One Girl, Two Coasts: Day Three: Dim Sum, Money Probs, & Gorgeous Views

Kicking it on a motorcycle! SO much fun.

On day three, I woke up really early; unfortunately, my jet lag had started kicking in. However, my early morning rising was rewarded because my aunt needed to go to the marketplace again! After a breakfast of chow he fun (a type of thick noodle) made by my grandmother, we got ready to leave. So, we hopped on her motorcycle and were off to shop!

A few minutes later, I found myself in the middle of a gigantic maze of booths. Navigating through strollers, carts, and motorcycles, I peered curiously at the things each vendor was offering. There was literally everything: fruits (mainly exotic ones), veggies, meat, fish, nuts, herbs and medicine, tea leaves, flowers, clothes, and so much more.

My aunt picked up some fruits, Asian vegetables, tea, and flowers before deciding to call it a day. While she was paying for things and choosing her groceries, I was snapping photos of the hectic, bustling crowd around me. You could seriously stand there all day, people-watching and observing, and not be bored. All of my senses were on overload.

Of course, it wouldn't have been a characteristic trip to the marketplace if I didn't see anything crazy or strange. Here are just a few things that you don't see everyday: people aelling groups of live toads tied together for cooking later on, a massive pile of dried starfish (apparently for medicinal purposes...it's a shame that they're still being consumed like this, since they're becoming more endangered), buckets full of snakes, eels, and turtles to be sold and cooked, and last but not least, dried lizard skins strung up on wooden sticks! I have NO idea what these could possibly be for, but they looked absolutely revolting. I did a major double take when I saw them.

Once back home, I went out again with my dad and uncle to go exchange our American money for Chinese RMB at a nearby bank. I don't know if all banks in China are like this, but this one was ridiculously slow and inefficient. We waited over 45 minutes after taking a number, since each client took forever and only 2/5 of the available counters were open.

Then, my dad couldn't even exchange the money because you had to create an account or something complicated like that. So, we went back to the house RMB-less and cranky. However, we weren't in bad moods for long, because we were now off to...

...eat dim sum!! You can't stay mad for long when delicious little treats are in your midst! Furthermore, we went to the biggest dim sum place I have ever seen...it was on one floor of this fancy hotel, and was literally a dining hall. There were hundreds of people sitting at these round 8-person tables, eating dim sum off of lazy Susan's while dozens of servers rushed about toting trays. There were chandeliers everywhere, beautiful decorations, and a stage at one end with a massive tv screen above it that was showing the World Cup on the left and pictures of dim sum on the right.

Jason and I stood there with our mouths on the floor while our aunt found an empty table in the throng of people. Then, she invited me to go up with her to choose our dishes. Their dim sum system was unique and smart; since it was such a big place, it would've been chaos to have servers pushing carts around and navigating through everything. Instead, patrons sent "an emissary" (to quote my favorite teacher, Mr. O'Brien) to a station on the side where all the options were laid out. You'd pick what you wanted, get your card stamped, and then a server would bring everything to your table.

We ordered some delicious sweet buns with a custardy yellow paste inside, fish and veggie soup, shu mai, chicken feet (a dim sum staple), vegetables, pot stickers, and much more. We were happy campers after our tummies had been filled, and we sat back looking at the scene before us after our meal.

Once we were done, we returned to the bank with our grandmother to finish what we had started that morning. She had an account, so after sitting and waiting another hour, we had finally gotten our RMB! I spent a loooong time sitting on a bank bench that day. Not fun.

Next, all of us went to our grandfather's burial site to visit him. Unfortunately, my brother and I never got to meet him because he passed away before we were born. We brought him flowers and paid our respects to him. There were two parts to the beautiful, serene cemetery area. It was on a hillside with all of the graves laid out in rows, while those who were cremated had a plaque in these large rooms. The entire place was so beautiful and consisted mainly of traditional Chinese architecture. Just stunning.

Once we left, we then went to my uncles new apartment to take a look. It was located in this beautiful little cluster of apartment buildings, with a pool, stone walkways, and elegant shrubs/plants lining all of the buildings.

My uncle is retired now, but he's always been an artist and mainly uses oil paints and ink for his work. Throughout the years, I've gotten the chance to see a lot of his work, and it's absolutely fantastic. Especially the ink pen pieces, because they're so ridiculously detailed since the lines are so fine. I have a few of his framed drawings in my room.

This time, he made laser copies of his newest pieces for us to bring back. Much to my delight as a lifelong horse lover, many of them are of horses! I'll definitely be bringing some of them with me to college. He never ceases to amaze me with how good he is at drawing and painting! If only his crazy artistic talent ran in the family :(

Finally, we returned home. I was exhausted, so I took a nap before we had a hot pot dinner! We cooked fish, dumplings, veggies, mushrooms, and shrimp in a pot of boiling water in the middle of the table, and then ladled it out into our bowls. Dinner is much more interactive with a hot pot!

Afterwards, we sprawled out on the couches and watched some Cantonese soap operas before going to bed. It was definitely another eventful day in China!