Braden's Blog: A day in the city

We had a great day of discovering new things. I pretty much mean in the city, but we discovered a few new things abour our little man. Oh, and our sleep deprivation caught up to Ken and I, since we both fell asleep trying to get our lively boy to sleep. (so I wasnt able to post). Yesterday afternoon Little Mr. Kranky Pants emerged. Shu, that is not Ken. He didnt want to be out of my arms (again, I mean Shu) once we got back to the hotel, and when I put him down he'd squat down and wail. Now, you and I both really want to say I loved this very much and soaked it all in...and I did...until he head butted me, followed by what I think was supposed to be a nuzzle to my chin but turned out to be a bite. This was after Ken was trying to make him laugh by swinging him around in arms, but he happend to have the Ipod charger in his hand which whipped around so the pluggy thing cracked me on the bride of my nose. Not Shu's fault here though when I screamed Ouch he was hysterical with laughter. Huh?!?!? My precious boy? The little love of my dreams for so long? (of course he still is. I love every feisty inch of him more than I beleived I could) He was very much like an octopus, grabbing anything in sight (USB stick, cell phone, remote control, spoons...I know, shame on us for them being within reach) and when we'd take whatever it was away and replace it with something "fun", he'd throw himself on the floor and screech. We mostly laughed at it. Mostly.

I thought for certain he'd fall asleep quickly. The night before it only took 2 Hush Little Baby's; 3 Twinkle Twinkles; and 2 You are my Sunshines. Surely after so much time outdoors and our very first stroller ride exploring the city, he'd be tired, right?!

Chengdu is such an interesting place. It's a big city - so many people, scooters, bikes, cars. And none of them really abide by traffic laws, considering them mere suggestions instead. There are masses of moving vehciles of any kind crossing the streets. Scary to join them.

There is a great deal of construction going on, new development, new high rises and a subway system that will be done in a month. Yet the city has pockets of old China. I love seeing the old arches to streets that resemble traditional Chinese, with high rises shooting up behind them.

We went to Qintian Street, pictured below, that was pretty much a street of tea houses and jewelry stores. There is the Opera House as well, which we head has a fantastic face changing show, but unfortuantely only at night. It was a beautiful, colorful street, with such design detail.

It lead into a park on the river that had all sorts of hidden gardens and such serene landscapes - it was quite beautiful and very well kept. So many kinds of trees, bushes, flowers - many that I recognized and manhy more I didnt. It was terrific that they were all marked with what they are. In Chinese that is. Except for the sign that said to "Take Mercy on the Grass". I love the literal translations of some things.

This park also had many cafes scattered throughout, but mostly hidden by trees. It was the happy sounds and amazing smells that caught our attention to realize there were these little spots. I commented to Ken that I couldn't believe there were no pigeons. He gave me that "bless your heart" look and whispered..."Pigeons are food". I thought he was kidding until he was scanning the room service menu (Shu was not in a restarant mood) and said we could have Crispy Fried Pigeon. ACK!

We did have a local experience for lunch at a well known hot pot restaurant, Old Mother's. A hot pot is part hot Sichuan pepper oil on one side, and seasoned broth on the other. You put food items into each of them to cook and it was very very yummy. Trying to pick the food items was amusing though since we were on our own and no one spoke english. Ken did a great job pointing to pictures so we had chicken, beef, shrooms and greens. Thankfully he passed up the whole frog, fish head, sea slugs. I can be adventurous, but to a point. It really was delilcous, and I can tell you that mushrooms absorb peppers the most. My lips and tongue were numb for quite some time and I feared fire coming out of my nostrils for a while there