Saturday, July 21, 2012

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 ! 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!
 

No comments: