Day Twenty in China: City with walls

It was finally the last day of vacation, and oh, how I didn't want to go. I really, really wanted to stay. It was too bad that I couldn't. Today was exciting! We were going to walk on the wall! We walked outside to wait for our tour. All of a sudden, loud music was turned on. When I turned around, I saw a large red carpet. So people were going to have a performance? That was awesome! I tugged on my aunt's arm, and led her over to the side where we could see better. Sure enough, people dressed in costumes started walking down the carpet. More people, this time doing flips. Next, girls dancing. Then that was it. I wasn't really impressed, except for the flips. Maybe because the music was too loud? But I was glad to finally get started on our walk.

 

Looking down from the wall, I could see all the houses. Just then, I realized how organized they were. They were in rows and columns, and almost all the same height! I also realized how big the city was. It was so exciting to see a city from above. We walked around on the top, all the way around. When I looked outside, I was quite disappointed. Outisde it was just another city, but this time, it was a modern city. So I guess the view wasn't that good after all. 

Nothing inside was interesting... except the torture methods. Yes, that's right. It was where they tortured prisoners. I won't write about them here... it's really disgusting. They torture you in every way possible, leaving the killing last. I shuddered, trying not to imagine it. One torture method lasted 3 days and 2 nights. All I could think was, Ouch!, and who would deserve that? We also saw luxurious cells. Seriously, a place to go to the bathroom, a warm bed, and a place to hang clothes! It was also light and spacious. The next cell was pitch black, had no bed, and had nothing but a little corner to do you know what. So they wouldn't know when night and day was! That was awful! They were so cruel! I couldn't imagine... After that, we left (thankfully).

The next place was boring. It was a place with six courtyards, where someone important lived. The courtyards were like a maze, I would get lost easily. The last courtyard was a garden. There was a spring, and a bridge. Again, it was kind of boring, and that was it. Our day was over, and it was time to go home. Today wasn't as fun as yesterday with the vinegar, sadly.

Day Nineteen in China: what's so sour?

Nothing much happened in the morning: I got up at 6:30, still half-asleep. There wasn't much, except for me walking around like a zombie. But after that, we went to one of my favorite locations! The vinegar place! It was where they made vinegar! And I love vinegar! That is kind of weird, but I just like sour things. Today, we were going to test our abilities with super sour vinegar! Hooray!

There are different types of vinegars... the one we were going to was called 老陈醋. The levels of vinegar (believe it or not, there are levels! I didn't know that either!) were sorted by years. The higher you got, it was supposedly more sour. Year eight was the highest. The ones people usually bought were year one or two. That was a big difference from year eight! I wasn't even sure I could handle it now. The guide talked about how they made it, super boring. The whole place smelled like vinegar! Some places were stronger than the others. If I took a deep breath in the place where it was strong, my nose would sting, so I stopped breathly deeply. It really wasn't that bad... well, to me at least, not for the two little ones.

We walked to a long, turning and twisting glass hallway. I wondered what it was for. I went with a couple of the other kids through. As soon as we got in the hallway, I wanted to back out. Seriously, the smell of vinegar was OVERWHELMING. I could barely handle it, and the kids went screaming, holding their noses, and covering their mouths, running down the hall. Even if I held my nose, when I breathed through my mouth, it was like I was inhaling it! Finally, I had enough, so I ran down the hallway. I came out the other end, panting and gasping for breath. Although it was kind of torture, it was super fun! I went in again another time, but after that, I didn't think I would make it.

Finally, I got to try the vinegar. I tried to five year one. At first, it was kind of sour, so I took teeny sips. But after a while, it started tasting good, so I took a big gulp, and finished it in all one gulp. Jasmine and Junlan were staring at me as if I were some kind of god. Their expression were reaaly funny. The vinegar really wasn't that sour!

The next place was a place with a bridge, lake, and lots of fish. It really wasn't interesting. But the hotel we stayed at was interesting! It was inside 平遥古城. That was a city, that was really old. Surrounding it was the 平遥古城墙 which was a wall surrounding the city, and protecting it. The wall was really tall, and I couldn't wait to walk on it! The view from the top must be really pretty. When we walked inside the wall, the first thing I noticed was the houses. Not a single one of them was modern. They were all based on old Chinese houses. Which meant our hotel was going to be like that too! I was excited, because I would finally know what it was like to live in one! The second thing I noticed were the lanterns. It was dark out, so all the red lanterns were brightly lit, shining against the dark sky. They were aligned orderly down the street, and it looked like in a movie. Really wonderful. 

