Joel’s Account of Our “Journey to the West”
Well I am going to write a long, long letter about my experiences over the past week. Hopefully I won't get too fatigued and stop halfway, but at the very least you'll be able to know what happened during the first day.
Day One: Sunday, October 2. There were five of us in our merry gang of fools: myself, Ian, Seth, Joseph and Nicole. Four guys and one girl. We didn't really know Nicole that well, because she was with the Chinese Horizon group here in China teaching English, but we were happy to have her. We began our sojourn around 7:00 PM on Sunday, heading off to the airport for our 9:30 flight to Chongqing. We managed to get to the airport fairly uneventfully, but once there we ran into problems fairly quickly. You see, Seth didn't have his actual passport since he had left it at the police station in order to obtain his Alien Residence Card. He was stopped at the security checkpoint and we pretty much gave him up for lost so we went off to our gate to wait for our plane. While we were waiting I decided to get a drink and so went over to the little store across the way only to find that the drinks were 8 RMB. This was about twice as expensive as they would have been outside the airport so I decided to look around a little bit before deciding. I walked a short distance away to a restaurant that had a small refrigerator with several cans of coke and sprite in it. I asked the waitress how much a single can was. “三十八。” I was sure I had misunderstood. 38 RMB (6 U.S.) seemed far too much for a single can of Sprite especially since just down the concourse was a place selling bottles for a fraction of the price. But after asking repeatedly, and walking over to the soda and actually pointing at it I was finally convinced that they really were asking that much for a single can of soda. So I quietly went back, paid eight kuai and took my drink back to my seat. Shortly thereafter I was surprised and pleased to see Seth sit down next to us. It turns out that after he had been soundly rejected at one of the lines, he just turned around, got in another line and was let on through. The official said that there were no guarantees that we would be able to get on the plane at Chongqing, but we figured we would cross that bridge when we came to it.
Monday: We landed in Chongqing at around two in the morning and just crashed at the airport. I don't know how some of my friends did it but they managed to sleep for a good five hours, even after the airport was in pretty much full swing. I only managed about half an hour of sleep but managed to function surprisingly well that day. We caught the airport bus into Chongqing to the bus station, before catching yet another bus (we rode a lot of buses that week) to Dazu in order to look at some cool Buddhist carvings. On the way Nicole unfortunately chose to sit next to a woman who apparently was not up to the perils of Chinese bus travel, as she hurled in the aisle. Nicole was a trooper though and managed to endure a good hour and a half of faint sour-milk smell emanating from puddle of ooze, the composition of which will be left to your imagination. Dazu is not a large city. It is in fact quite small and apparently in the part of town we were in foreigners were not a common site. We had to catch a cab up to where the carvings actually were but since there were five of us, and only four seats in the cab, the cab driver made one of us duck every time we passed a cop car. Once we got to the top we were able to get out and pass the usual tourist gauntlet of people selling various things – including some pretty cool swords and knives – we got into the actual carvings area, name Shike (Stone Carvings). These carvings were almost 1000 years old and were a very interesting amalgamation of Chinese and Buddhist traditions and beliefs. Taoist gods of the underworld were arrayed alongside various Buddhas, and one of the more horrific scenes depicted was that of the Taoist hell as well as the various punishment to be meted out to the wicked. The carvings were pretty spectacular though, they were very intricate, often 20 or thirty feel tall and some of them even retained much of the coloring that was used in their original adornment.
