茶馆，美国足球，和 家庭。

These last two weeks went by quickly with anticipation for our trip to Beijing 北京. This is a good great thing considering this is midterms week, but let go back and recap everything up until now. 

Every few week for Chinese class we take a field trip to practice our language skills outside the classroom. The classes go to different locations and this time we lucked out and went to a local Tea Market 茶馆. It was fantastic. We had a list of questions we were supposed to get answered during friendly conversation while we taste tested all kinds of tea. Before coming to China I was not a big tea drinker. As a matter of fact, I hated it. They say going abroad changes you and this is one change I am happy to say I have made. I am now addicted to tea and drink it all day every day. Back to the tea market. This is a block full of small stalls and rooms full of tea leaves, tea pots, and people chatting over cups of hot tea 热茶。Going into the day I had my favorite and it was Oolong tea, coming out of the exercise I now have three or four or five favorites. While we sipped on tiny glasses of tea that are never empty, we asked our questions regarding different kinds of tea and types of customers, etc. Every time we brought up a new kind of tea, they made some of us to try. The picture below shows about 8 different kinds of tea steeping for us to try. Needless to say we all came home with something. Emily and I bought flower and fruit tea 化果茶, which is made of dried fruits and cherry blossoms. Peter came home with nearly 10 different teas, a tea canister, and lots of knowledge about the tea market (he even stayed an hour after class ended). The tea market is a place we will definitely return to.

Tea Market 茶馆 

Friday morning, Kevin and Elliot (fellow Ducks), Drew, Dan and I made our way across town to Bubba's Texas Bar-b-que to watch the UO vs. UCLA game. When we got out of the metro station I thought we had traveled back to the states because there were huge suburban houses lining the road. It was the first time I had seen a house in China that wasn't an apartment building or a small shack. I was in awe. We found Bubba's which is owned by Bubba, a Texan, who tapes football games as requested and plays them at scheduled times. He graciously taped the UO game and played it at noon which is good timing on his part since we all got lunch there. He even had a small UO flag hanging from the rafter next to the television. The game was awesome. A blowout. It made Kevin and I a little homesick wishing we could be in the student section at Autzen in yellow cheering for our team watching the awesome win. We had fantastic bar-b-que lunch followed by hours of playing "bags" (throwing bean bags across into holes in boards... Drew will kill me for giving such a measly description).

Suburbia in China?

UO kills UCLA at Bubba's Texas Bar-b-que
(Notice the small Oregon flag hanging to the left of the TV)

Saturday was another monsoon. It was unreal how much it rained and how hard the wind was blowing. We couldn't even make it to the metro station without getting drenched so we took a cab to downtown to meet up with Laura and head for the Fake Market. This is an underground market full of fake products at beyond cheap prices. Unfortunately, none of us were prepared for this excursion and forgot to visit an ATM before showing up. We didn't buy much, but we figured out what we wanted and the prices for when we go back. Laura and Emily did find some great movies, so after dinner we decided that instead of adventuring out in the storm, we were going to have a girl's night in watching chick flicks. Four of us crammed on one bed watching It's Complicated with Meryl Streep is an awesome Saturday night. Sunday was a lazy day and Monday was a crazy day. Both were filled with homework and studying and pretending to be productive at writing my papers. Tonight we had a program meeting where we received our itinerary for Beijing. The excitement made it even harder to be productive tonight. The only downer was that we were told we will be leaving the dorm at 6am on Friday morning. I don't think any of us have seen 6am since arriving in Shanghai, let alone on a Friday!! I hope to have tons of pictures and stories up shortly after our return next Saturday!

Side Note

I have been fortunate to grow up in an age where technology is so advanced that we are able to see each other in live time from opposite sides of the world. As soon as I knew I was leaving for Shanghai I made sure that my mom had a webcam. Before I knew it, Grandma and Papa had one, Chris had one, and thankfully Ellie's computer does too. I get to talk to (and see when she decides she looks okay) mom at least once a week if not more than that and maybe every other time I get to see dad if he isn't off hunting. I enjoy getting to see their faces while hearing their voices and I think it helps me keep from getting homesick. One of my favorite skype dates yet was when I got to see Grandma, Grandpa, Reilly, Wyatt, Molly, Kyle and Kayla all at one time. It made my morning and my week! Then the following weekend, just this past Sunday, I got to see Chris for the first time since he left this summer. Four months later I am happy to say I vaguely remember his face. While traveling across the US he stayed on the couch of a foreign exchange student from China. Giving gifts is an important custom in China and he graciously gave Chris a "face changing" mask. It is funny to me because everyone knows the image of that mask, but I have seen the actual event twice here in China. I enjoy every minute I get to spend on skype with my family and I am so thankful to the technology that allows me to do so.

