Day 9: January 12, 2013 A Gondola Ride!

So I guess going to bed at 4:30 wasn’t my best idea when I had already agreed to get up at 9 for a day trip. It was hard to get out of bed, but I had been looking forward to this trip all week so that made it a lot easier. Bryan, Joe, Catriona and I grabbed some breakfast from a café across the street and then hopped on the subway until we got to an ancient water town called Qibao.  

Bread and mango smoothie for breakfast

We were a little confused at first because we couldn’t find any water, but we eventually found our way. To get to the water you have to walk down this crammed strip of shops with everything you could ever imagine. I am usually all for street food, but this place had the weirdest things like baby ducks on sticks. I am also pretty sure I saw my first skinned dog but I am just going to act like it was something else. After realizing it was not the best place to eat, we stopped in a few stores but decided to wait to buy anything until the way back.

Evidence of how crowded the strips of shops are

Anything on a stick - testicles and baby ducks included

    
     Our first mission was to find a gondola to ride because we heard it was the thing to do. For only $1.50 we got to ride up and down the river for about 15 minutes and get a great view of the city, not mention some relaxation. After we got off the river we spotted some swirled froyo for about a quarter and couldn’t pass it up. We then somehow ended up in a conversation with these 2 Malaysian guys who were really nice. It was really interesting to hear their opinions about China in relation to where they were from. After a long conversation about the differences, we all agreed that there are a few things we could do without in China; specifically the honking and people spitting everywhere.

One of the many bridges in Qibao

Gondola ride

We then decided to go check out the Qibao Temple, which was an amazing experience. I was in awe at all of the beautiful shrines and statues but it was even more amazing to just witness all of the rituals and cultural norms going on around us. We were scared to take pictures because we didn’t want to offend anyone but Bryan snapped a couple when no one was looking.

The temple

After the temple we found a meditating pond and a row full of statues where each one was unique with a very intricate design. It was crazy how peaceful and serene it could be inside of these gates and as soon as you walk out it is back to the crazy city life full of honking horns. When we were finished looking around we made our way back to all of the shops.

Row of statues

In the process I am pretty sure we found a brothel considering it was just an empty store with a couch and two girls dressed up in costumes and doing their make up. Once we got back to the strip, we all ended up getting these stamps with our initials in English and Chinese on the bottom. It seems kind of silly since we will probably never use them, but it just seemed like a really cool souvenir that we could all have for a long time. I also ended up getting a scarf for about $3, which was exciting since I have an obsession with them. After we all made our purchases we decided to make our way home.

Monkey stamp with EAW and the ink

I took a little catnap since I didn’t get much sleep the night before and then went to our street vendor for dinner yet again. I hung around the hotel with some people and ended up going back out to the Koala Bar for a few hours to hang out with everyone. We played some darts and got to I got to really know some people from the other class, which was a good time. All was well until we had to walk home in the pouring rain. Of course I have been wearing the same jacket the entire time here, which is waterproof and has a hood, but tonight I decided to wear my fuzzy one without a hood. By the time we got back to the hotel I looked like I had just gotten out of the shower and decided that is was time to just change into some comfy clothes and crawl into bed. I was very content with a nice chill night after a busy day.