Spoke Too Soon

As soon as I posted my most recent blog (Spring has Sprung), everything changed...

1 Day Spring
The temperature was temperate for about a day in Xi'an and then it blasted its way up past 80 degrees with a lot of humidity for the rest of the time. I definitely felt myself slogging in the heat and we found ourselves cutting through department stores to get a little bit of air conditioning. It was a bit cooler in Chengdu, but still not a lot of relief. But now that we're back near the Tibetan Plateau in Lijiang, Yunaan, it's a lovely spring again.

Hostel City
So now that we're in more popular tourist and backpacker areas, hostels have sprung up like May flowers. As dorm beds in hostels are about $2 a night per person, it's hard to justify getting a single room in a hotel any more. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. It was fun to be in a hostel again with other travellers. And there are tons of Chinese students at these hostels, many of whom speak English. These guys are always amused to learn that I am an ABC (American Born Chinese).

20 hour bus/train rides
So yeah, we just had another 18 hour train ride. After actually looking at the train and bus routes and our deadline of making it to Hong Kong or Macau (autonomous regions of China where we can renew our visas) it looks like we may very well have to have a few more of those. Anyhoo...

Diminishing Marginal Pagoda Returns
Okay, after being in China and Tibet for over a month, I must say we're really pagoda and templed out. We were outside in the beatiful grounds of the Big Goose Pagoda in Xi'an and Simon and I were wavering about whether or not we should go in. I finally decided to go in since we were right there, while Simon watched the hordes of tourists outside. It was a lovely pagoda, but we've seen so many that they're starting to all blend together. (It's kind of like looking at churches in Europe). And I know this sounds terrible, but I think I would have rather spent the $3 entry fee on some pastries and some real drip coffee instead. From now on, I think we're gonna be a bit choosier about which temples we tour. But I'm still psyched for tombs, caves, forbidden palaces, etc. But I think I need to know there is something distintive about a temple before plunking down a few dollars to see it.

Dollars and Yuan
Okay, it may sound really stingy to not want to spend $3 to see some ancient pagoda, but it's a ton of money here in China. $3 is a big chinese lunch for two, a dorm bed for a night or 20 city bus rides for us. It goes a long way, so if you think about what we could be using it for, it's not insignificant.

Pandas! Pandas! Pandas!
So as you may have guessed, it was really refreshing to go to the Chengdu Panda Research Center and to see lots of pandas instead of going sighseeing at temples. I would certainly recommend the trip. It was super cool and also super odd (which is starting to be a theme here in China). Seeing the pandas was pretty awesome and they seemed pretty happy chowing down on bamboo about 2 meters away from us. However, this place is also a huge tourist destination, and tons of families come and in some ways it felt more like a zoo than a research institute. Tons of tourists taking flash photography and a few obnoxious hecklers trying to get their attention. To boot, you can pay about $50 to stand next to a seated panda and get your photo taken or $150 will let you hold a baby panda in your arms. I felt it was a bit inappropriate. We all know how sensitive pandas are, so why should they be subject to this? (I know, you don't have to tell me, because you've got people paying for it and running the center isn't cheap.) But I felt that some of the human harrassment could have been curtailed.

Another odd thing was the educational movie that they showed about the life span and mating process of pandas. Overall, it was pretty well done, and there was some amazing footage of a panda giving birth. However, some parts were a little disturbing. Like the mating scene, for instance. Obviously these large bears are in heat and getting fairly aggressive pushing, pawing and wresting with each another. I know they're animals and this perfectly normal behavior, etc. But the mating took place in these cages that really look like prison cells and all the footage was shot using some cheap handy cam with some really grainy footage and the date and time ticking off at the lower right hand corner. Honestly, it was bit disturbing. It felt more like a scene from Abu Garhib than anything scientific. Seeing footage of the pandas knocked out while they were artifically inseminated or having semen drawn was also a little bit disconcerting. But at the very end there was a lovely panda montage shown with the soothing sounds of Enya.

Sit Down DDR
Okay, this is random, but I find it so fascinating I have to report it. So the internet cafes here in China are huge. I mean they look more like college computer labs than cafes. In fact, some of these cafes are larger than any single computer lab we had at Smith while I was there. And there is a lot of DVD watching, game playing, web camming, texting and smoking going on. I can't help but notice the person next to me is playing a sit down version of DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) on her computer. Basically she needs to make characters on the screen move by pressing on the arrow keys while she smokes, instead of stepping on some kind of floor board. I remember explaining to a friend the concept of stand up DDR where kids at least get some kind of exercise while working on eye hand coordination. However, this sit-down version defeats the purpose entirely. Honestly, I think some game where I was blasting aliens or blowing up mummies would be much more interesting. But to each their own.