Unfortunately by the time we got down off the mountain it was already after six, and the bus station was very much closed by the time we got back. We had also managed to lose Seth in the process since he had volunteered to run ahead to the bus station while we tried to catch a cab but his phone unfortunately stopped working at this point and he took a wrong turn so it took us a while to connect up with him again. At around this time this girl who looked like she was about 16 years old at most, dressed in these pink and white pajama looking things (she was even wearing matching slippers) approaches us and offers her help in finding us a place to stay or a way to get to Chengdu which was where we were trying to go. While she took Ian, Joseph and Nicole off to parts unknown/looking for a private driver to take us to Chengdu, I waited at the bus station for Seth. Once he arrived we started going around to various hostels and small inn type establishments in the hope of finding a place to stay the night, since Ian at this point had called and let us know that the driver thing had fallen through since they wanted at least 1600 kuai. In retrospect, the travails that Seth and I experience looking for a place to say was fairly comical but at the time it was pretty frustrating. Some places said that they had no space, some more bluntly came right out and said “We don't serve your kind here” (or words to that effect) while others apparently experienced some kind of memory lapse when we walked in the door for not ten seconds after being told that we had space, we were informed that in fact they didn't. The most galling part of that experience was that they (there were three of them manning the desk) were all pretending that they always had been full, that they had never even claimed that there was room. I felt like Joseph and Mary, except they at least didn't have to deal with a guy who only spoke Sichuan dialect and wouldn't speak standard Chinese even when we asked him too. Grrrrr.
Anyway, by this time Ian and the others had returned and the girls (the pink furry girl had been joined by an equally short companion) took us to a slightly nicer hotel. Being the cheapskates that we were (and proudly remain to this day) we only wanted to rent a single room for all five of us, but anticipating that this display of thriftiness on our part would be met with some resistance by the hotel Seth and I waited outside across the street, where we passed the time discussing the merits of sleeping in the park. Meanwhile, inside the hotel confusion reigned supreme as Ian tried to head the girls off from announcing that there were five of us. This caused the girls to retreat in some confusion. Finally they went up to see the room, and declaring it satisfactory they went to try and actually pay for it, at which point they were informed that actually they couldn't really let us stay there since they had to take photocopies of our passports, and well the guy who did that had gone home for the day and his equipment was locked up. And guarded by poisonous snakes/crocodiles. And actually there was no room. Or hotel. We were IN THE MATRIX!!! Ok, I actually made those last three up. Regardless the upshot was that we couldn't stay there. So being hungry we were taken to dinner by our two diminutive companions. Oddly they seemed to change their minds after choosing the restaurant. We weren't sure whether it was because they had intended to pay for our dinner but then found that it was too expensive, so we told them that we wanted to treat them since they had been so nice to us but they were strangely reluctant. I gathered that they felt embarrassed on behalf of their city-folk since they refused to let us stay anywhere. While we were sitting there the girls began relating our woes to a growing crowd of Chinese onlookers, ignoring our futile protest that we were all big boys and girls and that we could take care of things ourselves. Fortuitously one of the other guests at the restaurant (we were eating outside) apparently knew a guy who ran a private bus that ran to Chengdu at midnight. We immediately jumped on the chance and I ran off with the two girls (relax dad) to ensure that the tickets were purchased in a timely manner (see) and that this was all fairly above board. We actually talked to the police who were at a little traffic station there twice to make sure that this was legitimate, and after being assured that they were we bought the tickets and went back to the rest of the group, who were quickly becoming fast friends with about three extremely inebriated Chinese men.
We still had about 2 and a half hours to kill at this point and Dazu being the bustling city that it was we had several enticing options including but no doubt not limited to: sitting in the street, becoming even better acquaintances with our drunk friends, looking for a comfortable park in case our bus fell through and karaoke. The park option almost won out but in the end we allowed our two female followers to guide us to a nearby karaoke place, where we won great acclaim and accolades. After singing our fill of eighties hits and Chinese pop songs we boarded our bus and bid farewell to Dazu with mixed feelings.
Tuesday: We arrived in Chengdu at around five in the morning, and our angel of a bus driver allowed us to sleep on the bus until 6:30. During this 6+ hours on the bus I discovered that there is no truly comfortable sleeping position to be found on the bus, at least not by yourself. Joseph and Nicole seemed to have found some kind of a sleeping arrangement where he put his head on her legs and she put her head on his back. Somehow they managed to sleep anyway. After disembarking we headed off to the bus station (of course). I wish to remind any of readers who have forgotten that Joseph from this point on has not one, but two large swords in his possession and that to actually get into the larger bus station we had to scan all of our luggage. This didn't (fortunately) cause us any large problems but it was something of a headache each time we wanted to go anywhere. We caught a bus to ANOTHER bus station, this one where we could catch a bus to where we really wanted to go, a place called Emei (pronounced Uh-may). While at this very crowded (everywhere we went was very crowded) bus station we ran into another Flagship student, Jason Loose. Jason for the record is one of nicest people I think that I've met. He's also really into camping and to this end had brought a large backpack complete with tent, sleeping back, small stove, propane tank and other assorted odds and ends. We all bought tickets to Emei and off we went again.
We were dropped off near the foot of the mountain, at the entrance to a long street lined with shops, small hotels and other shops of some kind. We were looking for a hostel called “The Teddy Bear” but not knowing what the Chinese name was and not wishing to sound like deranged lunatics (since I imagine we already looked the part) we decided to try and find it ourselves which we actually managed to do in fairly short order. The Teddy Bear is a pretty nice hostel actually, and they also kindly let us leave our bags there for free while we were climbing the mountain. We also took the opportunity to rent a room for a hour, allowing us all to take a shower and change our clothes. We also consolidated our packs which allowed Joseph and I to share a single pack (which Joseph ended up carrying for most of the climb, but hey, I'm probably carried more weight overall just by having to carry myself), as well as Seth and Ian sharing a pack. Jason and Nicole both carried their own packs. After refreshing ourselves we hoofed it off to the mountain.
Now Emei Shan (Emei Mountain) isn't a particlarly tall mountain. It's about 3000 meters or roughly 10000 feet tall, BUT in order to actually get to it you have to hike about 30-35 km over several OTHER mountains. All in all the hike is about 50 km when you factor in the elevation changes. We started from the very bottom. Also we didn't really know where we were going. As a result we got lost. Twice. I don't really feel like either time was really our fault because it was very confusing. Also we were playing 20 questions and some of the questions were devilishly hard. Like Ian's “supply and demand.” Surprisingly the most difficult answer was Nicole's “bullets.” It was while trying to guess bullets that we passed the tiny side trail (which of course went through a restaurant) that led up the mountain and started heading down again. Realizing that it was unlikely that we had summited already (most disappointing hike EVER!!) we turned around and got back on the correct trail. The trail let to a small booth where we bought tickets and had to present them to a no doubt extremely bored guard standing next to a turnstile. Since the trail was about 4 times as wide as the turnstile the guard not only scanned our ticket he also took it upon himself to turn the turnstile. I can only imagine the fulfillment such a position must provide. This was at about four in the afternoon and we hiked until nine o'clock which was well after dark. Nicole was pretty impressive and wouldn't let anyone take her bag except once when the clever and devious mind of the cunning fox known only as the Puzzler (or Joel) devised a diabolical trap. I asked if she would do me a favor; she of course said yes and then I asked if I could carry her bag. HAHA!!! Victory does indeed taste sweet. We stopped for the night at a Buddhist monastery (there were several on the mountain) and were shown into a room with foam pads on the floor and lots of thick blankets. To some these might seem like spartan conditions but we hadn't slept on anything other than bus seats and airport benches in 72 hours so they were most inviting. We also shared the room with a group of deaf Chinese students, who really were the ideal roommates. Absolutely silent AND they didn't care if we sang at the top of our lungs. Not that we did, but we totally could have.
