Relative quiet days

Hey there again!

It has been a while again since I last wrote something on my blog. To be honest, not a lot has been happening lately, mainly due to the weather. The last week it has been terribly hot in the area of Chengdu, so hot that it was not possible for me anymore to go visit places. But that does not mean that nothing happened of course!

It’s something that anyone over the world recognizes and it is one of the symbols of the province of Sichuan. Yes, it is the giant panda! I went to visit a panda breeding centre where they also show their pandas to visitors. Unfortunately, because of the high temperatures those days, no pandas were outside and we could only see them inside, where most of them are sleeping.

I was also very lucky with the timing of visiting the centre. Pandas are only fertile 3 days a year, the day that I visited the centre was right in the period where pandas give birth. I saw a baby panda that was less than 1 day old! Because its eyes are closed and sensitive, all of the newly born baby pandas’ heads are covered with a towel, so you saw a small pink creature behind sticking out of a pile of towels. Unfortunately I could not take any pictures of it, because it was not allowed.

Chinese people are known for eating anything that moves, which includes every part of it, people from Sichuan especially. I experienced this fact first hand last week when I went to eat hotpot. The first plate that arrived was pig stomach, which is relatively normal as I have seen and eaten this before. After that came the artery of the pig, which became slightly disturbing, but the worst was kept last. Last came the pig brain… yes, the brain. It took a while for it to cook in the soup, but even after it was done, it was still very soft and…. Odd…

I have been looking forward to getting a massage after the trips I took, but it kept getting postponed. Finally I went to get a massage last week, to release the stress, soften up muscles and afterwards feel refreshed and like a new person! Except that it did not…. I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m too sensitive or ticklish, or that the person that massaged me did something wrong (more likely the first reason), but it felt terrible. It was as if I was being tortured and I was even paying for it as well! Even afterwards my muscles felt sore instead of refreshed. No more massages for me!

I almost forgot to say that I am no longer in Chengdu, but really am BeijingFong again as I have returned in Beijing! Registration at my university is going to be soon and many trips will follow that. Make sure you reserve some of your time in the future to view my future blog messages!

We Fong