Smog!

January 16, 2010

Something I have come to realize while I've been in China is how big the world really is.

This morning we woke up at 5:00 A.M. to catch our 3 hour flight to Chengdu. We packed up all our things and headed down to the hotel lobby to weigh our bags. For flights within China bags cannot weigh more than 44 lbs. My bag weighed 19 kilograms which is less than 44 lbs! Thank goodness! We put our bags on the bus and enjoyed a continental breakfast at the hotel.

When we arrived at the airport I was surprised at how large this one was because it was a different airport than the one we flew into Shanghai. The architecture was also very different. It had what looked like steel hair brush bristles hanging down from the ceiling. The ceiling was made of glass.

Going through security in China was much different than in America. China takes more security precautions and more time to inspect each passenger carefully. On the plane there were about 6 flight attendants. They all checked to make sure each passenger had their seat backs up, electronics stored and seat belts fastened, and window shades up. They took more time to inspect each passenger than American flight attendants do. Also the flight attendants were constantly walking up and down the aisle for most of the flight.

Upon arriving in Chengdu, the smoggy air was hard to miss. The city is located in a basin; however the plain of the basin is at the very bottom. Chengdu is humid and dry, causing the smog to overtake the city. I went to LA this past summer, and the smog is 10 X's worse here!

We met our new tour guide. I am not a fan. He has the personality of a rock and his voice bores me to sleep. I overheard my classmates say the same thing. Its official....we miss Jing.

I learned that Chengdu is considered a relatively small city. However the population is 12 million. The driving is just as bad here as it was in Shanghai. All the taxis are either lime green or aqua blue. They all have a panda on the front hood. The cars are much nicer and more brightly colored here than in Shanghai. I have seen many red, yellow and orange cars. There are significantly less people too. Bikes are very common modes of transportation.

We arrived at our hotel to find we have free internet! I was so excited about this. It makes how much I had to pay at the last hotel worth it. We had some free time, so Victoria and I decided to take a nap. We are in a room on the 16th floor because this is where the non smoking rooms are located. The rest of our classmates (and Emma :() are on the 6th and 7th floor. These rooms are smoking rooms. My asthma is already giving me a hard time with the smog and smoke. There was just no way I could stay in a smoking room. The hotel beds here are much smaller but more comfortable. The hotel can't accommodate 3 to a room, so Victoria is going to switch back and forth, staying every other night between Emma’s room and mine. This way both of us won't have to be alone the whole trip.

We went to a hot pot dinner. Boy was it hot in temperature and spice! Imagine a huge pot. Now imagine a smaller pot sitting on the inside of the larger one. The outer rim is filled with spices. These are literally "tongue numbing". A large bunch of raw food is given to you and they put it in the pot and let it cook for a few minutes. Daniel, another Wofford student with the group, and I had to get our own vegetarian pot. I didn't care for the spicy foods. I tried to eat them but my mouth was on fire. The non spicy ones weren't that great either. Between the two of us we finished off 2 big bottles of 7up because the food is so spicy.

After dinner we ventured to the grocery store to get some snacks. While I was in there I crossed the meat section. In China they basically hang the animals up to dry out. I saw full pigs, chickens and lambs. Where the animals hang in the store is also not refrigerated. This is so strange! We went down the chip aisle to get a few bags of chips. That's one of the only snacks we can distinguish that also has the flavor written in English. China does not have any of the flavors we have at home, except for classic. They have cucumber, tomato sauce, blueberry and many other different ones.

After the grocery store we headed back to the hotel. We hung out as a group and then headed to bed. We have to be up early tomorrow for our adventures!