The "hotel" was really pretty, and luckily we were on the second floor. Bright red lanterns hung from the edge. The hotel was built surrounding a courtyard, so  I could see everyone. Inside, the room was small, and I expected as much. But when I looked at the bed, um, I'm not sure I could even call it a bed! It was actually a 康! It was pretty much a mattress placed on top of wood. Underneath the wood, was a small fireplace that you could start, and it would heat up the bed. The "bed" was really big! That was good, because there was only one, and four of us. I plopped myself onto the comfortable bed and my eyes immediately closed. Tomorrow was the last day!

 

Day Eighteen in China: Temple in the sky

Today was the day when we actually went to the mountain, instead of the bottom, or, looking at a hand, the palm of the hand. We got up at 7 today, or what the people call "late". They must be out of their mind!! If this is late, then what is 9? Of course, I couldn't say this out loud, so I had to bite my lip and get up.

Our next stop was an awesome stop. There were houses built on the straight up and down mountain. Only skinny poles supported them, and they hadn't been replaced. I stood in awe and stared. My legs were shaky, but I couldn't refuse to go up there! No sun could shine at it; it was located at a spot where only three hours of sun could heat it, no wind could blow at it; it was against a mountain, both sides of it had the mountain curved around it, and opposite of it was a mountain, and last of all, no rain could hit it; the mountain above it was curved down. So practically, it was surrounded completely by mountains. How could they pick such a wonderful place?! It was perfect! Not that I would ever want to live there...

Finally, the guide stopped talking and we could walk up! This was so exciting! I rushed to the front, and started climbing. There were stairs that led into the first house, and steep stairs going out. There were no lights in the house, so it was kind of dark. After the first two staircases, we were back out in the open, only this time, way high up. We were on a rock ledge now, with only a short railing. I paused to take pictures, feeling giddy being so high in the air. I dared to look down, but my legs started shaking and I had to turn away. It was straight down into rocks. Jasmine was braver than me. She walked faster, and took the lead. I stayed in the back, my excuse was taking pictures, but I did take them! At the top, there were more 菩萨。We prayed (again!) as we passed them. This was extra good, because we were high up in the air! Finally, we got back down to the bottom. I felt grateful that it was over... and that it didn't fall down.

Our next stop was... guess what? More 菩萨! Except this time, it was way different. They were super, super tall! They were about 50 meter's piled up on top! The statues were located in caves, where the builders would start from the top and work their way down. I shuddered to think of what would happen if one fell. The statues were made out of stone, then covered with mud painted in brilliant shining colors. I stared up in awe at the smiling statues, well, for a while at least, because their head were so high I couldn't see it well without hurting my neck. We saw so many more of these, and my neck hurt more. But all of them were different, and so picturesque, that I didn't mind looking at all of them. 

Again, they were the prime of the day. This time, though there weren't many, they were sooooooooo tall! Super super big! People must have risked their lives to make them! Again, they were painted in bright colors. I noticed that all of them had smiling faces nad I couldn't help but smile back. I briefly wondered why they weren't considered on of the world's seven wonders... Although there was no cushion, I prayed standing up, not caring that there wasn't a cushion. Once I had prayed for every one of them, I felt ready to go home.

The most awful thing happened at dinner!! For dinner, we ate 火锅。As soon as we got inside the restaurant, the first thought that came into my mind was, HOT. I started sweating immediately. Everyone else was outside. Their power had gone out, and we had to wait. It was cool outside, so I didn't mind at first. After minutes of waiting and running around, I started to wonder, when could we eat? I was starting to get hungry. More minutes. Finally, electricity turned on. Inside, the 火锅 was placed on a electric stove in the middle of the table. After a while, a beep sounded. The stove had turned itself off! This happened again and again, and finally we had to be moved. Well, of course, we had another problem. No airconditioning! The stove this time was propane, so how could we live? Again, a solution. We moved back outside. To another table. I was counting now, we had moved twice! Would we move again? I surely hoped not! Right when we finished, the lights went out again. No electricity?! I was relieved though, because I was done eating! Just as they brought the candles out, I happily hopped out and waited for everyone to finish eating. Oh, what a day! I was just glad it was over!

Day Seventeen in China: In the buddha Temple

Today is day 17 in China, and day 2 on vacation. This morning, we got up at 6:30, help! The two little ones were even slower... I really wanted just to go down by myself and ditch them, but I couldn't. I didn't even know where the breakfast room was! Finally, after an eternity, they finished, and slowly put on their shoes. The weather today was pretty much the same as yesterday. Cool weather, but today there was the sun out! That was good, otherwise it would have been way too cold. My legs were ready for tons of walking today!

