They keep saying we are going to have an "easy" day, and I guess today was much more laid back than previous days. However, it was still exhausting! We flew from Xi'an to Chengdu. We had to have our luggage out by 6:30 a.m. and at 6:25, the porter was knocking on our door! They are very strict about times here. Fortunately it was ready, I just hadn't put it out yet.
Yesterday was interesting. We saw the Terracotta Warriors, the main attraction of Xi'an. I had heard about it, but was unfamiliar with the whole story. Too much to write about it, but it is fascinating. It rained most of the day, but that was preferable to the previous days of 100+ degrees and was actually quite pleasant.
In the evening, we saw the "Tang Dynasty Show" which was a dinner theatre. The theatre was beautiful and the girls were all given traditional silk Chinese dresses to wear along with a special jade necklace, pearl bracelet and red fan. They looked so beautiful all dressed "to the teeth", as our local guide Lily called it. The show itself wasn't exactly our "cup of tea", but apparently it is a very famous and popular show. The girls got to go up on stage afterwards and have their pictures taken with some of the performers. It had been such a long day, Mia barely stayed awake for the entire performance (me too!).
After flying to Chengdu this morning, we had lunch, then had our choice of a full body massage or foot massage at the local massage school. Almost everyone chose the full body massage. Now those who know me are aware I LOVE a good massage, but this was not your basic, run-of-the-mill massage! I also like a firm massage and have a high pain threshold. BUT this woman had me in pain a few times. I had to tell her on more than one occasion to lighten it up. I know I was tense and needed my muscles relaxed, but YEEOOOOWW!!! It was Mia's first experience with a professional massage and she must have enjoyed it because she slept through most of it :).
Afterwards we went to a local park and Tea House. In Beijing and Xi'an, we certainly got our fair share of gawks and stares (Caucasians with Chinese girls and one Thai boy). But her in Chengdu, the locals are much more obvious about their fascination with us. They literally come up and gather around us and take pictures. It's more the experience we had when I was here on the adoption trip. When we went out in public with the babies in Guangzhou, oftentimes the locals would crowd around us and ask the babies names and pat them, etc. A couple of people today gave us thumbs up saying they liked us.
At the park, the kids (and one adult, me) got a traditional lollipop made with carmelized sugar. You spin a wheel and whatever sign of the Chinese zodiac it lands on, the vendor makes the lollipop right then for you. The dragon is the largest and "luckiest" one. I said I wanted to get that one and lo and behold I did!!! Our local guide said I was the first adult of any of their groups who had ever spun a dragon :). Of course, Mia begged and begged me to trade her rooster for it. It looked better than it actually tasted.
We didn't check into our hotel until almost 5. The kids swam and Mia and I ended up just ordering room service tonight and taking it easy. She fell asleep early and I won't be long behind her. We are really looking forward to tomorrow. It is the highlight of the trip for the kids. They get to literally "Hug a Panda" (the name of our tour). We are going to a Panda breeding farm where there are about 80 Pandas. The really cool thing is twins were born there just few weeks ago and we should get to see them. They are still in the incubator and pink!
We have to leave the hotel by 8 a.m. So we'll be up early. Talk to you soon!
Zai Jian!
Melinda
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