Wednesday: We were awakened at 6 AM by the clatter of monkish drums and gongs. Nothing like a good idolatrous ceremony to start the day. After collecting our things, we made our way to the cafeteria there, where we were served a rousing breakfast of mantou (steamed, fairly bland bread things), rice gruel, toufu and cabbage. Yum. We actually began hiking around 7 AM. Today was a much more difficult hike than that of the day before. Not only did we have much steeper mountain to climb, we also had to descend almost as much as we went ascended which can be frustrating, knowing that progress we were making going up would in all likelihood be erased as soon as we reached the top and had to start going down again. While on the trail we also encountered a fair number of rather surly monkeys. At one point our little group was climbing just ahead of a Chinese girl and her boyfriend who were carrying a back between them suspended on a bamboo pole. The monkeys quickly passed us by after ascertaining that we were not carrying any food on our exteriors, and clustered on the side of the trail by the Chinese couple. Within about 30 seconds the monkeys – some of whom were quite large – had gathered their courage, leapt at the suspended package and tore it open, feasting upon what was revealed to be what I imagine was a picnic lunch. For the monkeys. After a few hours of hiking through lush green mountain, with some truly spectacular vistas we began entering the cloud bank which encircled the mountains. The higher we climbed, the thicker the mist became until the swirling clouds prevented us from seeing anything more than 20 feet away in any direction. Those three hours were very nearly a zen-like experience, since in addition to cutting us off visually, all sound was also deadened, making it seem as though we were climbing an infinite staircase with neither beginning nor ending, a staircase leading upwards into infinity. Everything we passed was slickly damp, and more often than not covered in a film of moss making it even slicker. We passed another monastery that seemed overrun with monkeys, and I wondered what it would be like to be a monk there, living in a place where your world was restricted to a sphere 40 feet in diameter, watching countless travelers from all over the world pass through from places you've never been and perhaps can't even imagine. It's possible that these monks were more cosmopolitan than I imagine, and no doubt they were equipped with TV and maybe even computers but the setting itself imparted a surreal quality that I think would have a powerful effect even in the face of modern technology.
Finally, after climbing through the mist for hours, the fog began to thin and brighter patches of mist seemed to occasionally dance in the grey above us (actually at this point it was just me, because I had gone ahead after lunch without waiting for the others). There were a good number of people on the mountain, no doubt on account of it being a national holiday but every now and then, for a minute or two I found myself completely alone, climbing through the thinning mist, surrounded by primeval, moss draped trees and except for the path upon which I stood it might have been easy to believe I was the only person who had even walked there and who ever would. As I climbed higher and higher and as the sun came through with greater clarity and certainly I anticipated the first sun beam that would manage to make its way through. The sun felt like stepping into a hot bath, and as I continued walking I noticed with interest that even the flora that surrounded the trail had changed from being predominantly ferns and shorter, more stunted trees to a mixture of pines and deciduous trees whose leaves were just beginning to bear the tinge of yellow and red while heralded the coming of autumn. At one point the trail turned to follow the curve of the mountain and a break in the trees presented itself. Through a gap in the trees I was able to see for what seemed like a hundred miles across a veritable sea of clouds illuminated by the shining sun. I decided to wait for the rest of the group to catch up with me here and was pleased to see Ian and Seth show up within five minutes or so, quickly followed by Jason, Nicole and Joseph. We were pretty close to sort of being in the general vicinity of the top at this point so we were of course extremely chuffed and reinvigorated. Until we reached the parking lot. Where all the Chinese tourists too lazy to hike (which was most of them) got bused. Awesome. Of course this did provide a wonderful opportunity for our impression of our own moral, cultural and physical superiority to find free reign so it wasn't like we didn't get anything out of it... You still had to hike from the parking lot to the top which as a good two hours, unless you were too lazy to even do that in which case you could take the cable car. Or hire someone to carry you and sooth one's fevered brow with a peacock feather while being fed grapes. Well you actually could hire someone to carry you which we all thought was pretty hilarious (except for me, I just pretended to think that. I secretly thought it sounded like a pretty darn good idea).