My family

The first time I have seen his face since the beginning of summer and it wasn't even his face!

Homework overload followed by loads of shopping, sushi, saki, & stories.

This has been one crazy week. Sunday night we worked through loads of homework. On Mondays I have class from 9-4:15 which is bad enough after a week off, but my first Monday back consisted of a test first thing in the morning with a paper due and Emily and I had a summary/review for the class over all the readings we “read” during the break. My next class, Chinese was an oral exam, and my last class had two papers due. Needless to say Sunday was a late night. Tuesday followed with another oral exam and Wednesday was two more tests. Thursday was a group presentation and then celebrating the end of the week!! We have a favorite restaurant out the back gate called “xue you 学友” and last week we managed to go to it three of the first five nights back home. We missed it while we were away from Shanghai. Thursday night Emily and I introduced 10 of the boys to our xue you 学友. We went out after dinner with the whole CIEE group. It was good to be home and with our friends again.

            Friday morning I had a fieldtrip at 9am to a Methodist church here in Shanghai. It was beautiful. The idea that churches exist here in China is still strange to me, but it makes more sense knowing they are government run. We got to tour the inside of the church and it was beautiful. Being inside you forget that you are in China. The church was built in 1929 with entirely imported materials from the states. Everything inside and outside the church is the same as it was in 1929 (with updates and refurbishments), except for the stained glass windows that were destroyed by protestors during the Cultural Revolution. While this is all boring to you, these are all things I have been learning about in classes for years and actually got to see it first hand. It was beautiful.

Methodist Church in Shanghai

After the fieldtrip I met with Phil, a friend and co-worker of Paul Ranta, and we went to lunch. It was nice to meet another person from the states with the same passion for China. The restaurant, Gourmet Café, had great food and fresh squeezed orange juice. We don’t get a lot of fruit here because we have to be so careful about how it is grown, washed, and prepared, so the smallest things (like orange juice) are the highlights of my day! After lunch Emily, Lucy, Mike and I went shopping on Shaanxi lu 陕西路, a famous shopping street in Shanghai. Emily came out very successful, while the rest of us were pretty disappointed. After shopping and some homework we went out for all you can eat and all you can drink Sushi and Sake. It was so much fun. There were 19 of us total; Lucy, Laura, Emily, and I were the only girls. After about 2+ hours of sushi, sashimi, sake, and Asahi we were ready to go. The raw fish and sake didn’t settle well with Emily so she ended her night early. Luckily she was the only one who didn’t feel well or I would’ve started to believe what the girls said about being afraid of the quality of sushi in China.

Saturday we went to the mall at another attempt to get some shopping done, but yet again came home empty handed. I am starting to wish I didn’t wait to get to China to do some of my shopping. Saturday night we had a plan to go get a western dinner and then go to Cloud 9 which is a lounge on the 87^th floor of a hotel and really upscale. We just wanted to say we had been to the highest lounge in the world. About 15 minutes before leaving I decided that I really didn’t want to go out all dressed up and I stayed back. I had dinner out the back gate, worked on homework for a couple hours, and then hung out in the dorms with the boys and their Chinese roommates. I loved it because it was the first time I had the opportunity to interact with the Chinese roommates on other floors. Luckily the girls changed their plans and didn’t go to Cloud 9 anyways, so I will have the opportunity to do that again. I was also thankful I got to stay home and get the chance to skype with Grandma and Grandpa and chat with Reilly. It was a hard day for everyone, which I realized, is why I wasn’t really in the mood to go out, but having the chance to talk to family made it better. Those are the times I wish we were advanced enough to have a teleport so I could run home real quick and get/give lots of hugs.

Sunday was more homework and never leaving my room except for dinner. Monday was another long day of classes followed by “Meiguo 美国 Mondays at Malones”. We got our burger for the week and hung out in an entirely ex-pat restaurant for while. After Malones we came home and got ready to go watch a live jazz and blues performance at the Melting Pot. I love live music and the performance was great, so even though it was a Monday night, it was totally worth it! 