On the bus, I got super bored. Everyone was asleep, except for the kids playing games (would they ever stop?!). Outside, it looked like nothing I had see in Hangzhou. In Hangzhou it was all buildings as far as I could see. But here, there were farms, with large plains of corn, and other plants. It was a vast plain of green grasses separated into many rows and columns. It was much more relaxing to look at than the tall buildings. Closer to the road, there were green trees. When I looked closer, I saw white things on the outside of the tree. I couldn't tell what it was. It kind of looked like there were flowers on the tree, but a tree can't have so many flowers! I was confused for a minute. When I asked the guide, he said that one side of a leaf on the tree was green, and the other side was covered with tiny white hairs, making it look white. I was delighted, because I never knew leaves could be fuzzy on one side! 

 

After going further, we came to the mountains. It was a huge mountain range, surrounding us. There was long, swaying grass on the hilly mountain slope. There were oddly and randomly placed clumps of dark pine trees, that were not tall. The dark green color of the pine tree contrasted against the light green of the grass, making it kind of uncomfortable to look at. The houses were in the huge valley, with many mountains on each side, and the floating clouds above. It was an ideal place for a little village like this! It would be so wonderful to live here! 

We finally got to the bottom of the mountain range. Each group of houses surrounded a rectangular, flat piece of empty land. They were super unorganized though! There were tall houses and short houses... ick, and it made it uncomfortable to look at. The arrangement of the houses made it look like they hadn't planned anything: There was a huge house squashed next to a couple little houses. It would've been alright if the biggest house was in the middle.... but it wasn't. The houses weren't even the same shape! To me, it looked like each house was built by a different person and they clumped it all together randomly. It was so unorganized that it would be easy for me to get lost.

When I looked at the old Chinese houses, I wondered what it would be like to live in one. Some of them weren't too small to live in side, after all, the biggest thing would be the bed. They were about the size of a large bedroom. All four walls of it were flat, which gave the feeling of safety inside. I could live quite nicely and comfortably, actually. But, if I lived with someone else, it would definitely be too small. But then, I couldn't live by myself, so the house didn't suit me (even though if it was bigger, it would be cool to live in-mostly because of the look from outside). 

There were Buddhas in all of the temples. The Buddhas would be really proud! There were so many! They must have really valued their Buddhas to build so many. All of them were painted in bright, shining colors. The people building them must have spent a ton of time and lots of effort... so I thanked them for their labor, letting me come and worship them. It made me feel lucky and fulfilled to be able to come here, see them, and pay my respects.  I felt more relaxed and at peace as I knelt down and prayed to them. It wouldn't be right to come here without seeing them.

Worshipping was pretty much all we did the whole time. Luckily it wasn't boring, it got kind of like routine to me. Poor Jasmine, her knee was hurt and she had to kneel on wood. They would be forgiving of JJ though, because they were good buddhas! :) The whole day was spent on them.

The hotel was an okay hotel, with okay food. The food was mostly spicy, but I could eat it, not that I liked it. I stuffed myself with food, and felt exhausted. I went straight to my bed. My legs were super sore from all the walking today. That surprised me, because all we had done today was walk on mostly flat land! Despite my sore legs, I couldn't help feeling happy about more walking tomorrow. We washed our hair and got ready for bed. I fell asleep right away.

Day Sixteen in China: Trip to 五台山，山西

Today was the big day!! I was so excited to be saved from the boredom of doing nothing at home! We were going to 五台山，山西 to stay 4 days! We were all super, super excited!

On the airplane, we had the worst seating plans ever. Jasmine and my seats were so, so, so far away from my aunt! But even worse, when we got on the plane, the seats were in groups of three! Which meant that Jasmine and I had to sit with a stranger! So my aunt quickly switched around our seats, and I ended up sitting with two strangers while my aunt sat with the two little ones. It was kind of even worse than before for me... but the two were happy, and I guess I could live through it. Ignoring the people beside me as best as I could, I curled up and tried to go to sleep. That didn't work well at all. So I just sat, feeling extremely bored, waiting for the flight to be over.

Even though I didn't sit next to the window, I could see the bright lightning flashing outside, and I could hear the rain pounding and thunder crashing. Each time there was thunder, I got more goosebumps. When were we going to get there? I thought. All of a sudden, the airplane shook. I wobbled in my seat. Well, at least that was fun. I bounced in my seat, thinking, again! Again! And again it came, but this time way more bumpier. I was lifted out of my seat! Everyone let out a gasp, and I hoped everyone was wearing their seatbelt, because if they weren't... uh oh, they'd go flying!! Fortunately, no went flying but unfortunately, that was it.

