"Up in the gym just working on my fitness, Pandalicious." For those of you who are wondering yes I went there and I am not afraid to go there again, for those of you who don't get the reference, be glad. I am sitting at the table in the common room one last time, Luke and I will be shipping out back to Shiyan today at 5. For those who are wondering we paid a little extra to get the 11 hour train ride instead of the 17 hour train ride we took here. Luke also woke up nauseous this morning and is still upstairs sleeping, I am waiting on my breakfast of French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon, aren't I a good friend. I am feeling awesome myself and am kind of excited to get back home to sleep in my own bed, but not excited by the fact that McDonald's is my best choice for Western food. Gotta go my Breakfast is here I will finish this later...
...Wow that was great! I am still not sure why they serve gra pe tomatoes with the breakfast, and the freshly squeezed Orange Juice is so awesome. I digress you probably want to hear about our last couple of days. Well after my last last blog Luke and I saddled up to go to Peter's Tex-Mex which is a famous Chinese Mexican food restaurant. We got chips with chili con queso, chimichangas, and peanut butter milkshakes, be sure to look at the picture. We also noticed a new restaurant in the ciity right down the street from Pete's but I will cover that in a minute. The next day we went to probably the most beautiful place I have been to in China, Dufu's Cottage. Dufu was a famous poet from the 7th Century, and at one point in his life he fled to Chengdu to escape revolutionaries. So there is an enourmous park surrounding what is considered to be the site of his home for the our years he stayed in Chengdu. You can see from the pictures that start with the bronze statue of Dufu, that it is an amzing park near the heart of downtown Chengdu, it is almost impossible to tell you are in China. We went to the art city but you won't see nay pictures it is basically a street bazaar selling all kinds of stuff and then there are the legitamite stores selling overpriced stuff. So I didn't feel like taking any pictures. We enjoyed some pizza hut for lunch and then headed to Culture Park and the Temple of the Green Ram, where if you will permit me Iwill begin to rant a bit. So it is a beautiful temple which is the most important Daoist temple in South Western China. For those of you who don't know Daoism is a religion that is more complicated than particle physics. They have like 8 immortals who are immortal cause they eat magical peaches, but then the immortals can make other gods if a person has done something special. The names they give these gods is ridiculous for example, the Supreme Sovereign of judgment and fair trail commanding the northern stars of the heavens and the merciful and just protector of the daoist canon. That is one dude's name and they got like a million of these guys. You then have to bring offerings and prayers to each guy who oversees a certain part of life, so if you want to pray to the god of babies cause you are preggers you have to go find the right temple and bring him an orange and then burn some incense to him. Of course if you live in Chengdu and the god of preggers is in Shanghai it is only a 47 hour train trip to get there. However the Daoist are cool cause they think they can master their chi and then make Kameamea waves (Dragonball Z reference). So in the pictures you will see me rubbing a bronze goat's flanks, because if you do it will cure you of all pain and sickness. Obviously Luke didn't rub the goat's butt in the right spot cause he is still sick and I am better now, sucker. All right rant finished.
So after that we went to one of the happiest places on earth, the Chengdu Hooters. Now for my parents and family I did not actually go in the Hooters I just took some pictures outside and then walked away. Do you hear that I think some one is knocking on the door you better go get that. Ok quick while they are gone I did go into Hooters and their food was glorious. I know that sounds funny but this is the first time I can honestly say I went to Hooters for the food. They had real bacon cheeseburgers, chili cheese fries, onion rings, and buffalo strips. I could barely walk when i got done eating there. When you look at the pictures you will see my burger and curly fries with cheeses sauce. It might be the best meal I have eaten in China. Oh what was that nobody at the door oh I am sorry I must be hearing things in my old age. Oh kno we haven't talked about anything since you left, we have just sat here quietly and patiently awaited your return.
Panda bears!! We had to roll out of bed at 6 a.m. the next morning to take the car from the Hostel to the Panda Research Institute. As you can see from the pictures we saw tons of pandas. The little red cat looking ones are red pandas (yes I know good naming skills in China) and of course the black and white ones are the famous Giant Pandas. They are of course both endangered species on the verge of extinction. Begin Rant: So there are like 5 million signs in the park that say non-smoking park cause we got endangered animals here, you know the national treasure of China and the freakin driver manages to smoke like half a pack while showing us around the park. What's worse is a couple foreigner tourists decided well since the Chinese are doing it I guess it is ok for me to light up too. Are you kidding me seriously do you not understand endangered species, I mean the scientists and handlers won't even touch a panda without plastic gloves on. So they have built this semi fake enclosure for the pandas to live in with like jungle gyms in case the pandas want to work on their fitness. So we this right after they tell us oh Pandas eat for 16-20 hours a day and then sleep and poop for the rest of it. So then why have you wasted all this money building a panda gym that will never get used. Then they show us a map of all the Pandas left in the world. Of course in China and then some in zoos in Germany, the U.S.A., France, and MEXICO!!!! Are you kidding me this is an endangered species and we are trusting them to the expertise of the Mexican government. Don't get me wrong I am sure their intentions are noble but the sanitary conditions of their country do not end themselves to the care and maintainance of their own inhabitants much less an endagered Giant Panda. I mean seriously when you think of Mexico you think of over proced beach resorts for college kid's spring break, kidnappings, and tacoes. Maybe that is a little generalized but come on if you made a list of countries to entrust an endangered species to would Mexico make the top 10 or 20, my guess is no. So I made a list: U.S.A., Canada, England, Germany, France, Italy, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, China, Japan, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweeden, Norway, Finland, then like Mexico, Russia and Brazil make the list. So not very high. End Rant.
So I have to go know so we can check out and then we are going to have some tea and subway. I will write again when I get home and tell you about the Sichuan Opera, sounds weird but it isn't.