This last stretch really almost did me in. First it goes up for what seems like forever to break your legs down even further, which hardly seemed necessary considering that I think had surrendered long along and were only moving at this point due to some kind of Baton Death March type incentive. And then when it finally seems like it leveling off and that your almost there it just keeps going on. And on. And on. Never really steep, but since you can't see any point higher up the mountain the illusion of always almost making it there is really punishing. Well, anyhow we finally made it. And it was pretty dang spectacular. After climbing yet more hated stairs (we all avoided stairs for the next few days) we reached a platform upon which sat a giant Buddha who was probably carried up the mountain, or more likely took the bus and cable car and so had no right to look that smug. Jason told us that there was nothing between Emei Shan and the ocean that was taller than where we were now and as I looked out onto the sea of clouds surrounding the mountain on all sides I believed it. It seemed like you could see to the edge of the world. We appeared to be almost floating along on a verdant island in a turbulent sea of white sea-foam, our only companions one or two other smaller peaks which managed to shoulder their way through the blankets draped across them and their lesser brethren (pretty poetic huh?). I was so overcome that I decided to get lost, and didn't manage to find the rest of the group for about half an hour. I imagine that you could get a signal on top of the mountain but none of our phones had battery left so it was difficult to coordinate once we got out of sight of one another. After climbing to the top I could understand why it was so famous, although I do think that those people who didn't actually climb the mountain kind of lost out. Climbing a mountain is all about the climb, not just getting to the peak. The difficulties overcome along the way are what make you appreciate the view from the top. Also, I wish that everyone had to climb because I dare say there would have been fewer people on the mountain had they been forced to climb the entire way.
We stayed on the summit for about two or three hours before making our way down although Jason decided to camp on the summit for the night, since he had brought all of his stuff. As we started hurtling down the mountain we encountered the mist making it way up the mountain with a reciprocal rapidity. Upon reaching the parking lot, we were resolved to take a bus down but were told that, of course, the last bus had already left for the night. We therefore contracted with a Chinese driver to take the five of us down the mountain for 275 kuai, which turned out to be fairly reasonable because A) it was about an hour drive and B) although he didn't look like it our driver must have been a close relative of Evil Kenival because he had nerves of steel. The fog had become so thick that with headlights on our driver couldn't have been able to see much farther than a car length ahead but he never faltered. Honking his horn he would hurtle around blind curves, passing cars, buses and other vans. He passed literally every other vehicle that we met on the road. He probably set some kind of record getting us off that mountain, and not a moment too soon either. As we were getting back into Emei we asked our driver if there was anyway to get to Chengdu at this point. He replied that he wasn't sure but he would ask, promptly stuck his head out the window and asked what appeared to be a random woman if there was a bus going to Chengdu, to which she replied yes there was but it was leaving right now. We told her we could get our stuff in five minutes to which she replied “We're leaving in two minutes.” Upon hearing this and following her beckoning hand Joseph and Seth were dispatched to the Teddy bear to grab our things, Ian and I followed the woman to buy our tickets and Nicole as the only one to not speak any Chinese was cleverly left behind to pay the van driver. In our defense we were kind of caught off guard and I did run back as soon as we realized that Nicole was missing, but she wasn't there. As I ran back to the rest of the group, raising my hands to signify that she was no where to be found Nicole fortunately materialized at the back of our group. It turns out she didn't have correct change and the bus driver upon discovering this fact, as well as the fact that she didn't speak Chinese, closed the doors, locked the doors and took off looking for us. It worked out ok, but I think that Nicole was scared out of a year's growth.
So within minutes (two, not five) of getting off the mountain we were once again on a bus headed for Chengdu. This time instead of arriving at 5 in the morning we got there at the relatively early hour of 11:15 or so. This did not of course mean that we had an easy time finding a place to stay of course. The problem was twofold, first that we hadn't really looked into finding a place to stay in Chengdu because we aren't exactly great at planning things apparently and second that certain members of our group (cough * seth * cough) were determined to spend as little as possible. While I generally am in favor of spending as little as possible for accommodations, when five foreigners stumble into Chengdu in the middle of the night, the term beggars can't be choosers comes to mind. Suffice it to say that after going to too many different hotels we finally found a place which had room (this time that seemed to the major obstacle). Also I think that this one place I found bears mentioning. I went off on my own to try and find a place to stay while Seth and Ian were off looking at places (we were once again attempting to perpetrate our fiction of there only being two or three of us) and after taking a scary elevator to the third floor began talking to the proprietor of this small hotel/inn/hostel/place I wouldn't want to stay. I told him that there were five of us (since he was right in front of the elevator I figured that we wouldn't exactly be able to sneak past him) and he thought about it and then asked when we were checking out in the morning. Around eight, I said, a response which brought about yet another bought of contemplating. Finally he said that we could stay there. I'm not sure what he was thinking about though, and why we had to be out by a certain time. I'm just glad that we found another place. A place that actually let five of us all stay in one room.
