Fun In The Sun With The Elephants at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary!

Early next morning I woke up and took an outdoor shower as the sun rose. I quickly biked into town and dropped off my bike before taking the 7 am bus back to Chiang Mai. We had a female driver, which I think was a smoother driver from the last guy. The ride was quiet and I slept most of the way -although I was awake to see a herd of cattle sleeping on half of the windy road! Apparently they don't live on farmland because I saw them on the windy road on the drive to Pai. In Chiang Mai, I hopped onto another 3 hour bus to take me to Chiang Rai. I sat in the front next to a Korean guy who kept falling asleep on me. It took everything I had not to burst into a fit of giggles!

I checked into Mercy hostel in Chiang Rai, then went to the big night market with two German students that were staying in my room. We got takeout dinner in this big square where they had singing and synchronized dancing. Then I set off for some shopping! It was a bit touristy, but I did get a ridiculous English shirt for my cousin for only 100 B (~$3 -Kenz, I made your $5 budget!).

The White Temple was my main priority for the next day! I bought my bus ticket back to Chiang Mai, then took the public bus over to the White Temple. The admission was free (yay!), and it was probably the most unusual temple I've ever been to. It had been created recently and all throughout the temple were depictions of various characters from pop culture such as Freddie Kruger, Spiderman, and the guy from the Matrix. I wish that we would have been allowed to take pictures of the inside of the temple because the artwork on the wall was intricate AND outlandish. There was also a small gallery of the man who designed the palace. The paintings used bright and beautiful colors accented with gold. no pictures were allowed though, and sadly none of the postcards did the paintings justice!

A green bus, one woman sleeping on me and three hours later.... I was back in Chiang Mai. I checked into Hugs Hostel, which was a really nice and clean place. I liked the previous hostel I stayed at because it was really social, but this one was definitely nicer in terms of rooms and bathrooms! After booking my elephant sanctuary tour for the next day, I set out for the famous Sunday night market. The place was huge and full of all sorts of goodies! I loaded up with Padt Thai, then set off to find some sandals (since mine broke) and a skirt. I quickly learned that Thai people are harder to haggle with than Chinese people are! I found myself having to change my usual haggling ways since the Thai merchants cared much less whether I bought anything or not. I was able to get much better deals at the end of the night though, so I was glad I had waited things out to look for better deals.

I woke up early the next morning for the elephant sanctuary!! The truck picked me up at 8.30 and I met the other eight people who would be coming as well. We spent an hour and a half in the back of the rickety tuk-tuk before we got to the entrance of the sanctuary. Then, our driver abruptly turned onto the most terrifyingly steep dirt road of my life.

She was trying to take my selfie stick, thinking it was more food to nom on.

 "I love you", "No, I love you more!"

When we finally got to the sanctuary, we saw six elephants run out to the main grass (yes, run). We were each given a small bunch of bananas and led to them. The smallest elephant was a one year old baby -and he acted like one too! He ran up to us and pushed all elephants (and people) out of the way that didn't have his precious treats, grabbing one person's whole bunch of bananas in the process. We spent about an hour feeding the elephants and taking pictures with our new friends before we had lunch. During lunch, the French girl in our group showed us a really cool music video she made of her trip to Indonesia. It made me really sad that I didn't think to do anything like that! I have some videos though, so I'm going to see if I can whip up something.

On one of our walks to some more grass, I tried to take a video of an elephant spraying itself with some muddy water. Instead I ended up documenting my spectacular fall!

After lunch, we gave the elephant some sticky sweet nutritious treats. They loved they so much that at one point I had 2 elephants fighting over who could stick my sticky hand in their mouth...then another came over and trunk grabbed my boob. Well that's another one to out in the books -getting a boob grab by an elephant! Following the snacks, we gave the elephants a mud bath -their natural form of sunscreen. Some of them flopped over as they basked in all the nice muddy belly and back rubs they were getting. I had an elephant step on my toe, but thankfully it didn't hurt because it was in the mud. One of our guides decided since I was cute like an elephant, I should also be covered in mud. As a result, I got completely covered and pelted with mud! On our walk to the small waterfall, the guide from before told me if I didn't have a boyfriend, I should be his girlfriend. What a cheeky bloke! Being his pretend girlfriend paid off though because it meant he took a lot of pictures for me. Sweet! However it also meant that I had to hold the poop basket for him as he picked up poop. Blegh! It was so fun and relaxing to hang out and swim around with the elephants. They were so adorable and loved flopping over into the waterfall. I was so glad I bought a waterproof camera!

