China - Blog Entry Catch Up

(I have two blog entries, though I cannot match them to the pictures provided on previous dates. The entries are dated below. - Mr. Yee)

3/20

Today was our first of many domestic flights in China and flew from Beijing to Xi’an where we had a busy day filled with amazing food and breathtaking sights. Immediately after our flight, we went to see the mind-boggling terra cotta army. Some of us have seen the warriors in the past when they came to DC at National Geographic Museum. But this was an absolutely amazing experience that doesn’t compare to the small exhibit. Our tour guide, Ivy, was giving us plenty of information about these warriors. Later we went to the Xi’an North Wall. After a small chat, we proceeded to ride yellow bikes along the wall. The cold wind hitting our face didn’t stop any of us from going as fast as we could and having fun. Before we went back to our hotel, we ate dinner and headed towards the Islam Quarter. It was a long strip of street markets with flashing lights and crowed streets. Our final stop of the day was our hotel, finally. After sleeping in a small hostel, we were extremely excited to be sleeping in a “fancy” hotel. Being on the top floors, we were able to have a nice view the city tops of Xi’an. After being on beds that were like hard futons, it was the best feeling in the world to end the day on a comfortable bed.

3/21

We started off the day bright and early, with a flight from Xi’an to Chengdu, which is in Sichuan. Immediately we headed to lunch, where our group was split between two tables: spicy and non-spicy. Both tables ate delicious food, and one student sampled fish eyeballs! We then headed to the highly anticipated Chengdu Panda Breeding Center. Although we were disappointed to see rain, our tour guide told us that the pandas prefer it, and would we more likely to see them. She was right! We saw tons of pandas, all eating or sleeping. We were also lucky enough to see plenty of panda babies. We watched a mother and baby play-fight, and another group of 6 babies playing together. There were plenty of baby pandas stuck sleeping at the top of trees in the park, and we also got to see red pandas and peacocks. We then headed to the People’s Park, where we drank tea while watching men play mahjong. During our tea detour, we watched a typical ear checkup done to a patron at the teahouse.
After a traditional Sichuan hot pot dinner that included fish, dumplings, meatballs, ad plenty of vegetables (we are getting our veggies in!), we finally made it to our new hostel (LazyBones Hostel), where our hosts welcomed us.