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Published: September 6th 2012
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At Starbucks!
We found a Starbucks! This was a big deal since there are none in Urumqi. Yuanding doesn't drink coffee, but her brother and I enjoyed ours! I arrived in Chengdu on Saturday night, July 21. I forgot my laptop at security in the Urumqi airport. I only realized that it was missing once I boarded the plane. By that time, it was too late to go back and get it. Fortunately, I got the cell phone number of someone right there who worked at the Urumqi airport, so I was able to keep in touch with him about finding my laptop.
Yuanding and her step-brother Bing Yao met me at the airport in Chengdu. Their "grandfather" drove them there and drove us all home. Yuanding's home is amazing! We pulled into a gated community with lovely yellow-brick streets and later pull up to a 4-story house! This place is great! You first walk into an entryway, and there's a seperate sitting room and a mahjong room behind that. The luxurious dining room with padded dining room chairs is behind that. The 2-room kitchen is off of that. Yuanding's room has a king size bed and its own bathroom WITH A TOILET THAT CAN HANDLE TOILET PAPER!!! I have enjoyed sitting on Yuanding's balcony (the one off of her room only - there are several others) in
Ummm... okay...
I'll let this store name speak for itself... just thought it was interesting. the mornings to read. The main living room has a 2-story high ceiling and tall, richly draped windows. The basement (if you count the basement, there are actually 5 floors) houses a HUGE (like several metres across, not just inches) flat-screen TV and a karaoke machine. There are several other bedrooms, and there are balconies furnished with little patio sets and lots of greenery. The small backyard itself is a pond with a boardwalk over it leading to a little furnished patio. Coming from my little, crowded apartment in Xinjiang, this week has been a blessing. But, since I've never lived in a place this nice (I doubt that 90% of North Americans live in homes like this), coming from anywhere into this would be enjoyable.
On Sunday, we went to church. We found a church online, but no service times were posted. We ended up going to a 2pm service after eating at a delcious Japanese restaurant. We walked up to a huge church with a cross on the front of it! It seemed like I was't even in China!
After church, we went to Kuan zhai xiang zi. It's a little touristy-type place with streets of
Enjoying our Day
Here we are shopping at a tourist-trap type place.
old Chinese buildings. They are all shops, and it was delightful. There was lots of greenery, gardens, and fountains in entrances to many shops and restauarants. Some places with double doors had beautiful artwork painted or carved on them. There was even a Starbucks! We stopped for a few minutes to watch a 2-person Chinese theatre, which was entertaining. I loved all the hand-embroidered hangings and pictures. My favorites were the ones in rotating frames that displayed both sides. Both sides had to be done exactly the same (mirror image), so it would have taken quite a bit of work.
Finally on Sunday, we went out for Hotpot. "Kuai le lao jai" is the name of the place we went to - it was a ritzy little place - very nice atmosphere. We sat on plush velvet couches to eat. It was a very nice place! HotPot is this boiling spicy soup put in the middle of your table in a large pot. It's kept boiling the whole time. You order from the menu what you want to put in it. Everything you order comes raw and sits on a little cart nearby. You cook everything as you go.
Live Statues
These guys were real. We didn't bother paying to get our photo with them, though! You can get normal stuff, like pork/chicken/beef. You can get vegetables - I think we got lotus root, potato slices, some green thing that looked like large green beans, and... other stuff - I can't quite remember. You can get tofu. And then you can get ummmm... what shall I call it? ... "abnormal" stuff, I guess... I have now tried duck tongue and cuttlefish (looked like a squid, but Yuanding ran it through her ipad translator and it said it was cuttlefish - whatever that is...). I didn't try hearts (maybe duck hearts?) or brains (not sure what the brains were from, either...). But for real, it was all very tasty. Oh... yeah - the rice cakes dipped in honey were delicious, too.
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