after going to three different stores to buy water because NO ONE want to make change for 100 yuan (the monetary equivalent of about $13… seriously!)… i wander my way toward wenshu monastery… which, on the handy dandy pocket map i’ve got, looks to be about a half-mile away… but, in reality, is about three miles away… alas… it was good to walk… check out the local color… earn my first vaca blisters... you know... the good stuff!chengdu, by china standards, is not a huge city (which means it is STILL huge but its nowhere near shanghai or beijing uber-gigantor… surprisingly, i was one of about two white faces… and certainly the only woman strolling alone… so i did the only thing i could… walked like i owned the place (humbly, of course :)….
the gardens were beautiful (and there’s a great big pond where all discarded red-eared sliders go to live out there days… oh... flash... java... here, turtle, turtle, turtle..!)… and the crowds sparse… i just perused the grounds, where dozens of older chinese congregated to talk, play games and practice their instruments…. all of them friendly and inviting… really, it was quite peaceful… until…
i get waved over by a young man… not attractive.. but not unattractive… who wants to practice his english… he’s sitting with a bunch of older people who are playing cards so… ok… why not (and, maybe, i can get a pic, right? wrong!)… starts out ok enough… makes some small talk… and then says he works for “lonely planet” (hmmmmm... oookkkkk)… and is writing about the best places backpackers like to see in chegndu… ummmm… ok… he then declares that he must take me out to dinner the next night to see the chengdu opera…
argh! i silently beg him to see that... 1) i’m married… see the ring (why don’t men ever see the ring?)… 2) even if i weren’t, there’s not one ounce of interest… and 3) if i want to spend an evening listening to cats in heat, all i have to do is jump the fence to el dorado park when the season is right… bleh… no thanks… and when he “insisted” we go tonight… i just said a polite "no, thank you"... and walked away with him yelling after me… in a monastery… weird..
as i was nearing the end, i found the monastery's much-touted veggie restaurant … damn, i wish I’d even been remotely hungry…
on the trek back, i recalled passing an open-air market among the hutongs and thought… "oh yeah… this i gotta see"… i’m sure i was a strange site wandering the back alleys, but everyone was friendly and showed off their wares… fruits, vegs, whole chickens and TONS of meat… i SO wanted to take pics of it all but was respectful, asked... and put the camera down when they said "no" (poop!)… anyhoo, very cool to see how food is supposed to be bought… food that is grown or raised by your neighbor… fresh… simplicity is exquisite …
hoofed it back for my hotel… and headed down to the bar with my laptop in one arm and tony in another… had dinner… a few beers… and wrote and read… ended up in a card game with a few kids from the uk who’d been traveling the world for nearly five months… lucky! nice enough kids… and i sort of learned the game sh*thead… mmmmmkkkk…
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