This sweetie loved getting pampered.

Me and my new Thai "boyfriend".  Hah!

I love this rock.  I will love it and cherish it forever!

We walked back to the camp, toweled dry, and enjoyed a Chang (elephant beer) before piling into the tuk-tuk to leave. On my way out, my new Thai boyfriend and his friends told me that if I came back and married him, I'd get my very own elephant.  I must say, it is tempting so I'll never have to part with these cuties! The ride back up the hill was equally terrifying if not even more so. Normally I don't freak out because I remind myself these people do this every day. However, it was hard to remind myself this as the open back truck was slipping and sliding up the narrow bumpy path. One of the girls went flying onto the floor during the final jolt off the dirt path, which gave the driver a good laugh. The rest of the drive was (relatively) smooth sailing. I welcomed a long cool shower when I got back to Hugs Hostel!

Birthday Fight Club, Sick Again, and Paradise in Pai, Thailand

I can finally say I've been in two countries on my birthday! The plane landed without any problems in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I took a shared taxi to SpicyThai Backpackers, where I'd be staying. I got situated, then headed to a nearby mall to get lunch. An older tourist approached me to ask me if I was Russian. I thought that was particularly funny because I was asked that all the time in Korea -except Korean men asked that because I had blonde hair and they were hoping I was a prostitute! We talked for awhile until we parted ways so I could check out the mall. I went back to the hostel and met a group of people that were going to go to a Muay Thai fight. It's not how I expected to spend my birthday but I was down!

This was the kid's division.  The kid earlier ran out with a full-on batman cape.

The fights started out with two rounds of women. They were pretty good, bit their matches seemed much shorter than then men's! In the middle of the 6 matches, they had some extra entertainment -a staged swordfight and then six blind folded men attempting to beat the crap out of each other.

I didn't sleep very well that night due to a gecko under my bed that was trying to talk to me ALL NIGHT (it sounded like little chirps) and it was pretty cold. I woke up the next morning feeling terrible and couldn't help but wonder if that'd be a reoccurring theme in my whole damn trip.  Helen (a woman I met from the UK) and I set out anyways and checked out some of the numerous temples in the city walls of Chiang Mai. I didn't have any clean clothes that were conservative, bit it was okay because I would borrow sarongs for free at most of the temples. The coolest one we went to was the big royal temple.

Still not sure what the serpent eating the other serpent means.  It was a reoccuring theme throughout the temples though!

We went back to the hostel around noon and I took a nap to try to feel better. I didn't feel much better, bit I decided I didn't want the sickness to ruin my day again! I ended up going to the cabaret show with a group of people. I had to put earplugs in because it was pretty loud, but what an amazing show! We were right in the front, so the Whitney Houston impersonator grabbed me for a few lines in her song "Rollin on the River".

The guy in the background on the left was my favorite of the male backup dancers.  He always had the biggest smile!

My favorite song was when one woman performed the song "You're A One Man Woman". Half her body was decked in a suit and male's makeup while the other side was in a dress, big blonde wig and feminine makeup. They rocked it!

This song was so beautifully done.  I loved it all!

We went to Boy Blues Bar afterwards, which had really awesome live music. I wished my dad had been there with me because I knew he would have loved it!

I woke up the next day and felt even worse, so I decided to go to Pai to relax spur of the moment. I booked the Aroma Pai Spa Hotel (despite it only having one review) because it had a personal hot tub, massages and by God I needed to relax! On the 3 hour ride to Pai, the driver insisted in the front of the van. I'm not sure if it's maybe because Noom (the owner of SpicyThai Backpackers) told them I was sick, or if it was just because I was traveling solo. Either way, I was happy I sat in the front! Those roads were so windy (and they drove pretty fast) that they could make anyone with a strong stomach nauseated. When we got there, I ate the best Massaman curry I've ever had, then rented a nice scooter at the Duem Den bike shop for just 200B a day (~$6). I slowly made my way out of the city and along a small road to my hotel.

On the way, I passed a lot of beautiful farmland and some poor chained elephants giving people rides. When I got to my hotel, the owner warmly greeted me and showed me around the place. It was so beautiful that I couldn't help but get really excited about my upcoming 3 days! After hot tubbing and napping, I headed out back into the city for some dinner and poking around. I went to a tea house for dinner which had fantastic tea but subpar food. The sun quickly set, so I rushed to get back before dark. The roads were pretty dark, but not many people were on them and I drove safely so it was actually a pleasant ride back. That is, until I saw this TERRIFYING scarecrow by the street that had a baby doll's creepyass head on top. The minute I saw that, I screamed and tried my best not to lose my cool and shoot off into the distance. The rest of the ride was not as fun with paranoia of the creepy scarecrow doll following me constantly passing through my mind.