When in China:: Part 3

Sanya 三亚

We arrived in Sanya on Thursday welcomed by the rain. We got to our hostel and after our two previous hostels we were slightly disappointed... okay really disappointed. Our hostel was the second story of an old building with small steel stairs up the side that are not ideal in the rain. We checked into our jail cell and decided to find the showers. I don't want to sound too negative about our room, but it literally had steel frame bunks with two sheets of plywood and a sheet, a small tv tray for a table, metal lockers, and nothing else. As if it couldn't get worse you should have seen this bathroom. I considered taking a photograph, but I didn't want to anyone to get sick from looking at it. The toilet (Chinese style squatter) and the shower were all in one stall and it smelled as if it had never been cleaned. I supposed it conserves on water because no one wants/can stand to take long showers.

Thorn Bird Hostel

Our jail cell

My plywood bed

After our quick showers we went to a restaurant that had been recommended by CIEE girls that spend the beginning of the week in Sanya. Fat Daddy's 胖老爸。We were pleasantly surprised when our waiter came up and was not only fluent in English, but it was his first language. He was from North Carolina and had studied with CIEE at ECNU in Shanghai the year before. He came to Sanya and liked it so much he came back after graduating. He recommended their mojitos and we went for it. I have had my share of a variety of mojitos and I have never had anything like the ones we were served that night. They had a stick of sugar cane in them and you bite the sugar cane for some extra sweet before taking a drink. They were amazing. The food was good too! I had fried rice served in the pineapple that was used in my rice. We knew right away that we would be back to this place before the end of the weekend.

Dinner at Fat Daddy's 胖老爸

The best mojito made by man 

Fried rice in a pineapple for dinner

 The next day we were hoping to find a hike to do in the jungle/rainforest somewhere but because of the unusual rain, guides were not taking people on hikes. Instead the hostel recommended an "excursion" to a hot springs resort on the island. It was quite the change from our hostel accommodations. The resort was beautiful and luxurious and we had 4 hours to spend there. We started off at the fish therapy pool. This is a warm spring filled with small fish that come up to you and eat your dead skin. It was the weirdest thing I have even volunteered to experience. Emily and I sat in the middle of the pool and attracted quite the school of fish. Lucy and Lauren, not too keen on the feeling, sat on the side and hung their toes over the edge. After the fish therapy pool we went to the coffee pool, the milk pool, the fragrant liquor (red wine) pool, and regular hot spring pools. We took a break at the infinity pool while Lauren got an hour long massage and then headed back to the fish therapy pool. While it was a very strange tickling sensation and slightly disgusting, it was addicting! Plus I think it really worked because my skin is oddly smooth! On the way home from the hot springs they crammed our 15 person group into a 7 passenger van. From the beginning I was thinking it was a bad idea, but when in China right. I felt like we were being illegally smuggled across a border. Emily, Lucy and I were put on the bench seat in the back which came from a different vehicle and was just set in the back, not fastened to anything. About 15 minutes from home our seat broke. Literally caved out from underneath us and we all screamed. The van driver barely looked back and just kept on going. We moved up into some of the empty seats from departed passengers and anxiously awaited returning to the hostel. Lauren wasn't feeling well so she stayed in while Lucy, Em and I went to Dolphin. A notoriously good American sports bar. It had a reputation for a reason. We had cocktails and American food and listened to American music and watched ESPN. Lucy even had some of the best ribs I have ever tasted. We stopped at Fat Daddy's on the way home to say hello to our new friend before going back to the dreaded hostel. We were beginning to get home sick for Shanghai.

Fish Therapy Pool 

Natural Hot Spring Pool

The next morning we returned to Dolphin for their effectively advertised brunch. It wasn't great and it took forever to get served when there were only two table of customers in the whole joint. We decided to go in search of a private/public beach on the island. The beaches around our hostel were covered in trash and smelled awful. We went to Yalong Bay, which was a pay to use beach with all the amenities. We bought a coconut to drink and then had it cut open to eat the coconut meat 椰肉. We decided to skip the fried whole fish and whole squid kabobs the coconut man was also selling. We spent the day in the water and on the beach. We left our bulky towels at the hostel to we bought cheap matching towels, the only trade off was the embroidery bears on the front. We had a very relaxing day away from the grime of Sanya City and the jail of Thorn Bird Hostel. We had dinner at a restaurant highly recommended but weren't impressed. It did not compare to our 学友 restaurant out the back gate back home in Shanghai. Plus everyone just stared at us while we ate. 

