Oh you will never guess what we found sight seeing - A MALL! Oh my we (okay I) had so much fun! It was floors and floors of shopping all connected to a Starbucks! We started out this morning with a buffet in the lobby. I had a traditional breakfast, Skip ventured out much more and tried some local cuisine. We then set out to walk the main street in Chengdu. It is Saturday so you see a lot of young children - beautiful precious children. One little girl about four watched me, walked by and then turned around and ran up behind me and said "Hello" in the sweetest voice and then turned back and ran to catch back up with her mother. It made my day. There is such a language barrier - maybe we should have tried harder to learn a little Mandarin before we came. We smile a lot, say hello and thank you. I was trying to buy Grant some Pajamas and the clerk really wanted me to buy pink - it is hard to explain colors with hand signals. Our method of communicating is a lot like playing charades (LOL). The women here are beautiful and very fashionable with their boots, black straight legged pants and down coats with fur trimming the hoods. Crossing the street is quite difficult. At the big intersections they have pedestrian crossing lights, however, the small intersections it is similar to dodge ball - the cars and mopeds represent the ball. The basement of the mall had a grocery market. Surprisingly there were many American brands. We bought bottled water, Coke, Propel, Yogurt, noodles and fruit. After we checked out we realized we should have brought a bag. Fortunately, we were able to purchase a plastic bag as juggling 5 bottles would have been tricky for 7 blocks. I love it here and I cannot believe we are in the same town as our sweet son. Ashley asked me to finish up the post. We went out this afternoon to an old section of town called Jinli. This was an amazing walk down streets filled with history. We visited silk shops, the Wuhou Temple Museum and much more. As it turns out it was quite an adventure. The concierge at the hotel hailed us a cab to get us there (and gave us a card to hand a taxi driver to get us back). What we didn't realize is that there appears to be a method for hailing taxis... and we don't know what that is. We finally got a cab, but Ashley later acknowledged that she didn't think we were going to get back to the hotel! Even after we got the cab, we still didn't know for sure we would get back. Traffic lanes are treated more like directional guidelines rather than actual lanes. Once on a three "lane" road there were 5 cars across. They are never right behind anyone. They are always navigating around to see how they can get ahead of the car in front. Once, I really think we rode on the sidewalk! Horns are used to alert those around (pedestrians, bicyclists, and other motorists) that "we are here, and we are about to go where you are so move." Oh well, we are here now so all is well. We are exhausted, but what an exciting day.
|
||||
Ashley on the streets of Chengdu
