A "tour" of Huainan

Today, we were taken out to breakfast by Mr. Li, his wife, and Really, Adam's temporary translator. It was the first time either of us had ever had soup for breakfast. But it was actually really good. And there were two different kinds of bread which were both super delicious. So that was fun. Then, they said they were going to take us to a park. And we thought it would be like a city park where we could take Smudgie to play, but as the drive went further and further away from town, we realized that was not so. Haha. We drove to the outskirts of Huainan where it's very poor. Dirt roads, chickens wandering about, and stray and pet dogs looking equally scruffy. We had to stop several times to ask the locals for directions. Finally we got there and it was not so much a park (with a playground) as a historical preservation site. First we saw a Buddhist temple with lot's of cool statues. Then we saw the palace of the king of Huainan from the Han Dynasty. That's like 2,000 years old. Also, there were giant millipedes everywhere. Not incredibly giant, but about as long as a middle finger.

After that, we went to see a famous lake. It had HUGE lilypads growing all over it and little kids were wearing them as hats and it was very cute. I used my second squat toilet, and this one was gross. Thank god there was a hook on the wall to hang my purse, because I would not have put my purse on the floor. That's all I'll say. We then had lunch at this restaurant on stilts hovering over the lake. Needless to say, their food is very fresh. The fish, turtles, eels, and probably the shrimp too were all caught from the lake. As we were picking out the fish that would be on our table, Mr. Li reached into a bucket and pulled out a turtle. The bucket was full of them, all in their own individual nets, still alive. And we said "Yeah, let's try it!" I poked its foot and felt bad for a few moments but I wondered what turtle tasted like. But as lunch came to a close, there was no turtle. We suspect it was probably really expensive and that's why he decided not to get it. But no matter, because we had beef, shrimp, tofu, mushrooms, and waterchestnuts! It was a really good lunch even turtleless. Below is a picture of a couple turtles they had on display, not for eating.

Then it was a long drive home. But Adam wanted to take me to this place he went to the last time he was here for a foot massage since massages are really cheap. So Really came with us and we were all in the same room. This foot massage is much more than you could ever imagine. First of all, it's actually a full body massage. They do a little on your arms and neck first, while your feet soak. Then they do the feet for..... EVER. The foot portion is really long and wonderful. Then they dry your feet off leave the room and you think they're done.... but then they come back and start doing your legs. Then they have you turn over and they do the back of your legs and your back. And it actually kinda hurts, they're not messin' around. This is all clothed, by the way. Then you turn back over and they do more on your legs. Then Really said, "Do you want... Ba Guan?" and she didn't know the English word for it but she stamped her right fist into the palm of her left hand. And I was like, "what?" but she went ahead and said yes for all of us. I had no idea what Ba Guan was but I looked it up later and it means "cupping" in Chinese. It's this crazy fricken thing where they heat up the inside of a glass ball and then stick it on your back and the hot air creates a vaccuum and it sucks your skin up into the ball and you leave it there for 10 minutes. And it's not just one, it's several. And as soon as they started doing it, I was like, "I'm going to have several giant hickeys on my back." And it felt really weird. It forces you to relax because if you tense up, it hurts. Here's a picture of Adam's back once we got home.

And about an hour later, the spots looked even more purple. But it's supposed to be really good for you somehow. That's probably our craziest Chinese adventure yet.