One Girl, Two Coasts: Day Eighteen: Gardens, Badminton, & More!

Day Eighteen

Top of the morning to ya! I woke up after a restful sleep in an air-conditioned room that I had all to myself!. Once we got ready for the day, our relatives took us out for breakfast at a very famous restaurant here in Yangzhou that my uncle claimed all tourists should eat at in order to say they'd truly "been to Yangzhou". They ordered us lots of the well-known foods from this city, like thin, noodle-like tofu strips dressed with an unknown sauce, dumplings and pot stickers, and buns (包子) stuffed with pork, veggies, or sweet red bean paste. Each person got a little, individual wooden container with a bun inside. My grandpa showed me how to eat it; you took a short little straw from a container on the lazy Susan, stabbed the bun with it, and sucked all of the liquid out of it. Once there was no soup in the bun anymore, you could cut it up and eat it. Such a unique process! I've always been taught to bite a tiny piece of the bun to suck the soup out first so you don't burn yourself, but I've never used a straw.

After breakfast, we said goodbye to out relatives and left to go with one of the younger uncles (he came yesterday for dinner), who'd be taking us out to play for the day. We were spending three days in Yangzhou, and each day, a different uncle would take us sightseeing. What a treat! Today we would be going to a Buddhist temple and a huge park that contained a lake (the whole place was called Slender West Lake). It was another "must-go" tourist attraction in Yangzhou, and we took lots of photos of the picturesque views that dominated the landscape. My uncle was also had a hidden talent of tour guiding, and explained countless things to us as we made our way through each site. It was super hot and muggy out, but I definitely learned a lot about Chinese history!

We got to see a traditional Buddhist ceremony take place, which was really interesting! It's not every day that you get that opportunity, that's for sure. The Slender West Lake area was also beautiful...it was a huge park though, and we toted our bottled waters as we walked through flower gardens and small bridges. After we were finished, we headed out for lunch. My uncle ordered a plate of noodles, soup, a dish of spicy fish heads with noodles, and other unique dishes that you'd probably cringe at if I translated them...I'll just stop there and let you guess from the photos!

Once lunch was eaten, we went back to the apartment for siesta (nap time after lunch). My brother and uncle dozed off while I blogged, and then at 3, we left again for more badminton! We played two more hours of badminton at the same sketchy place, and then drove to another uncle's house for dinner. Their apartment was new and was very nice; they'd designed it with marble and white furniture/designs, and there were many rooms on both the first and second floor.

We ate a dinner of chive pancakes (essentially Chinese pizza) and then I spent the night chatting with my youngest uncle's fiancée, Janice. She was an English teacher for high school students and we talked for a long time about countless differences and similarities between Chinese and American students. She is unbelievably sweet and hard-working, and I'm so glad we got a chance to talk! Finally, my grandpa and I headed home (the rest of our crew had gone to watch my uncle coach his basketball team) and got ready for bed. So much love for all my relatives here!!