The End

Trip Start May 28, 2008
1
16
Trip End Aug 02, 2008


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Flag of China  , Sichuan,
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Well, things have come to an end. Right now many people have already left for their planes/trains to elsewhere, and I am helping others pack. I really can't believe it's over. I've become so accustomed to being here, I think it will be hard to re-assimilate, especially knowing that i might not see some of these people again. The past week and half have been a blur. Between trying to prepare for the final exam and China Night, there's been no time to think about anything else. The test didn't go too well for me, but I'm still confident in my performance overall. Thursday night after the test was China Night, essentially a performance of everything we've accomplished thus far and our last oral exam grade. I participated in several different activities, including a skit with 7 others written by us, a chinese-gourd playing group, a song with the other second-year students and teachers, and a "fashion show." The night was thoroughly embarrassing, but one thing I've learned here is that if you can't laugh at yourself then you'll just be too preoccupied with your image to put yourself out there. Anyway, we had plenty of fun and it was videotaped, I suspect we'll be able to grab a copy later on. Anyway, after that we had a night out with the teachers since they aren't really our teachers anymore. The next day we had a farewell banquet at a Sichuan restaurant to prepare us for our trip to Chengdu.

So.... Chengdu. We left around 5am on Friday, bused to the airport, waited for a long while before boarding the plane. red sun at night
red sun at night
 I fell asleep before take-off and after landing, so it was a pretty decent ride for me. It took about three hours, really not bad. We eventually checked into our hotel, called "MinShan hotel", 4 stars in fact. Continuing on... before checking in to the hotel, we sampled the Sichuan cuisine at a really nice hot pot restaurant. As you may know, Sichuan food is notoriously spicy, but I don't like spicy food so I did my best to avoid the hot stuff. The next stop of the day was at Wuhou Ci which is a temple honoring a Three Kindoms era ruler named Liang. After touring a really beautiful Bonzai garden and small museum, we moved on to Jinli Street right next door, which has a lot of shopping as well as regional snacks. We spent a lot of time here, especially at a koi pond talking with a German who recently moved to Chengdu. After a nice nap, a few of us went out to see the night life and had a good time.

The next day, we bused over to the Panda Breeding Center. We got to see all kinds of pandas. We were especially lucky because just five days before we got there, babies were born. They can't have been bigger than 3-5 inches long, and completely devoid of hair. We saw lounging pandas and caged pandas, and were given the opportunity to interact with them. To hold a 1 year old panda for two minutes, it cost approximately 1000 kuai, which is quite a lot in terms of kuai, but is only about 150 USD. To take a picture with a 2 year old panda cost about 400 kuai, or 60 USD. I, on the other hand, opted for the 50 kuai option of holding a red panda, which is much smaller and resembles a raccoon more than a giant panda. I just didn't have the 1000 kuai on hand. I think it's still very cute. Anyway, after the panda place we went to visit
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