 The creepy scarecrow doll that haunts me in my sleep.

The next morning, I relaxed until my spa package at 10. I got a massage, scrub and body mud mask for the day. After that, I went in the big warm mineral pool and enjoyed the beauty and solitude of the place. I think I might have been the only person at the 4 room resort the whole time I was there...I kinda liked it that way though! I took the scooter into town for lunch and slowly walked through the town. It was definitely a tourist hotspot with all the elephant pants shops and whatnot. At the local market, I got two mangoes for 20 B (~$.60) and drove back to the hotel.

Along the way, I saw a a big white Buddha on top of a hill and decided to stop by. The temple that was situated on the top of the hill was beautiful and full of happy dogs instead of tourists (the best kind of temple in my opinion). You could see the view of the whole town from there which was really breathtaking. I went to a restaurant a little ways down the hill for takeout (so I wouldn't have to go into the city again for dinner) and another beautiful view of Pai. I set off again, but it started to rain so I decided to take another stop at the nearby treehouse hotel cafe. On my walk to the cafe, I walked alongside a working elephant. The sweetie stopped walking and held its trunk out to me. I was so surprised that I just dumbly held my hand up for the elephant to smell. Then I realized elephants aren't dogs, so maybe I was supposed to pet the sweetie. At that point it was too late as the man in charge started yelling at the poor thing to move again.

A lone pup chilling out at the temple.

For my last day, I was excited to see the sun was out! I put on my new flowery top and was off on a scooter adventuring route that had been advised by the couple in charge of the hotel. I first stopped in town to buy a bus ticket and ended up witnessing a terrible crash! The two foreign girls didn't seem to know how to work the scooter when they set off and quickly crashed into the ticket booth at the bus station. Luckily no one was hurt too bad, but they were pretty shaken up.

My first stop was at the nearby Chinese village. Along the way, I found the most beautiful field of rice paddies that were lines by trees with lovely pink blooms. If my day had a theme song, it would have definitely have been "Blue Skies"...it was just the perfect day! The Chinese village ended up being super touristy, but I biked up a steep hill to the top where I drank tea and enjoyed the view.

With the flowers and all, I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

Next stop was a nearby waterfall! Along the way, I picked up a French woman whose bicycle crapped out on her. It's a good thing I picked her up because it was a long way up to the waterfall and it was steep too! The waterfall was pretty anticlimactic, but it was nice to dip my toes in the water. I saw a woman scream and slide off the rocks as she went down the fall and got really worried. What I didn't realize was that she had actually slid down on purpose! I dropped the woman back off at her bike and went in a random direction to get lost and discover new sights. By the end of the day, I could literally feel the sun burning my skin. My terrible burn was worth the trip though! I'm going to miss Pai, it was such a beautiful and relaxing place!

The End of the Dragon: Beijing, Mogoshan, and Shanghai

We got into Beijing early and took a private minivan to the Leo hostel. The common area and the bathrooms was really cool, but we'd later find out that the rooms were terrible. We quick took showers and had a quick tour around the area before taking the minibus two hours away to a small town. At the town, we needed to ask the village's permission in order to hike to an unrenovated part of the Great Wall of China. The hike up seemed pretty far away, but it was better than I had expected. Viv and I went slowly so we could enjoy the hike and Ed looped back to join us. Once we got to the clearing next to the wall, I felt my throat well up. It was such an incredible feeling that I wanted to cry! We were all alone on the original Great Wall of China! We quickly climbed to the rest of the group, then went a bit further uphill to explore. Although the bricks had crumbled in some places, it didn't make it less grand. The sun set and we pitched our tents as some of the boys started to build a fire. We sat around the fire eating our dinner snacks (junk food and bananas were sadly all we could buy) and playing song games. Everyone was in such good spirits, but the fire pathetically died so we had to call it a night.

I wish I could go back! It was so incredibly cool.

Bein silly with the girls, getting our diva on!