Fried fish or squid kabobs anyone?

Emily and I in our sweet hats with our coconut 椰 

An entire tour group with matching attire on the Sanya beach

Yalong beach with our matching teddy bear towels

 We woke up Sunday morning as excited to get home to Shanghai as we were to leave it 9 days prior. We quickly packed our bags and headed for Fat Daddy's one last time. We had their famous clay pot breakfasts. It reminded me exactly of John and Karen Kreft's mountain man breakfast they made for us this summer at Diamond Lake, expect this one wasn't quite as good. When the waitress brought us our silverware I was surprised to see something so close to home. A Rogue Brewery glass in Sanya, China! I started to look around and realized that all the ash trays and "silverware holders" were from Rogue. Apparently the owner used to sell the beer at the restaurant, but had never actually been to the brewery. What a small world! 

Rogue Brewery in Sanya, China!!

At least the sun came out on the day we left

Our trip to Chengdu, Xi'an, and Sanya was an amazing adventure. It was a great trip filled with lots of excursions and "experiences". The best part of the whole vacation is that it made us appreciate our home in Shanghai so much more. We are so thankful for our "comfortable" beds, our clean showers, our back-gate dinners, and all our friends. We came home to loads of homework and midterms and papers due, but we are slowly working through them and will have a relaxing weekend ahead. 

When in China:: Part 2

Xi'an 西安

When we left off we had just hoped on the train 火车 with minutes to spare. We walk onto the car with the expectation of having a soft sleeper. A soft sleeper is a private room with four bunks and a door. This is not what we got. Instead we had a hard sleeper which is a car full of bunks and people. The bunks are 3 high and there are probably 60 total bunks in one car. We laughed harder in the first 10 minutes of that train ride than we had all trip. We had 14 hours to spend with 56 Chinese passengers and no privacy. We made the best of it... for 15 minutes until the lights went off and it was apparently bed time. Luckily none of us had a top bunk. Emily and I were in the middle bunks and Lucy and Lauren lucked out on the bottom. The girl above me texted all night long without putting it on silent and the man above Emily talked until about midnight and then groaned in his sleep all night. "It is an experience" we kept telling ourselves.

Not sure what we got ourselves into.

This shows the 3 high bunks.

The night morning we woke up around 7am since we had to go to bed at 9:30pm. We were somewhere in the countryside with 5 hours to go. Luckily we brought snacks and tea to keep us occupied. The bathroom on the train was quite disgusting to we decided to wait and use the one at the train station. Bad idea. We barely walked through the door at the train station and turned around and walked right back out. There was no way! We took a van to our hostel which again was amazing, even better than the first! Xiangzimen 湘子门 had traditional architecture with courtyards a restaurant and a bar. All the walls had originally been painted white and then all the travelers who say there had written messages to the world on those same walls. We had to leave our mark as well. As I mentioned in the first post, we had gotten so used to being called "waiguoren 外国人" that we barely responded to our own names anymore, so that is what we wrote on the wall right outside our room. Again we lucked out with a four bunk private room with really comfy beds and a mirror and lockers. We hadn't been in the hostel for 10 minutes before jumping in the shower, train rides can really make you feel disgusting. We went for lunch in the Muslim Quarter and then in search of a Starbucks. Coffee was necessary after the night on the train. The reason we planned part of our trip to Xi'an is because Lucy's mom and grandma are on an Chinese tour and were going to be in Xi'an during our vacation. After Starbucks we got a taxi to the Shangri-la Hotel to surprise her mom. We knew when the plane landed but we didn't know if the tour had things planned before checking in at the hotel, so we waited in the lounge at the hotel. Luxury felt nice. We went to dinner with her mom and then headed for home.

Inside Xiangzimen Youth Hostel

Our room

We left our mark!
(Note: Noah is a joke/fictional character on our program, not an actual participant) 

 The next morning we had another excursion planned. We were fortunate to have our hostel plan everything for us and get us discounts with our ECNU student ID cards! We started the morning with laundry and a breakfast that topped the one from the first hostel!! Then we were off to see the Terra-Cotta Army 兵马俑. It was truly fascinating 了不起！We started off at the factory where they make duplicates to sell to tourists with the same local clay that they used to make the originals 2000 years ago. Many of the soldiers are still in the process of excavation, but there are nearly 8000 total and no two soldiers are the same. It was an awesome thing to see and just unbelievable. 

