chengdu...a lot of chengdu

hiroki, rachel, and i left after lunch today, hoping to pick up a SIM card for rachel, the aforementioned SD card hook up for myself, and DVDs for all. the whole day seemed to go without a hitch. the bus took us almost exactly where i thought the mobile phone store was, we picked up rachel's SIM card, boarded another bus that took us again to almost exactly where the computer towers were. i did a great job bargaining, if i do say so myself, and we decided to walk north to tian fu square, where a giant statue of mao stands at the ready.

along the way, we stopped at one of the tea houses chengdu is famous for. luckily this one was sponsored by budweiser, so i felt right at home. the tea comes in beautiful porcelain bowls, with a saucer and a top. you take the cap off once the tea is done steeping (you can tell when the tea leaves sink to the bottom) and use it for a receptacle for leaves that make it into your mouth. it was a perfect break from an afternoon of walking. we kept moving northward, passing a battalion of chefs (or is it cheves?) and hostesses being briefed on the upcoming night. we reached tian fu square, hiroki took some pictures, and we decided it was time for hot pot. taking our leisure, we walked whichever way interested us, arrived at the bus, which took us to almost exactly where rachel thought the hot pot restaurant was.

we entered, and our adventure continued. hot pot is a boiling mix of peppers, hua jiao (a spice that numbs your mouth), and more peppers. it sits recessed in the middle of the table. the waitress gave us a checklist, like one you might find in a sushi restaurant. i explained to her that i could not read chinese, and looked at hiroki expectantly. finally they brought another waitress over, and i was able to get the idea across that we wanted anything that was good. they brought that.


we had some lamb, some pork, some radish much like hickima but stronger, and some delightful little whole fish. due to some great hand gestures from rachel, one half of the pot was the hot boiling oil of peppery goodness, and one half a milder vegetable, fish, and chicken type broth. due to my mother's tendency to cook texmex, and my father's love of making his bald spot sweat, i have been raised to tolerate a little spice. this was a lot of spice, but i was able to play through, with a little cold beverage. the fish were difficult for me to deal with, but i think the main problem was that i didn't let them cook enough. it was very slippery. the meal was capped off with a gelatin fruit cocktail sort of thing, that was not as good as ice cream.

we made it back to the bus. we figured that since we were boarding the 54 the first stop after the origin, that we would get a seat. we were wrong. standing room only, even from there. i bet that we would have an hour bus ride, and rachel thought we would have an hour and a quarter. hiroki was smart enough not to guess at all. things were going well until we reached shuhan road. according to my watch we spent more than 45 minutes at a dead stop in traffic. the parts when we were moving weren't bad at all. we figured we had to pay for such a productive day with some hardship. (and that was before i dropped my sd reader in the foot bath.) after exiting the bus at about 9:30 (about 2 hours after boarding) we got some ice cream and called it a day. life is (mostly) good in chengdu.