Of Noodles, Museums, and Potatoes

On Saturday I was able to go into town with my Chinese coworker Ivy. She is a teaching/office assistant in the International department. She told me she was going to go shopping over the weekend, so she invited me along. I met her in front of the school, where we then got on the bus to head into Chengdu. She was with her parents who really wanted to meet me. Her mother ended up going into town with us. This is Ivy. She is fluent in English, but her parents are not. Her parents don't even know proper Mandarin. They just know the regional dialect. 

Once we got off the bus, her mom said she was hungry, so we went into a little restaurant to get food. Ivy's mom then asked if she could take a photo of me to show her friends, and I suggested we take a photo together. Once we were done eating, Ivy's mom got on another bus to go home, while Ivy and I headed to the shopping center. 

At the shopping center, there was an entire floor dedicated to shoes. This photo only shows a small percentage of what was available in the store. It was incredible!

We also went to the very upscale shopping center where they had a Rolex store, as well as Omega, Burberry, DKNY, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and many more. One thing I noticed is that at every clothing store, they only had two of each item: one size small, and the other size medium. I guess that works when everyone in the entire country is the same tiny size...

After shopping, we went and got lunch. I don't know what the restaurant is called, or what kinds of food it was known for, but it was quite memorable. This was the first time I saw a menu in English. Of course, the translation was a bit ridiculous (thanks to Google translation software), but it was understandable. I pointed at one of the items on the menu, and Ivy laughed. She said that I had chosen a very spicy dish. I asked, "You mean, spicy for a foreigner like me?" She said "No. Spice for Sichuan people." However, nothing else looked that good, so I ordered it anyways. This is what was brought to my table.

I nervously took a bite, and then smiled. It was delicious. Yes, a bit spicy, but oh, so good. It is chicken, peppers, celery, peanuts and potato. The bits of potato are the long strips you can see in the photo. Somehow, the spices used here make potatoes taste 10 times better than anything I've ever eaten in the United States. 

After eating, we continued walking through the city. I saw that there was a public restroom, and decided to go check it out. There was a door for women, a door for men, and a door for those who are handicapped. I slowly opened the door, and then jumped for joy. Turns out handicapped bathrooms are just western toilets! I definitely used this one, since I think being American can count as being handicapped.

We kept walking, and then came across a small museum for a local poet. We didn't actually go into the museum, because it was really expensive, but I still got a photo in front of it. Ivy told me that a number of the poems written by this famous poet were carved into stone on the sidewalk. So, I obviously had to photograph that too.

We eventually got to our final destination: the Sichuan Museum. It was a very big building surrounded by many trees, with the flag of China right out front. 

As long as you had your school ID on you, tickets were free.

The museum is three stories, with a massive central opening where you could see the entire museum.

There were places all over the museum where you could buy souvenir, including pandas.

There were six different displays in the museum. There were paintings, manuscripts, bronze weapons, gold, clay pots, jewelry, fabric, and sculptures. 

There was also an entire exhibit dedicated to Tibetan Buddhism. It had many religious artifacts, traditional clothing, paintings, prayer wheels, and horns. In the photo below, I am standing next to two pillars that are decorated in traditional Tibetan fabrics. 

These are Scriptures in the Yi language. The one on the left is used to avoid contracting leprosy, and the one on the right is used in exorcisms.