We woke up early to see the sunrise from the wall at 5.20 the next day. We regretfully packed up our bags and headed back down the hill to go back to Beijing. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped by the Beijing Olympic stadium. It was really big, but I honestly couldn't care less and could have done without it. I set out to find a post office to ship some stuff home and instead found Bianca and Viv and joined them for shopping. After some brief shopping, I set out again for a post office and got terribly lost, but eventually found it. The postman who was going through my stuff started yelling "No! No!!" at me, which was overwhelming. I had to go to another lady who explained that I couldn't ship some things because they were delicate? It seemed silly to me, but after some coaxing I was able to convince them to let me send the heaviest thing in my bag. That night, a group of us tried going to the KTV (karaoke bar), but they told us we had to pay 1,250 RMB (~$200...it should have been around $10)! Instead, Viv, Bianca and I got a cab for the recommended nightlife area. Little did we know, most of the bars there would be strip clubs! One of the strip club employees suggested we go to a nice bar on the roof where they had an upscale feel to it and a band was playing swing music. I was sad that I wasn't in the mood for that kind of bar because it was really cool!

The sunset was beautiful on the Great Wall! 

The next day we woke up early for Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Our guide, Luna had to wait till we were out of the square to talk about the student protests that happened there. It was interesting hearing the Chinese take and background on the story. Next we went to the Forbidden City. It was a massive palace and very beautiful. Unfortunately, we weren't really allowed to go inside the actual palace rooms. I quietly compared it to how the palace was portrayed in the Disney movie, Mulan, and came to the conclusion that the soldiers definitely couldn't have shimmied up the pillars into the palace.

On our walk, some of the group told us about their horror dorm experience. There was this weird drunk guy in Alex, Raluca, Georgia and Dong's room that got up and pissed all over the floor the night before. Despite everyone complaining, they did NOT kick him out of the hostel.

Tiananmen Square. When we were checking it out, this young Chinese girl looked up at me with the biggest smile and told me I was very pretty. It made my day!

From the Forbidden City, we took the bus and subway to a huge mall that was the fake goods market. We got lunch in the basement, then set out for shopping! I noticed that the women selling purses were the most aggressive. I had a woman pull me with all of her strength as I struggled to get away. It was annoying because they were so keen about getting you to buy something that you didn't even have time to look. She tried to sell me a fake bag for the outrageous price of 860 RMB (~$140) as she tried to convince me most people would try to give it to me for 1,200RMB (~$200). I ended up getting it for 120RMB (~$20), plus a chord/extra battery for my camera!

The day exhausted me so much that I took a long nap when we got back and just read. The next day I decided I would finally send my pics and blog writing to my sister to publish (since google and blogger.com are blocked) only for my blogging app to completely go AWOL on me! The app took all my drafts and started "saving" them, effectively making it so I couldn't open any of them. It's been days and I still can't open them despite trying everything I could think of. This of course put me in a sour mood for the rest of the day because I've been spending hours typing everything on my phone and it's all gone now. We boarded our train to Mogoshan and John and I talked a bit. I finished the book "The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" which was entertaining.

After a bullet train and a minibus, we climbed a hill to our guesthouse in Mogoshan. We had some lunch, then Sez, Brendan, Viv, Bianca and I went on a hike through the bamboo forest with our adventure leader Ally. Despite the bug spray, the mosquitoes were incessant which drove me up the damn wall! The hike was pretty steep at first (which meant lots of water breaks for me), but eventually it flattened out and the view was hazy but beautiful. We were 15 minutes too late to enter Chairman Mao's summer home, but it was still fun to walk around the grounds. That night we had some beers and played games together before turning in for bed.

It was the last day of the tour! We all took a hike to a gorgeous blue lagoon where we swam our hearts out and made rafts out of dried bamboo. It wasn't until I got out of the water that I realized my foot was cut! John, Brennan were very kind and brought my towel, shoes and first aid so I wouldn't get the cut dirtied. We took the Malgev to Shanghai for our final night together. We all decided the pub crawl was too expensive, so the adventure leader Dexter instead got us on the guestlist to a club named Fusion. Bianca and I ran to H&M to buy appropriate shoes so we could get in and I got ready in the record speed of 10 minutes (shower and all). I met Simeon, John, Kirstie, Viv, Bianca, and Georgia at the Phoenix rooftop bar before we headed out. The club was pretty damn fun. As foreigners, the drinks were free in the middle. At one point, they had dancers come on stage which was really fun! We went to another club at one point and I went to the KTV afterwards. I was so excited to sing, but we couldn't figure out how to use the machine! As a result, I ended up singing Chiquita (by ABBA) four times.