Me as a Terra-Cotta soldier. 

The largest pit holding the most fully constructed soldiers

Some of the finished soldiers

Soldiers in the process of excavation

I was loving it! 

More Chinese friends.

The only other thing to see in Xi'an is the city wall. This is a wall that was built around the city 600 years ago to protect the emperor. The wall is awesome and the thing to do it to bike along the entire wall, but we decided to be lazy and just walk around on top of it before heading for our 18 course jaozi 饺子 meal. Jiaozi are dumplings filled with everything from meat/fish to veggies to any combination you can imagine. The restaurant we went to was known for making their jiaozi into all shapes sizes and colors, so we had to try it out. It was a very filling and tasty meal and a great way to spend our last night in Xi'an. We went back to the hostel to get a drink and play some card games. Lucy and I each ordered a Mai Tai which are supposed to be fruity cocktails, instead we were served some sort of milk cocktail that we decided to leave behind. We met the hostel manager who gave himself the English name of Jim Bean. After visiting and beating Lucy at every card game known to man, we packed our bags and went to bed. 

The next morning we would be heading for the last destination of our trip, Sanya 三亚, and we were more than excited!

City wall

The gang on the city wall

Pagoda on the city wall

18 courses of Jiaozi = love

When in China:: Part 1

Chengdu 成都

October 1st could not come soon enough!  The homework load for the week had been tough and we were so excited to get out of the city. Since we all had been so busy during the week, none of us had packed and with an hour before we needed to leave for the subway we quickly packed, got breakfast baozi 包子 (steam buns filled with yummies), and loaded more minutes on our cell phones. 

The anticipation (and weight of our bags) is killing us!
Emily, Me, Lauren and Lucy

On our way to the subway station we stopped at an ATM and I realized I had already forgotten the most important thing, my passport! A quick run back across campus and I was ready to go. We rode the subway across the city to the Meglev station. The Meglev is a high speed train that makes a 45min subway ride to the airport into a 15min Meglev ride. 

The Meglev

Very excited to begin our vacation!

Likewise.

While waiting at our gate we noticed a fat (obese) little tyrant of a 3 year old boy running around the gate causing mischief and being followed by his grandmother who never stopped stuffing his face with food. His mouth was literally never empty, little did we know this "tweedle dee" would become a trend on our trip. He did keep us entertained and laughing until we needed to board our plane. After a smooth 3 hour plane ride we arrived in Chengdu. Our hostel, The Loft, was fantastic. It was an old warehouse redone into a hostel with a contemporary vibe. The staff was so friendly and they had a pool table, a movie room, a bar, and a full menu. We dropped our bags in our 4 bunk private room and headed our for dinner. We weren't sure what to expect since we were in Sichuan province which is known all over the world for its spicy food. We lucked out, dinner wasn't spicy, in fact it has no spice whatsoever. After dinner we were hoping to check out the movie room, but sadly it was taken so instead we got a beer and sat on the sun porch (moon porch at this hour) listening to Norah Jones. It was a perfect way to unwind from our first day of traveling. 

Our awesome first hostel set the expectations high.

The next morning we woke up early in anticipation of our excursion that morning. We had a fabulous breakfast cooked by the hostel; eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, muesli with fruit and yogurt. It was the first real breakfast I have had since arriving in China and it was fantastic. After breakfast we headed to the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center. It was easily the one thing we were all looking forward to the most. They are the laziest creatures I think I have every spent an extended period of time watching and we were supposedly there during their active hours. Unlike the zoos in the states, the Panda exhibits have low walls and the exhibit comes very close to the pedestrian paths. It felt as if we could reach out and touch them, which we all had the intention to do. 

Lazy Panda 熊猫

The gang loving the Pandas.

Red Panda (looks more like a raccoon to me)

This guy was the laziest eater I have ever seen...
And he kept eating the entire 3 hours we were at the center.

 After touring the entire center we decided to embark on a once in a lifetime experience. We were going to hold a Panda. As you can see we were pretty thrilled that we had the option to pay 1000 RMB to hold a Panda. Everyone asks us why we paid so much (which I didn't think was a lot considering) just to hold a Panda, we decided to think of it as a donation to Panda research. Holding ChiChi, a "young" panda cub, was by far one of the most memorable moments in my life. The staff fed ChiChi bamboo shoots dipped in honey to keep him from eating me while he sat in my lap.  He looks very large in the picture, but he really didn't seem that big on my lap. They have very thick fur that makes them look larger than they feel. ChiChi was so adorable 很可爱!!