Since it was one in the morning and none of us had eaten in around twelve hours we ordered McDonalds, which DELIVERS(!!!!) here in China. Of course the one flaw in our plan was that there is only one national line that you can call to place your delivery order in China and the guy that poor Seth was talking to apparently had never even heard of the city that we were in. The conversation went something like this from what I could hear, although I edited out a LOT of the repetitions. This guy was REALLY clueless.
“Hello. I would like to order McDonalds. I am in Chengdu City right now. No, Chengdu. Chengdu. Cheng as in city and du as in capitol. Chengdu. No, not Chengzhou! Chengdu! The freaking capitol of Sichuan! Sichuan province. How can you not know where this is! Chengdu dang it! Not Hangzhou! That's not even close!”
Eventually we managed to get it all hammered out and we got our food but it was more work than it should have been. Best Big Mac I've had in a long time.
Day Four: Our time in Chengdu wasn't going to be particularly long, so we could only got a few places. We elected to go to the Panda Breeding Base. And I think that was actually it. Yup. That was it. It was pretty interesting. Did you know that the Chengdu Panda Breeding Base has the world's largest frozen panda sperm bank in the world? It's true. I read it on a plaque. We got to seem some of the adult panda's being fed which was pretty entertaining. They looked for all the world like some Joe-schmo sitting there with a six-pack and a bag of chips. Stick a recliner under the thing and it would have been the spitting image. When they eat they roll on their backs and kind of lazily grope for any bamboo that's within reach, stripping the bamboo of leaves and stuffing them in their mouth. We also got to see some baby pandas which were really cute, as well as the red pandas which are not apparently even really related to Giant Pandas. Another Giant Panda fun fact: Giant Pandas and their fake cousins are actually carnivores, taxonomically speaking, so to make up for the relative scarcity of nutrients in bamboo they have to eat around 40+ kg (80+lbs) of bamboo a day, and according to yet another plaque I read their daily deposits are equally epic, reaching anywhere from 20 to 40 kg. Can you even imagine how much time they must spend in the bathroom?
We headed back to the bus station in the early afternoon since we didn't want a repetition of practically every day of our trip so far, where we got back to the bus station too late to catch a real bus and ended up having to stumble upon a private bus. We actually were really hoping to catch a train which would have been almost as cheap as a bus and a lot quicker and let hassle but unfortunately the tickets were all sold out. We were accosted at around this point by a bevy of bus drivers/motorcycle driver who said that we could catch a bus that was leaving in about an hour for 120 kuai a person. I was unwilling to accept this an volunteered to take another bus to the bus station to see if the tickets there were A) available and B) cheaper than these people were offering. The bus ride to get to the bus station itself took around forty minutes but this story had a happy ending. Not only were there tickets for a bus to Chengdu that I was able to purchase the bus station for reason known only to itself had not one but TWO McDonalds, those bastions of American capitalism. So I was able to find a reasonably clean and comfortable perch to read my kindle at while the rest of our group made their slow and bumbling way to me. At 7:20 sharpish we boarded our bus for Chongqing and set off.