I met Simeon, Freddie and Georgia the next day to go to the Propaganda Museum. It was really hard to find, but Simeon had been there before so he was able to lead us there. There was a lot of anti-American propaganda which was entertaining. Nearby, there was a market with a lot of American/ British products, which we spent far too much time in. Freddie told me that last night, one of our friends had been beaten up by the bouncers at Fusion for "stealing a bottle of champagne" and they forced him to pay 400 pounds for the bottle. I was so shocked and worried when I heard about that! I think we all felt bad about coaxing our friend to come out for the last night together when we heard about that.

Some lovely propaganda against the United States....

We took a cab back to the hostel, where we'd later meet Bianca and Viv for my birthday dinner. I really wanted Mexican, so we found our way to Dos Locos, a burrito place that's a bit like Chipotle. It wasn't great, but it was good enough for me! We went back to the hostel rooftop bar where everyone sang me happy birthday and gave me a little booklet that was like a birthday card. Viv also got me two headbands I wanted, but didn't have the cash for (thanks Viv!). The bartender was really nice and gave me a free beer as a present! Freddie went to bed, but the girls all stayed up a little later to try some of the horrendous wine I got for us to share.

My last night of sleep in the hostel was a bit hellish though. Around 5 in the morning, there was yelling and fighting that we could hear from our window. A drunk guy in my dorm decided that'd be a good time to loudly play some voice recording. I asked him if he wanted some headphones (really meaning shut the hell up), but he ignored my polite offer. Finally he turned it off and everyone could sleep again...until his alarm started going off at 6 in the morning. This little shit was so drunk that he slept through not one, but five alarms. Me and another guy tried waking him up 3 times, but he told me he would turn it off later and went back to sleep. I turned off his phone (after informing him I'd do so) and went into the bathroom. There I discovered a bunch of ash on the floor and cigarettes, which solved the mystery of why the bathroom always smelled like a bar. I tried not to let it get to me because it's my birthday and instead got ready for the airport. I was later than planned to the airport, but I luckily made my flight to Chiang Mai! As I sat there during boarding, one of the China Eastern flight attendants came up to me and gave me a water and slippers as a happy birthday present. It made my day! :)

Xian: the Home of Terracotta Warriors, the Strangest Hospital Visit, and Kung Fu Fighting

Xian -home of the terracotta warriors! Penny, our adventure leader, picked us up at the station and we crammed into a public bus to get to our hostel. Alex was once again stuck with all us girls (Bianca Viv, Lina and me). Our first activity was biking along the city walls of Xian. It was really beautiful and everything was great until IT came. "I'm gonna go find a restroom, I'll see you guys later" I mumbled to Viv as I raced off faster than Lance Armstrong to the restroom. Afterwards, I slowly finished the route, unsure if I was the first or last person to be finishing in our group. Turns out I was last. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Penny was really kind about it and took me to the pharmacy to get me sorted with some medicine that only cost $2! I decided to stay in for the rest of the night instead of joining the others at the Muslim quarter.

A man flying his kite on the Xian city walls.

We woke up bright and early the next day to see the terracotta warriors. They were created around 220 BC for the king who unified the six kingdoms of China. These warriors went in his tomb to protect him in the afterlife, but some were later destroyed by rebels. There was no documentation of the massive tombs at all, so it was quite the surprise when a farmer later discovered them in the 1980's! There are three pits open thus-far and they're ranked on coolness (the first is really awesome while the third one is totally lame). After we went to each pit, we grabbed lunch and went back into the city.

Lina, Sarah, Raluca and I went to the Muslim quarter to do a bit of shopping. I found a painting that mesmerized me, but I decided it was too big (and probably too expensive) to send home. Lina and I got dinner in the quarter and got lost on our way back.

I missed out on going out with Bianca and Viv, but it ended up being a good thing because the next morning I woke up SUPER SICK. I was dizzy, nauseated, had a huge headache and my stomach was (as usual on this trip) basically flipping me the bird. You could imagine my great joy when soon after waking, we had to board a seven hour bus to DengFeng for the Shaolin Kung Fu school. I slept through most of the bus ride and soon enough we were there. After arriving to the guesthouse, Penny, the Kung Fu master/monk and I set off for the hospital. 

