We spent two weeks in Changde. It rained nearly every day, which limited our explorations. We visited arcades, played Township (a game on our phones and tablets), and went go-karting three times. The go-karts were fully electric and located inside a mall. Logan and Lizzy have been playing Township for over three years and taught Jenny how to play during a two-day rainstorm. She enjoys the game because it allows her to garden digitally while traveling. They also got Lutao into the game, so now the whole family plays Township.
We had fun go-karting, which provided a break from the rain. Our room offered a nice view as well. Additionally, we played badminton, with Logan and Lizzy taking a lesson while Lutao and Jenny played freely. Badminton is similar to tennis, but the racket is lighter and has a longer neck. Logan and Lizzy still prefer tennis.
On a sunny day, we visited the beach where it was very hot. We buried ourselves in the sand, and at one point, Logan almost lost his shovel in the ocean but managed to retrieve it after looking for a while. We also visited the Yuan River running through Changde. Due to the heavy rain, most of the park's walkways were flooded, and we saw people playing in the water and even fishing.
While in Changde, we tried a variety of different foods, most of which were spicy. We had beef rice noodle soup, little steamed buns, and sausages on a stick. We often had lunch downstairs with our great-grandma, who prepared us non-spicy meals. We even enjoyed food from the United States, like KFC and McDonald's, which was all fantastic. Though we had to say goodbye to everything we loved in Changde, we are now heading to Beijing.
I was very let down by my location once more this semester. It took me 2.5 hours to reach the train station on the teacher bus and then 3 hours to return from the train station on the light rail. Not to mention the 1 km walk back to my apartment from the train station. It's just as bad as it was last semester, if not worse, because there are no longer any trees or stray cats. It's simply a vast dusty campus on flat ground, with a lot of wind and currently, the sun is quite uncomfortably hot.
We spent two weeks in Beijing. The day after our arrival, we visited Chao Yang Park (Sun Park) and rented a duck boat. It was quite slow, but we enjoyed navigating it around the lake.
One thing that surprised me about Chengdu was how similar it felt to Beijing and other major Chinese cities we had explored. While we experienced some interesting nightlife spots, the city overall seemed quite generic. I initially thought this might be due to my limited Western viewpoint, but Mei Ling concurred that Chengdu didn't truly embody Sichuanese culture. We resolved to venture beyond the city borders during our remaining days in Chengdu.
If China can provide rapid and efficient rail service throughout its extensive territory, there's no reason the US can't do the same! Oh, I forgot! US automobile and gas companies hire lobbyists to influence our congress and politicians to persuade the public that it's not feasible or cost-effective.
No Permanent Residence
It was excessively warm.
We spent two weeks in Changde. It rained nearly every day, which limited our exploration more than we had hoped. We enjoyed playing at arcades, engaged in Township (a game on our phones and tablets), and went go-karting three times. The go-karts were fully electric and located inside a mall. Logan and Lizzy have been playing Township for over three years and taught Jenny how to play during a two-day stretch of continuous rain. She enjoys the game because it allows her to garden digitally while we travel. They also introduced Lutao to the game, so now the entire family plays Township together.