongkou Plaza, where the store is located. Before going to the store, I bought Kerry a BEAUTIFUL rainbow-colored rose for Valentine's Day (even though it was quite expensive). The store itself was very crowded and the second floor was decked out with a lot of Chinese New Year decorations--the color red was everywhere: red lanterns, red dogs (since it's the year of the dog), etc. On the way back, we stopped at KFC for a bite to eat. We had a bit of a struggle conveying what we wanted to eat, even though the cashiers tried to speak a little English to us. It's interesting to me how the Chinese don't provide nearly as much food in their "meal box" as Americans do: in America, you'd get two-three big pieces of chicken, whereas here in China, you get one big piece and two very small ones. After getting home, I worked on my syllabus for Short Novels, and then later made a dinner: a chicken ranch salad and then the rest of the apple-pear salad I made that morning for dessert.

The rainbow rose for Kerry, given on Valentine's Day.

Time in the USA, Part Two

I'll hit the highlights for each day this week....

Sunday: Today we had a Superbowl Thanksgiving dinner. I made a turkey with stuffing and Maureen made a broccoli salad. Kerry got some dips from Acapulco (cheese, salsa, gauc) and we settled in to watch the Super Bowl: lots of offense and scoring--the Eagles beat the Patriots, for which I was grateful. Alison and Art left the next day.

Here's the turkey I made for our Super Bowl dinner!

Monday: We didn't do much during the day (errands and bills), but in the evening we hung out with Rachelle. We had Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and then saw a Japanese anime called A Silent Voice about a deaf girl who eventually becomes friends with the boy who had been bullying her. I wasn't overly impressed, particularly when she tries to commit suicide near the end of the film. Too depressing.

Tuesday: I did my Career Pathways Day at Century today on "What Can We Learn from Chinese Students?" 10 students and 2 faculty (Chris W. and Larry) showed it; it seemed to be pretty well-received. I then had lunch with Yanmei in her office (which she provided--steamed buns and sticky rice cakes). Kerry did errands for his mom most of the day. In the evening, we saw the girls' play, Madagascar. There were two versions: one for the younger kids (which we came in a bit late for), and then the one with Destiny and Amber. The costumes were terrific, and then choreography was splendid as well! Not a lot of folks in the audience because it was a dress rehearsal, but we still had a good time.

Curtain call at Madagascar!

Wednesday: Two major meals today: we had lunch with Chris Weyandt--first we got to see his beautiful apartment in downtown St. Paul. Then we had lunch (although I hesitate to call it lunch, it was so amazing) at the St. Paul Grille at the Saint Paul Hotel. I owed Chris a good meal for all his TYCA work, and he took full advantage of this, ordering a filet mignon with a good Merlot. :)  I got some calamari and a cobb salad, and Kerry ordered some mac and cheese. We were pleased all around. In the evening, we met up with Crystalyn and the girls one last time at Tokyo Sushi for dinner: they were over an hour late, but we still had a lot of fun, particularly towards the end, when Destiny pretended to be a cat and licked Kerry all over!!  He was in hysterics. Fortunately, the people at the neighboring table didn't think we were totally insane.

View from the roof at Chris's apartment.

Kerry, Destiny, and Crystalyn at Tokyo Sushi.

Thursday: More shopping today, as well as some packing. We had dinner this evening with Jen and Sherri--Maureen made a turkey pot pie with the leftover turkey from the Super Bowl dinner. Plus we had more delicious broccoli salad--yum! We decided to give Jen and Sherri a lot of the leftover food that we had in the fridge and pantry that we couldn't use and didn't want to take with us.

Friday: Kerry and I had breakfast with Beth, the English department chair, at Jensen's in Burnsville. I had a salmon and cream cheese omlette--really good! We spent most of the day packing for our departure tomorrow. In the evening, we went to Taste of Thaiyai with Zach and Sarah--I got my usual lemon chicken soup, and Maureen and I split a pad thai. Good stuff! In the evening, we took Kerry's car back to Jen and Sherri.

Post-breakfast selfie with Beth and Kerry.

