8:30AM
We all woke early. I’m not used to it being light at 5am. Some of the group decided to go for a run, but I opted for a shower. I forgot that the shower heads are detachable and turned on the shower to full blast. It stared spinning around soaking the entire bathroom. At least I left my bag outside the door!
Breakfast was interesting! I recognized the scrambled eggs, rice and pineapple but that was it. I tried the other stuff and decided to drag out one of the breakfast bars I brought from home. Maybe my stomach will feel more adventurous around lunch time.
3:00PM
Whew! I see why they told us to pack light now. After leaving the hotel we took a bus to the train station. Riding the bullet train was fun. It was a little different than the one in Japan. This one was more economy while Japan was more luxury. I got a neat little video from the window. I’ve gotten really lucky so far with all of my seats being by the window, even on the plane. Next we had lunch at a food court- an interesting experience in itself. I decided on some sort of noodle and pork dish. It was one of the few non-spicy, no eyes staring at you, not creepy dishes. I was excited to find one of my favorite deserts was sold in the court. They are made from rice and smashed into dough. Then they are filled with a wonderful fruit filling. I had a delightful strawberry one that was so fresh it tasted better than real strawberries.
After lunch we took the metro. It wasn’t as packed as the Japanese ones, but it was still standing room only. Our stop wasn’t far and we began our walk to the University. We had to carry all of our luggage and the walk was at least a mile maybe two. I felt so bad for the couple that had 2+ bags. I’m really glad my bag is light and easy to haul around. I don’t think this is the best thing for my sprained ankle, which is now a wonderful shade of blue and purple, but at least the pain isn’t too bad.
Our rooms are really nice. We were expecting the worst, but it was a pleasant surprise. We are about to head out to visit some temple. It sounds like a really cool cultural opportunity.
9PM
What a busy day! We took the metro to the Confucius Temple where we given a tour in English. If we were not so tired this would have been super cool. I took lots of pictures of the temple, so be sure to look at them (see Flicker link below-Translation for parents: Just click on a picture and it will take you to the site to view them all).
I liked the story about the fish/dragon. It’s an old tale about a group of fish that were in a race. In order to win some of the fish jumped through the dragon gate, which symbolizes good fortune and pretty much everything else good. Once through, the fish had the ability to turn into little dragons which gave them the strength and speed they needed to win. However, one fish got stuck in the gateway. He was forever stuck as a half dragon/half fish, and somehow he now protects the temple against fire. The logistics of it were lost in translation, but it made a good story.
There were also many little pictorial scenes along the top of the temple. For example, one was the story of a king who humbled himself enough to beg for his people’s help. I got a few shots of the inside of the temple from sticking my camera inside the gate, which I sure they didn’t appreciate, but oh well.
The top of the temple was lined with many different animals. It was a very colorful place and the animals added to the curiosity of it. Our guide also told us about the chimney stack on top of the main temple building. When the country was burning books to control the people’s knowledge many books were hide in the chimney stack. No one ever thought to look inside, so all the books were safe.
After the tour, I purchased a really cool necklace from the gift shop. It is a hard crystal material with several dragons and Confucius animals craved into it on an ornate string. Not that I expect it to match much, but it looks cool!
Next we headed to another food court for dinner. We all wanted to go to this famous restaurant. It was worth the wait because the food was delicious. We had pork dumplings, which may not sound good, but tasted AWESOME. Then as a main course I got a beef basined noodle dish. By this point I had made it clear to the professor that the trip would not be over until I found some bubble tea. For those of you who don’t know this about me, I really love bubble tea. I was excited to try some authentic bubble tea, but apparently fate just wanted us to walk around downtown for awhile. We nearly gave up, but on the way back into the food court center we found some. And yes, it’s even better here (see pictures for reference)! The food court was the first floor of a large shopping center.
Our group broke up into pairs and we were free for the night. I went with Diane to explore the upper floors while the others went their separate ways. We kept trying to get to the top of the store, but by the 12th floor we gave up from exhaustion. I wonder how many floors they had in total?
By this point we were both ready to crawl into bed, so we began our long journey back to the dorms. Navigating the metro by ourselves was interesting. I’m glad I have a good sense of direction, otherwise we would have gotten lost. We had to take 2 different lines to get to the right area and then still navigate all the roads back. We still haven’t heard from the other group-I hope they aren’t lost!
The three members of our group that got stuck in Japan are flying in tonight. I bet they will be tired and frustrated.
I’m exhausted from all the speed walking and jet lag. I hope I can manage to get the internet to work tonight so I can post this update.
