So everyone,
I wanted to start off this blog by thanking all of the visitors that come to my blog. I get blog stats sent to me, and I am getting many many visitors. It appears as though, however, that MOST of you are visiting during the hours of 10am-4pm. YOU SHOULD BE WORKING! But I guess reading my blog is more fun. I wish it were more funny, but I think just telling the random things that go on is possibly what interests people more. "Just how do you fill your days?"
We opened this week, and as you have probably noticed, I am not on skype as often as I was before. Our call time at the theatre is 730pm, I have to get there by 7pm to do my hair, and I leave at 645pm. And we don't usually get back until close to midnight.
And our days are now free, so we are spending every moment we have sightseeing.
So unfortnately, I am quite difficult to reach these days. But keep looking for me on skype! I will actually be there one day.
I do share my internet with my roommie, as we are wired, not wireless. But i am looking into buying a wireless router, so that we can both be on at the same time. Would definitely make life easier for us.
And now, I will devote the rest of this blog to what has been keeping me busy!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Wenshou Monestary
Earlier this week, Sarah and I went to the Wenshou Monestary. It took us some trying to get there, as apparently my Fodor book does not have the chinese names of anything. So it's quite difficult to communicate where we want to go with the cab drivers. But eventually the guy claimed he understood and started driving.
We freaked out a bit, but did eventually get there. I took many pictures of the gardens and of the many buddhas. Many visitors were praying, so I did take caution and held back on the photos I would have taken had there been less- or no- people praying.
There will be a video on youtube when I get it uploaded.
We had heard the restaurant (vegetarian) there was amazing, but they wouldn't serve us food. So we happened to find another place. And boy, was it good! I guess other cast members had found it too, as they had agreed in how good it was. We got two plates of kung pao "chicken", pumpkin appetizer, spring rolls, and coconut balls of some kind. Except for the coconut balls, all was DELISH. we also got crysanthemum tea, which was AMAZING. the total bill came out to 55Y, which is about $8. not bad at all!
We also did some shopping, but the deals were not deals at all. In fact, they had the same items as the historic district, but for 2-3 times the cost! All the bargaining in the world wouldnt have brought them down to the HD low prices. and no, they did not give me a price based on the color of my skin, they were actually using price tags, so those were the actual asking prices! I did buy a couple of things, but now think i should have haggled or tried to buy them elsewhere.
Check the video here:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Leshan Buddha
A busload of us went to the Leshan Buddha, which is the larget Buddha in the world (or second largest, can't remember). it is 71M high, which is HIGH.
Again, I wandered the gardens, took lots of pictures...
It was a damp dreary day, and we had a CRAZY bus driver. He didn't actually know how to drive a bus, I am convinced. He drove it as if it were a car. Twice on the way there, the engine died. And the drive was about 3 hrs mind you, we were in the middle of nowhere! He would step on the gas to push the bus forward, then let it slow down to a newr crawl, then step on the gas again, let it go to a crawl, step on it again... the entire 3 hours! And it was 3 hours only for that reason. The buddha was only 90 miles away, it shouldn't have taken that long.
And the honking. This dude honked for no reason. Literally! You think NY drivers honk... He honked at cars 3 blocks away, he honked at people riding bkes on the side of the road, he honked because a car going another direction was stopped on the side of the road, and he honked because he was planning to stop at his red light. The man was CRAZY!
But we finally got there, and after hiking up to the Buddha, we saw it, and man, was it big! But there was plenty more to see, so we did. And then eventually, we climbed down the steep staircase built into the ledge of the mountain. So we were at Buddha's feet. But then, we had to climb all the way back up!
-----------------------------------------------------
Panda Reserve
Today, I FINALLY got to the panda reserve. this is another must-do in Chengdu. It's the largest panda habitat in the world (i believe). they don't have many babies, the youngest is 8 months or so.
we saw the babies playing, the cubs playing, the "sub-adult" pandas, and the giant pandas. oh it was so much fun! we also ate lunch there, which was an interesting experience. they had a menu in english, but no one there actually spoke english, nor were they willing to try to understand us. it took forever to flag someone to give us our bill.
at this point, we decided to go for the final shebang- HOLDING A PANDA. yes, you can hold a panda, for a nice price. i went with tracy to the black and white panda holding area. they bring you out a baby to hold. you get about 5 minutes with the panda, and have to get dressed as though you are in a hospital ER, complete with shoe protectors, coat, and gloves. they had a nice little area with doors, and when we got there, we ran into john b who was standing outside with some other asian people. he said that a bunch of OUR people were inside, and sure enough, out came half the cast, they had all held pandas too! to hold a black and white panda costs a mere 1000Y, or about $145 US.
well, as much as i wanted to hold a B&W panda, i don't make enough money to blow a paycheck on that, so i went for the second rate- i held a red panda. they are much smaller, and some of the red pandas look like they've been in fights, bleeding, messy, gross... but they gave me one that looked fine to hold, but it was in a small, weird room thing. i only had to wear the coat and gloves. i only got to hold my panda for a few minutes. the red pandas, tracy thinks, are very territorial, and like to "leave their mark", and they probably are more temperamental, so the holding time is much shorter. but it was 50Y, or about $7. and i still got to hold a panda.
tracy took pictures, so i'll be sure to get those from her asap.
and of course, tons of pictures here
and video here
and here
--------------------------------------------------
I am intending to see some more things, and revisit some places that I liked. It'll be busy with 5 shows this weekend, including the one I am about to be late to.
So I'll talk to ya'll later!
No comments:
Post a Comment