March 11th, 2007
A 45 minute drive into the countryside led us to the ‘state’ or ancient town of ZhuJiaJiang. A beautiful small town set along the river with all sorts of stuff on the streets: fatty pork on a stick, stinky tofu, village style ‘jooungs’ (sticky rice n pork inside a lotus wrap), cotton candy Shanghai style, and a whole slough of shops selling all that same touristy crap. Venturing a further down the pathways gave us a glimpse of some of the local residents, their homes, their food and their way of living. Truly humbling and a very enlightening experience for us all.
After our ‘mongolian BBQ lunch’, the 4 of us opted–out of another museum tour for some free time in the afternoon. Some chose to see the Bund in better clear skies, while others wandered through the old town, checking out the market scene again.
If you’ve never been ripped off while travelling, either you’ve never realized it, or you’re in denial!!…After sampling some teas and bargaining for a good price, aC & I left this shop with a screaming 15 year old quickly on our tails. All I could make out was, ‘mooonhey no good’. We had been scammed with a counterfeit fifty, somewhere along our trails in China. In calm fashion, we persuaded this chick to take all that we had left, 30 rnb. She realized that we got an even better bargain than originally allowed and as a result, insisted that we give back an item.
Our cab ride back towards our hotel led us to Mr. Xu Yao, aka, ‘Mr. Arrest me for having a shop full of fake golf shit’. We left his store with a bunch of Callaway goodies, ready to put a close on our knock-off shopping spree in China.
After dinner, I was somehow lured to this guy selling DVD 9’s and I couldn’t believe that 24 - Season 6 was right in front of our eyes! Best part of the deal was aC slipped him a whopping fifty for a dozen+ discs, and to our delight he jammed that bill in his pocketpool area like it was a gem! Without any more thoughts we bolted and took a quick right, then left, then through the ‘friendship store’. Well, we managed to get that funny money out of our bank, but unfortunately, some other lame-duck tourists will probably get it back one day.
Well after 10 days, our China tour has come to and end. After an overview of Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai, we are both very exhausted but extremely enlightened with all the history, the facts and the beauty that lies within our cultural heritage. Rude people, pushy grandmas, ridiculous driving etiquette, same old food and dirty smelly ‘WC’s were nasty, but we definitely want to return here in the future!
…and hay, in 10 Days, I never had to use the Squat technique!….amazing!
A 45 minute drive into the countryside led us to the ‘state’ or ancient town of ZhuJiaJiang. A beautiful small town set along the river with all sorts of stuff on the streets: fatty pork on a stick, stinky tofu, village style ‘jooungs’ (sticky rice n pork inside a lotus wrap), cotton candy Shanghai style, and a whole slough of shops selling all that same touristy crap. Venturing a further down the pathways gave us a glimpse of some of the local residents, their homes, their food and their way of living. Truly humbling and a very enlightening experience for us all.
After our ‘mongolian BBQ lunch’, the 4 of us opted–out of another museum tour for some free time in the afternoon. Some chose to see the Bund in better clear skies, while others wandered through the old town, checking out the market scene again.
If you’ve never been ripped off while travelling, either you’ve never realized it, or you’re in denial!!…After sampling some teas and bargaining for a good price, aC & I left this shop with a screaming 15 year old quickly on our tails. All I could make out was, ‘mooonhey no good’. We had been scammed with a counterfeit fifty, somewhere along our trails in China. In calm fashion, we persuaded this chick to take all that we had left, 30 rnb. She realized that we got an even better bargain than originally allowed and as a result, insisted that we give back an item.
Our cab ride back towards our hotel led us to Mr. Xu Yao, aka, ‘Mr. Arrest me for having a shop full of fake golf shit’. We left his store with a bunch of Callaway goodies, ready to put a close on our knock-off shopping spree in China.
After dinner, I was somehow lured to this guy selling DVD 9’s and I couldn’t believe that 24 - Season 6 was right in front of our eyes! Best part of the deal was aC slipped him a whopping fifty for a dozen+ discs, and to our delight he jammed that bill in his pocketpool area like it was a gem! Without any more thoughts we bolted and took a quick right, then left, then through the ‘friendship store’. Well, we managed to get that funny money out of our bank, but unfortunately, some other lame-duck tourists will probably get it back one day.
Well after 10 days, our China tour has come to and end. After an overview of Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai, we are both very exhausted but extremely enlightened with all the history, the facts and the beauty that lies within our cultural heritage. Rude people, pushy grandmas, ridiculous driving etiquette, same old food and dirty smelly ‘WC’s were nasty, but we definitely want to return here in the future!
…and hay, in 10 Days, I never had to use the Squat technique!….amazing!
1 comment:
What do you exactly mean when you say that in 10 days you didn't have to use the squat technique??
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