Day 5: I suppose this is technically still day four but whatever. We arrived in Chongqing pretty late, around 11 and needed to get to our awesome hotel the Sheraton somehow. We ended up taking two cabs, with Joseph and I sharing a cab with two other Chinese people for some reason. While we were in the cab our driver suddenly asks us if we were wanted to go to the Xierdun Hotel or the Xilaideng Hotel. I did possess this information and since both mine and Ian's phone was out of batteries I was not able to call him and inquire as to which hotel we were going to. But it turned out ok. We did have to pay a little extra because the whole reason we shared a cab in the first place was that the driver had thought we were going to the Hilton (Xierdun) which was on the way to where the Chinese people were going, but ended up going a considerable distance beyond. But it was all worth it. Once again Seth and I waited outside for the other three to check in. Perhaps I should explain that it was only through the munificence and the overflowing generosity that is the mark of true greatness, of Ian's father who used some of his hotel 'point's', that we were able to go from crappy half-star hole-in-the-wall to magnificent five-star opulence in a single night. So Joseph texts me saying that all is good to go and Seth and I wandered in trying to look casual and like we knew where we were going. Joseph had said to walk pass the desk and turn left, so of course I walked pass the desk and turn right. Which meant we ended up stuck in a corner. Eventually we found our way to the elevators and up to the room without further incident, although I did unfairly castigate Ian for giving terrible directions. In my defense it was late and I do have pretty serious trouble separating left and right at the best of times. We quickly slipped away into blissful slumber (except for me, I think it was because I was too clean and too comfortable).
NOW it's day five. We were supposed to get up at around 8 I think, but it was closer to 9:30 when we finally tottered out the door. Breakfast ended up being noodles, even though the hotel had a breakfast. We had hoped that it was included in the room, at least for two of us but alas it turned out no. And it was 132 kuai per person so we opted for cheap noodles instead. On a side note, while on this trip it was confirmed that I do not like spicy stuff. At all. Make a note.
After eating our breakfast noodles we took a bus to a place, then changed buses and rode that bus somewhere else. (It's late and this part isn't that interesting anyway). Originally we in our group had wanted to go white-water rafting which apparently is something that can be done in Chongqing, but not at this time of the year because a lot of the stream and creeks had dried up. So we ended up going first to Chongqing's ancient city part, which I had actually been to last year while on a business trip. This part of the town was super crowded, with jostling crowds, vendors selling assorted unsavory foods, and knick-knack stores. There was also a place which I think sold dog's teeth that had two fairly freshly severed dogs' heads on display for some reason. Creepy. After touring this place for a period of time, we headed up to a museum place that commemorated the liberation of Chongqing and the massacre of around 300 Communist prisoners. Apparently Chongqing wasn't liberated until after the establishment of the PRC which I hadn't known before. Unfortunately the museum wasn't that interesting, it seemed to serve as more of an opportunity to hail the greatness of the Party and the wisdom in sacrificing on its behalf than as an actual historical site. It was pretty well preserved however, and we did catch a bus up to some of the prisons where they Communist POW's were actually held. Also, I got a cool had that apparently is endorsed by both Chairman Mao and Jeep. The ultimate duo.
For dinner Ian was determined to eat Hot Pot, since the Hot Pot was originally born in Chongqing I guess. Unfortunately Seth, Joseph and I had been spoiled by the Hot Pot's in Taiwan which were delicious, cheap, all you can eat and most importantly had all you can eat ice cream. We weren't able to find any place like that in Chongqing, although we did end up eating Hot Pot, one in which a small pot of spicy broth was surrounded by a much milder chicken broth. After finishing our meal Joseph and Nicole decided to head back to into town to shop for some more things, while Ian, Seth and I made our way back to the hotel. On our way back we were able to take a cable car across the Changjiang, which presented an impressive panoramic view of city, with most of the skyscrapers including our hotel towers outlined in gold lights, with chromatic displays of scintillating rainbows shooting up and down buildings. The river itself had brightly lit boats of various kinds coming and going, while we slowly traversed the span suspended in the air.
That was most of our trip actually. The next morning we got up at 5, took at cab to the airport, Seth had to promise his first-born child to get through the security check and we were off back to Nanjing. We landed around 10 in the morning, took the bus and then the subway back to the University and from their returned home. All in all it was a most enjoyable trip. I enjoyed the company of the people that I went with, the places that I went, the problems that we encountered and overcame, and the memories that were created and shared. Long live spontaneous and poorly planned vacations!!!