Saturday: Today was the day we left MN and went back to Shanghai. Morning security at MSP wasn't too bad--we didn't have to take our clothes or belt off because (as we were told) "the canine pre-checked us." I didn't see the dog get anywhere near me, but I took their word for it. We had a 3.5 hour flight to LA, and I slept through almost all of it. In LA, we ate at a burger place where you could make your own burger--I made one with cheddar cheese, guac, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and sauteed mushrooms and onions. It was a bit medium, but still good. They also had garlic aioli fries. By the time we finished lunch, it was time to get on the next flight. Watched 3.5 movies (Battle of the Sexes, Loving Vincent, School of Rock, and 1/2 of Clueless) and 2 episodes of Bob's Burgers on the way. I must say, I really loved Battle of the Sexes--about the match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs--and am disappointed that it didn't get more critical acclaim. I managed to get up only once, after the first eight hours. I sat down almost the entire 13 hour flight. Once we were done, we found a flight agent who managed to find us a van home. It was expensive: 480 RMB, and then, on top of that, the driver hit us up for a tip at the end!!!!  What a way to start the new semester: a demand for a tip...can't say that's happened before in China, so we were both taken aback. Still, we gave him 50 RMB, because he *did* lift our bags up and down. And it's $8 for us...not too bad. But I'm guessing he was taking advantage of the laowai. We ordered McDonald's when we got home and then crashed around 9:30 pm Shanghai time.

The burger place we went to in LAX.

Getting a kiss before the ride home to China.

Until tomorrow...

Time in the USA, Part One

The trip from Shanghai to the US wasn't as bad as the trip from the US to Beijing that we made back in August. The first flight, from Shanghai to Seattle, actually wasn't all that long--only about 10 hours. And the good news was that I slept a lot of the way. Didn't watch any movies except for a small part of the sequel to Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth. Once we landed in Seattle, we got to spend a couple hours with Jeff, which was nice, except we forgot to give him his gift bag that was in our suitcase; instead, we transferred the bag on to the next flight. Oops! Still, we had a nice chat at a coffee shop in the airport. However, we overstayed a bit; we didn't realized that we had to go through security a second time after going into the main terminal. As a consequence, we barely made it to our second flight. The second flight was also shorter than expected: I watched the film The Founder with Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, the man who "founded" McDonalds (he actually stole the concept from the two McDonald brothers, it turns out). Interesting film! I was tired when we got back, but that evening we still met up with Crystalyn, Amber, and Destiny at Acapulco--I was SOOO in the mood for Mexican food, especially guacamole! Kerry was so tired by the end of the evening that I had to drive home; it was so weird to drive for the first time in five months!

The view from the plane, flying into MN.

Me, Kerry, and Jeff, in Seattle.

Wednesday:we went for our dental appointments; they were pretty uneventful. We had to see the dentist that I didn't care much for, but Therese, the office manager, is very nice. Afterwards, we hung out with Rachelle a bit: breakfast at Baker's Square followed by some shopping at JCPenney's. That evening we got to see Alison and Art! We all had lasagna for dinner. In the midst of dinner, Bradley showed up with Bette!!!! I was so happy and held her tight.  :)  Later, we distributed some gifts all around. It felt like Christmas--lots of fun.

Thursday:Kerry and I shmoozed at Century for a bit, saying hi to a lot of people. Unfortunately, we were late to lunch at Jethro's with Pat, Melanie, and Randy. Randy had to run, but Pat and Melanie stayed. Fortunately, we were able to postpone our doctors' appointments. Had a tasty BBQ burger and fries and good conversation with the ladies. Afterwards, we went to the doctor--we met with Dr. Leppink instead of Dr. Monteiro. Very long wait, and Dr. Leppink likes to talk, but the news was mostly good. Kerry's A1Cs went down quite a bit!  Then we went on to Fogo for Crystalyn's graduation party. Alison and Art did not come because Alison had a bad cough. The food was very tasty, but the pace was very frenetic and they screwed up the bill a bit. Kind of annoying. On the plus side, I managed to pace myself and went home full but not sick.

Fogo meat--it can't be beat!

Crystalyn's graduation party!!

Friday: A very low-key, quiet day, mostly because I didn't hear from Alison until late. We spent much of the day at home, and then we went to the post office and some grocery stores (Wal-Mart, Target, Cub) to do turkey shopping (we're going to have a turkey on Super Bowl Sunday). Alison and Art did come over for dinner in the evening; we had Maureen's speciality, "Anna's chicken."  Then we visited a bit before Kerry took Alison and Art home.

Saturday: Today we ran around with Alison and Art. Kerry and Art went to a gaming store while Alison and I went to Barnes and Noble for a bit. Kerry and Art later joined us. I bought a couple discounted stuffed toys and a couple discounted books (some were 75% off!). From there we went to Donatelli's. Even though the food I had was good, there was one incident that ruined the meal for me: the waitress forgot to bring out my appetizer, so basically at one point everyone was eating their entrees and I was sitting there drinking iced tea. Fun. Then we went to another gaming store so Kerry could find more miniatures. I found a vintage version of Alice in Wonderland for only $8, so that was pretty cool. At the end of the day, we went to the winter carnival in St. Paul and saw some beautiful ice sculptures and the ice palace. Gorgeous, but freezing. We didn't stay a long time. Around 8 pm, we dropped Alison and Art off and then went home and watched TV.

Gate to Winter Carnival in St. Paul.