Our trip to the ancient town of Qingyan is a perfect example of of not letting my expectations get too high. The forecast called for rain, but we got very lucky as it was just another cloudy and humid day with no real threat from the clouds. As usual, we got a little bit of a later start than we anticipated and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being the one to hold us up. Hey, don't blame me that I can't do my laundry during the week! Anyway, by now I'm sure the others have grown accustomed to Amber and I always being late. It's just in our nature. Also, we have to walk further...so there. We hoped on our beloved Bus 69 and went to one of our favorite stops in town to grab some lunch. We always see a lot of students in this area because there is a school there and they love to say hello to us. We have also found quite a few places to eat that we just love! However, I had a bit of bad luck with my lunch this day. I ordered zhurou chaomian (pork fried noodles) and most meals here always come with a bowl of soup (really its just broth). Well right after I was brought my food (which was delicious), the girl sitting across from me got up to leave and accidentally bumped the table. Next thing I know, scalding hot soup cascades all over me and the owner just looks on in horror. (ok, I may be exaggerating just a bit...). But ya, I basically rip off my shirt and my arm was already red as a tomato and starting to blister in some areas. Now, many of you probably aren't too surprised to hear this happened to me; I mean, if it's going to happen to anyone, it'll be me. Amber just stared at me with jaw dropped and in disbelief that I wasn't crying. Trust me, I wanted to.
After forcing myself to finish my lunch, we were off to find either the right bus or a taxi to take us to our next destination. We ran into a group of students who wanted to talk to us and help us. This alone turned into an almost hour long adventure of trying to hail a cab to finding the right bus stop. But it is always really fun to meet new people and make new friends. I also made a friend with a university student studying English. I always find it so brave for these people to come up to us and start a conversation with us. I don't think I could do that, especially in a language that is foreign to me! So we finally got on to the right bus to lead us to the next pit stop, Hebin Park. From here, we had to take a special bus to the town because it is pretty far from the city proper. We had to wait quite awhile to get on the bus because they do not come as often as the regular city buses. We also wanted to make sure we got seats because the trip is over an hour.
So we arrive to the town a full 4 hours after we left our neighborhood. Talk about a long commute. We walk in to the town and it was pretty amazing. Even with restorations, many of the buildings are originals from when it was built in 1378! That is ridiculously old. The town was built for military purposes during the Ming Dynasty. It has such a unique blend of culture as a result from the mixture of ethnic groups and religions. I was really looking forward to visiting some of the temples, pavilions, and archways of the village, but it turned out that either things were not marked well...or we just didn't know where to look. The area of the town we saw was basically just street upon street of vendors selling souvenir type items. And yes, many of them were beautiful works of art such as bamboo scrolls, jewelry, paintings, and clothing. As dorky as I am, I was really hoping to learn more about the history of the place. There is also supposed to be a store where they make candies out of roses; I really wanted to buy some and watch them make it, but we could not find the place.
We did however find the southern entrance to the town where the wall to protect the town is still partially intact. I felt like I was on a mini Great Wall of China. And the surrounding land was so green and beautiful that this part pretty much made up for the disappointment of the rest. I really wish home could be as green as everything here is.
So, by now it was about 6 o'clock and we knew we had to start heading back because most of the buses we have to take stop running at 10 pm. So after grabbing a little snack (pineapple on a stick!) we headed out to the line for the bus. We had to wait for the second one to come. By then, it was 7 and we knew we were cutting it close. What we didn't know was that there was a crazy traffic jam happening a whole 10 minutes away from the town. It was so bad that the bus driver eventually turned the bus off and just got off the bus. And thus far I've failed to mention this bus was packed! Not only was every seat full, but the aisle was completely full, kids were sitting on parents laps, people were standing on the stairs leading up to the bus...it was just nuts. Amber and I practically had people sitting in our laps (as did Cate and Jake). So in all, we were stopped for over an hour. I had never been more glad for going to the bathroom before we left (unlike Amber and Jake). I found the whole situation just a little funny and a lot crazy. We started making bets as to what time we'd get home. Amber was mildly freaking out...so we started to play hangman (I'm so glad I always bring my notebook and pen everywhere!). We were doing full on phrases during our game, such as "I really miss California right now."
We finally started moving and got back to the bus stop just before 10 o'clock and just after the last bus left. We found out we were also in a part of town that doesn't leave restaurants open very late...and we were all pretty hungry. So we went to the only place open still, Dicos. We had every intention of trying Dicos in the near future. It's a chain fast food type restaurant here that basically serves a variety of chicken sandwiches and meals. We all had french fries for the first time since being in China, which I guess is kind of exciting, but I honestly would have preferred some super delicious Chinese food. Well, who am I kidding...I really just want Mexican food, but I can't get that in Guiyang.
It then took another almost hour to find a taxi that was 1) empty so that it could fit us all and 2) with a driver that knew how to get to our apartments. We live in an area that was only built a couple years ago so it is pretty common for drivers to not know where to go when we hand them our address. But we finally hailed a cab with all four seats empty. Even though he didn't know where to take us, we got in and immediately called our liaison Daisy to have her explain to our driver where we live. It worked out beautifully.
So we made it home all in one piece (minus a fear tears for some...and minus a few layers of skin on my arm). The ancient town was pretty cool, maybe a bit of a letdown, but we still had a fun time. I mean, it's not every day you get to walk on stone streets that are over 600 years old!
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