China 2017, Day 6: Chengdu

An airport is also a good opportunity for coffee. We had already settled down at the gate, so I decided not to bother Julia and Tize and get coffee on my own. I walked around, found a place with a lady in front, and asked “you meyou kafei?” (do you have coffee?). She led me inside and pointed at a table. “Bu yao zuo.” (I don’t want to sit) I said. Then she took me to the barista and showed me a menu. I pointed at the cappuccino, and gave the barista 100 Yuan bill. She gave me my cappuccino and 22 Yuan back. “Liu shi ba!” (sixty eight!), I exclaimed, and after checking with her boss, she gave me 10 Yuan more. After 10 minutes of being unbelievably satisfied with myself, I realized I had just bought shitty coffee for ten bucks.

Then Julia wanted to fill her water bottle from one of the water fountains. In China, people don’t really drink cold water, so the fountains dispense water in three temperatures: hot, warm, and cold, in case you have completely lost your mind. As Julia examined the machine, an airport employee decided she needed help.

- “You want hot water?”
- “No, cold."
- “You mean warm?"
- “No, I mean cold.”

He didn’t like it, but filled her bottle with cold water. Half way.

- “Do you want to add some hot water to that?”

At the airport in Chengdu, Julia’s mom, Fan, picked us up, and we took a taxi to her grandparents’ home. Yeye, Julia's grandfather, is an impressive man who will be 90 in June, yet can't sit still for more than five minutes. Laolao, the grandmother, is a tiny old woman who, how shall we put it, is more affected by her age. We were also welcomed by Erjiujiu (another second uncle, but on the mother's side), Fan's brother, who is very warm, if sometimes loud and too physical for my taste. I still like him. It was also good to finally be back in civilization, with running water and WiFi and stuff.

We all went out to get lunch. And then Julia and I wanted to see the science museum, so her parents tagged along. The weather was great - so much better than in Shanxi. We took a bus and got to the science museum, which unfortunately was closed for renovations.




Julia high-fived Mao.



Then we checked out the library. It's a beautiful building, and the difference between it and the public library in San Francisco is incredible - this one is quiet, packed with young people, and there are no used needles lying around or homeless people changing clothes in the aisles.



Then we went to the Chengdu museum. This building is also beautiful.We spent most of our time there in an exhibition about shadow puppetry, and in the little time we had left, we quickly went through most of the other galleries - these have exhibitions about Chengdu in various points in history. The museum is really great.

Then we went to the Wuhou temple.



And then to Jinli market. We bought all kinds of street food, and that ended up being our dinner. We had things like squid, and rice cakes, and the highlight of the day: pig noses on a stick.