We all woke early. I’m not used to it being light at 5am. Some of the group decided to go for a run, but I opted for a shower. I forgot that the shower heads are detachable and turned on the shower to full blast. It stared spinning around soaking the entire bathroom. At least I left my bag outside the door!
Breakfast was interesting! I recognized the scrambled eggs, rice and pineapple but that was it. I tried the other stuff and decided to drag out one of the breakfast bars I brought from home. Maybe my stomach will feel more adventurous around lunch time.
3:00PM
Whew! I see why they told us to pack light now. After leaving the hotel we took a bus to the train station. Riding the bullet train was fun. It was a little different than the one in Japan. This one was more economy while Japan was more luxury. I got a neat little video from the window. I’ve gotten really lucky so far with all of my seats being by the window, even on the plane. Next we had lunch at a food court- an interesting experience in itself. I decided on some sort of noodle and pork dish. It was one of the few non-spicy, no eyes staring at you, not creepy dishes. I was excited to find one of my favorite deserts was sold in the court. They are made from rice and smashed into dough. Then they are filled with a wonderful fruit filling. I had a delightful strawberry one that was so fresh it tasted better than real strawberries.
After lunch we took the metro. It wasn’t as packed as the Japanese ones, but it was still standing room only. Our stop wasn’t far and we began our walk to the University. We had to carry all of our luggage and the walk was at least a mile maybe two. I felt so bad for the couple that had 2+ bags. I’m really glad my bag is light and easy to haul around. I don’t think this is the best thing for my sprained ankle, which is now a wonderful shade of blue and purple, but at least the pain isn’t too bad.
Our rooms are really nice. We were expecting the worst, but it was a pleasant surprise. We are about to head out to visit some temple. It sounds like a really cool cultural opportunity.
9PM
What a busy day! We took the metro to the Confucius Temple where we given a tour in English. If we were not so tired this would have been super cool. I took lots of pictures of the temple, so be sure to look at them (see Flicker link below-Translation for parents: Just click on a picture and it will take you to the site to view them all).
I liked the story about the fish/dragon. It’s an old tale about a group of fish that were in a race. In order to win some of the fish jumped through the dragon gate, which symbolizes good fortune and pretty much everything else good. Once through, the fish had the ability to turn into little dragons which gave them the strength and speed they needed to win. However, one fish got stuck in the gateway. He was forever stuck as a half dragon/half fish, and somehow he now protects the temple against fire. The logistics of it were lost in translation, but it made a good story.
There were also many little pictorial scenes along the top of the temple. For example, one was the story of a king who humbled himself enough to beg for his people’s help. I got a few shots of the inside of the temple from sticking my camera inside the gate, which I sure they didn’t appreciate, but oh well.
The top of the temple was lined with many different animals. It was a very colorful place and the animals added to the curiosity of it. Our guide also told us about the chimney stack on top of the main temple building. When the country was burning books to control the people’s knowledge many books were hide in the chimney stack. No one ever thought to look inside, so all the books were safe.
After the tour, I purchased a really cool necklace from the gift shop. It is a hard crystal material with several dragons and Confucius animals craved into it on an ornate string. Not that I expect it to match much, but it looks cool!
Next we headed to another food court for dinner. We all wanted to go to this famous restaurant. It was worth the wait because the food was delicious. We had pork dumplings, which may not sound good, but tasted AWESOME. Then as a main course I got a beef basined noodle dish. By this point I had made it clear to the professor that the trip would not be over until I found some bubble tea. For those of you who don’t know this about me, I really love bubble tea. I was excited to try some authentic bubble tea, but apparently fate just wanted us to walk around downtown for awhile. We nearly gave up, but on the way back into the food court center we found some. And yes, it’s even better here (see pictures for reference)! The food court was the first floor of a large shopping center.
Our group broke up into pairs and we were free for the night. I went with Diane to explore the upper floors while the others went their separate ways. We kept trying to get to the top of the store, but by the 12th floor we gave up from exhaustion. I wonder how many floors they had in total?
By this point we were both ready to crawl into bed, so we began our long journey back to the dorms. Navigating the metro by ourselves was interesting. I’m glad I have a good sense of direction, otherwise we would have gotten lost. We had to take 2 different lines to get to the right area and then still navigate all the roads back. We still haven’t heard from the other group-I hope they aren’t lost!
The three members of our group that got stuck in Japan are flying in tonight. I bet they will be tired and frustrated.
I’m exhausted from all the speed walking and jet lag. I hope I can manage to get the internet to work tonight so I can post this update.
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