sunday funday

the day after st. pats, we woke up late, and went to check out chengdu xiao chi cheng, famous for its snacks or "small eats" (xiao chi). apparently, my luck of the irish ran out, because i was hurting that morning. we made our way to a cab with bags in tow, and got in. i tried to explain to the cab driver where we wanted to go, and either because my voice was too gravelly, my chinese was polluted from the night before, or we were marked for uninformed tourists, i did not have an easy time. eventually, i got out my rough guide to lay it out for him, and the cab driver still got the wrong place.

he dropped us off at chunxi lu, chengdu's premier shopping plaza. the noodle restaurant he thought we wanted was packed to the gills with chinese, leaving us no place to sit, let alone put the huge bags. instead, we walked through chunxi lu, ogled the commercialism, and caught another cab on the other side.

we took this to dufu's cottage, which was our primary tourist spot we were going to hit after lunch. luckily, almost every tourist attraction in chengdu has a restaurant somewhere inside, so we went looking for some tasty, yet pricey fare.

apparently there was a wedding reception just ending at the restaurant as we entered. there were huge round tables covered with red table cloths, confetti, and a few hardcore guests still eating and drinking. i could smell the baijiu, having a bit of experience with it, but steve and strav did not seem to notice. we were led off to another room where we were given an english menu to peruse. we ordered a wide range of things, including something listed on the menu as "simmered pears." i should have recognized the characters for ku gua.

our meal came in fits and starts, as is it is the way a chinese restaurant works. midway through, strav got up to use the restroom. it was here that strav had his first real baijiu experience. he came back talking about a bathroom covered in vomit and stinking of baijiu. as anyone who as drank it can tell you, it has a very distinctive smell. from that point on strav could smell what i was talking about in the main room.

eventually the "simmered pears" came, which was actually bitter melon. my least favorite vegetable in the world (no hyperbole there), bitter melon is...well, extremely bitter. it is said to take away the burning of sichuan food, but i would much prefer to burn. i can't help make a face like i'm drinking baijiu while eating it. we left soon after, with our lives intact, and began to explore dufu's cottage.

dufu is a famous chinese poet, and his place was niiiiiice. i guess he lived in a 4 room grass hut, but all around it there is a compound that might suit the chinese kennedy's. though it's a beautiful place to walk around, it was very similar to every other park in chengdu. bamboo, koi ponds, flowers, and ancient chinese buildings. the one thing that was different was a room full of statues of 10 of the most famous chinese poets and summaries of their lives in chinese and english. it turns out most of them were failed officials.

also, mao visited and had his picture taken there, so all the chinese tourists have their picture taken in the same spot. according to their motto for this trip, "when in rome..." strav and steve also had their picture taken there. check out the mao-type looks on their faces.

after that we took a cab to my apartment and chilled a bit. steve and strav settled in, enjoying the mint oreos that china has to offer. after some good maxin', we went to cheers, where strav promptly fell in love with fuwuyuan (waitress). he was no match for her smile, sunny disposition, and huge vocabulary that patrick and i (mostly patrick) taught her. after a great meal (of course), we headed back to my place and crashed. what a delightful, albeit a bit hungover day.