When we finally landed and got out, I was astonished. It was cooler here! It was as cool as in America!! I had expected it to be warm, but if not warm, at least humid. There were puddles on the ground from the rain that had fallen earlier. I could still smell the rain.

It was already 11:00 by the time we got to the hotel. It was super late! And I had to get up at 6:30? Wow, that was awful. The hotel was alright... it was livable in, up to my standards, at least. Afterwards, I got ready for bed. It was late by that time, with the two little ones wanting ramen noodles but eating really slowly. I fell asleep quickly.

Day Eleven in China: Be a star for a day!

Today was the big day!!! We were going to take pictures!! Professional pictures where professionals take pictures of us. All three of us were going: my cousin, Jasmine, and I. In the morning we struggled to get our homework done before we had to go. But finally, it was 4:00, and time to go!

The picture place was in a back street that was hard to find, so my aunt had to call them and ask how to get there. We did get there kind of on time, but we had trouble finding the room. Surprisingly, the room of the picture shop was quite small. It was like an apartment room. And there were only two people. A guy, who was the cameraman, and a girl, who dressed us up. The girl looked at our clothes, and decided what to wear first. There were other clothes, but for ten year olds and under, so I was stuck with my own. 

My cousin dressed up first. She wore a really cute princess dress. Her hair was in a bun with fake curly hair, and she also had a princess crown on the top of her head. It was really cute!

Next was my sister. She wore a green t-shirt and a really, really, short miniskirt. It was black and yellow, and really, really, really short. She couldn't jump, because that would mean... you know. Her hair was a side ponytail with a red bow fixed on it. And finally, my torture time. 

I wore a pink dress with flowers on it, and a white sun hat with a green ribbon looped around it. My hair was down. Next, we had to go take pictures! But where could we take them? Not in the room of course, too small. So we walked outside.

I wore the least, so the temperature didn't bother me. But it was hot out. We walked over to a grass area, where there were barely any people and no cars. First it was my cousin, then my sister, then me. Jasmine wouldn't laugh, at all. It was all fake smiling, and that looked really odd. So obviously, I had to try to make her actually smile. I danced around, acted like a chicken, or more like an idiotic chicken. And finally, she really smiled. By this point, I was super sweaty from the moving around. But unfortunately, with my great timing, it was my turn.

They asked me to do different poses, so I did. With each snap of the camera, I got warmer, and warmer. The heat finally got to me. But soon enough, it was over. We walked a little ways down the street, and came to a bathroom. 

We were asked to change. So I did, and thankfully, this time it wasn't a dress. Just a t-shirt and shorts. Jasmine wore the princess dress this time, without the fake curly hair. Her hair was down, which must have been horrible. Her face was pink from the heat, but it looked alright, just like she was blushing, or had some blush on. I had two pigtails with teeny bows. I also had a thin yellow scarf which wasn't bad. They made me hold a lollipop! A really, big, wooden (not edible, sadly) lollipop!

 And finally, again, it was over just like that. Next outfit, another t-shirt and shorts. White, green, and blue t-shirt paired with white shorts. It was getting dark, but we still managed. They put my hair in a ponytail, finally something simple. Jasmine had a skinny dress on, with a bowtie in the middle. She also had movie star sunglasses, which made her look like a movie star! The day was about over, so we all took a picture together. The end!

Day Eight in China

Day Eight in China:

Today is day eight. In the morning, we stayed home. I started using a booklet to write words. They were Chinese words, and I wrote about 20, filling up a whole page. Our cousin’s cousin (from our cousin’s dad’s side) came today in the morning. He also had homework, so in the morning we all did work.

For lunch, we went out to eat at a restaurant. 快乐厨房(happy kitchen) was it’s name.  There were 10 of us: Jasmine, our aunt, our uncle, our cousin, our cousin’s cousin, our cousin’s cousin’s mom, our cousin’s cousin’s dad, our cousin’s grandma, our cousin’s grandpa, and I. There were so many yummy foods! There was steak (meh), Chinese cabbage (slightly spicy but yum!), 酒酿圆子 (yum!), 南瓜(yum), 排骨(yum), and 烤鸡(yum). There was also watermelon juice (yum!) and corn juice (I know it sounds funny, but it’s really sweet and yum!). I filled (not stuffed) myself with food!

In the afternoon, we used Chinese paintbrushes (毛笔) to paint pictures. It was hard at first, but soon we got used to it. Later, we began to fool around, drawing useless pictures and wasting paper. It was still fun though!!! I could (and most likely will) do it everyday!