Sheer excitement

ChiChi is sitting in my lap right now!!!!

After spending the morning at the center, we went for lunch at a Hot Pot restaurant. Hot Pot is a large boiling pot of broth in the middle of the table and they bring you raw veggies and meats to cook in it as you wish. This is the Sichuan tradition and this is where the Sichuan spicy reputation comes from. It was spicy, but it was good. Not the place to go if you are starving though, as it takes time to cook everything and they don't give you very big portions. We returned to the Hostel for a relaxing afternoon in the movie room watching the new Alice in Wonderland with the fabulous Johnny Depp (hence the tweedle dee and tweedle dum that we now call every chubby little boy) before going out on the town to the Sichuan Opera.

Sichuan Opera

Sunday we decided to go on another excursion, with an only Chinese speaking tour guide, and an entirely Chinese tour group. It was an experience (which we tend to have lots of on this trip), which is why we came to this country in the first place. We went to Mount Qingcheng 青城山 and climbed to the top. Mount Qingcheng is a Taoist temple mountain covered in pagoda temples and tourists. I think when we reached the top of the mountain we had climbed 800,000 stairs and seriously worked our gluteus maximus muscles, only to turn around and hike back down.

Emily and I about 1/16 of the way up the mountain

Stairs are the only option and they never end.

Emily and I about 1/2 way up the mountain with Chinese "friends".
We became quite the celebrities on this trip.

One thing we began to notice was that outside of Shanghai, American tourists are not a frequent sight. We got very used to being called "waiguoren 外国人" which literally means foreigners by all the young kids that passed us. We got stared at as if we had "look here" painted on our faces. And we had people just take our pictures like paparazzi to a celebrity. We have never had so many strangers ask us to take pictures with them or with their children or just of us. 

Some of the tour group children including another tweedle dee.
Our group also had tweedle dum twins on it.

After Mount Qingcheng we had one more stop to make before heading back for the city, or so we thought... We thought we were headed for Dujiangyan Irrigation System (it is just a boring dirty river), but instead we turned down an unmarked gravel road towards a warehouse with 10+ tour buses in front of it. What had we gotten ourselves into?? Our entire tour group was shuffled into a small room where a man did a demonstration about knives as if we were part of a real life infomercial/Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It was the strangest thing. Then we loaded back on the bus and headed for the river. At this point in the tour we had passed the test and were initiated into the group. The families started talking to us and taking pictures of us with their children. Three of the chubbiest little boys were in our group, tweedle dee and the tweedle dum twins. At the river we were required to cross a foot bridge that could've been built in the Qing Dynasty it was so rickety. And of course since we are in China there were at least 200 people on it at any one time. Needless to say I didn't enjoy it.

Rickety bridge with 200+ people on it. Scary.

We got home late and decided to go for a quick dinner and then enjoy some desert with a bottle of wine and some girl gossip. We found a cute little cafe with couches and candle lit tables in the back. We ordered a cheap bottle of Chinese wine and some tiramisu and some gossip. The perfect evening to a group of four exhausted girls.

Wine, tiramisu, and gossip

 For our last day in Chengdu we went to Wenshu Monastery, a Buddhist monastery in the middle of the city. Once inside the walls you would never know you were in the center of a city of 9 million people, it was so quiet and calm. We visited the library and all the different temples. After a relaxing walk through the monastery and enjoying the intricate designs on all the pagodas, we went for some tea and the monastery tea house 茶馆. This tea house is known in Chengdu for hosting all the locals and so we decided to fully immerse ourselves. The tea was good and the service was better. We would barely set down our glasses after a single sip of tea and the little old man would be back by overflowing your cup with more hot water. 

The gang at Wenshu

Wenshu Library filled with studying monks

The designs on the library

My tea cup at the tea house 

 After the monastery we headed back to the hostel to hang out with a snack on the patio and then head for dinner at Namaste, an Indian restaurant in downtown Chengdu. We made our way back to the hostel around 8:30 and caught a taxi at 8:45 to head to the train station for our "11pm" train to Xi'an 西安。Our lovely Lucy read the military time on the tickets wrong and the train that we thought was leaving at 11:20 was really leaving at 9:20. We hoped on the train at about 9:15 about to embark on quite an "experience"...