There I had what was undoubtedly the most unusual hospital experience I think I'll ever have.  When we walked in, there was a young boy with no pants on with his willie free like in the wind, two girls, a man and an older woman. They were playing but immediately stopped what they were doing when they saw me enter. I walked into the doctor's office sat down. When I glanced at the door, I realized that everyone had crowded around the door with their mouths dumbly half opened and a deadpanned look on their face. Once the doctor gave me the okay to close the door, I didn't waste any time. This freak show was sick and wanted some privacy! The weirdness didn't stop there though. As I was explaining my symptoms to the doctor, the monk who took me to the hospital took out his phone and started taking pictures of me and the doctor. I just sat there and attempted not to start laughing hysterically at the whole situation. I never expected for a monk to take a picture of ME. I always kinda thought it would be the other way around. It turned out that I had dehydration from my issues. The doctor prescribed me a few days of medicine all for the price of 25RMB (~$4). I was also told not to drink or eat anything cold or spicy. Guess I didn't have to worry about not having traveler's insurance for that price though!

Here's the picture the monk took at the hospital, I was lookin pretty worse for the wear.  I still can't believe a monk took a picture of me! XD

Despite feeling terrible, I put on my big girl pants and went with the group to see the Kung Fu show at the orphanage that the master ran. Those kids had some mad skill! They were all so serious, but they would sometimes crack a smile when the master wasn't looking. The youngest there was a boy who was only 5 years old and he had some crazy talent! A lot of people took the kung fu class afterwards, but I decided to read my book and watch instead. After dinner, I was out like a light, but Bianca and Georgia told me that they had fun dancing with the village children late into the night.

A two finger pushup. I still can't believe my eyes! That's the kind of thing you see on animes!

This is a technique where you focus all of your energy into one point.  That's how he's able to push the spear with his neck.  There are trees near the Shaolin temple with big holes from monks practicing this technique with a single finger.

These kids were all so ridiculously cute!  I just wanted to take them home with me and spoil them forever.

I felt MUCH better the next day, but still not amazing. The traditional Chinese medicine really worked wonders for me! I decided not to go on the hike with everyone the next day and instead spent my day sleeping, finishing my book, and researching me and my sister's trip to New York City. I heard the hike they went on was hellish (although the monk boy in training who went with them RAN THE WHOLE WAY without breaking a sweat), so I was happy with my decision. 

When everyone got back, we caught a bus to the train station. A crowd of about 15 Chinese people joined us as Penny was making her final speech goodbye to us. I jokingly told her she should start speaking Mandarin because most of the group didn't understand and Viv and I broke down into a fit of giggles. A little boy started clapping with us when we cheered for Penny. Too bad nobody else would join in! Later, a man came by with a watering can and started watering the floor. We all couldn't help but break into another fit of laughter at that one. Freddie ran like the wind with his wheelie bag as a man came afterwards to sweep up the floor with the nastiest broom I've ever seen. It was such a silly time at the hospital, and then at the train station too!

The man and his watering can (I had permission to take this photo, as I do with all my photos)!

Panda Watch: Chengdu, the Pandas, and Leshan Buddha

We arrived in Chengdu and met with our adventure leader, Kid. When we got to the hostel, Alex, Viv, Bianca and I grabbed the first room offered, which ended up being a nice and big room!  Lina, Bianca and I got Chinese 'blind' massages next to our hostel (only one of the three were actually blind). They massage really hard, but it was pretty helpful for my back pain! Soon after, most of the group went to a nearby restaurant to eat some at a hot pot restaurant. It reminded me a little of shabu shabu because you put a lot of random stuff in a pot. An inner circle of the hot pot was non-spicy, while the outer part was spicy. Most of the group hated spice, so I was lucky and got free reign over whatever I wanted!

Dong, Freddie, Georgia, and our delicious hotpot.

We all went to bed early for tomorrow's big day, but our room was so damn hot! The guy at the front desk couldn't fix the AC, so I asked him if we could at least take a fan for our room. He came up much later and I was hiding under my covers because I had just taken off my shirt. When he realized what was going on, he panicked and ran out of the room yelling, "Sorry!!" Viv and I were laughing so hard, but I couldn't help but feel a little bad for making him flustered!

We all woke up bright and early to take some vans to see the pandas! Despite getting to the park 10 minutes after it had opened, there was still a fair amount of people (although there'd be much more later). We got our fill of pandas and boy were they cute and lazy! There were a few baby pandas that were just a few days old as well and everyone crowded in the long line to see them. 

Pandas, pandas, pandas!

This is what a baby panda looks like.  It definitely wasn't what I expected!

Some red pandas munching on some fruit. Om nom nom nom!

After the pandas, Simeon, Georgia, Viv, Bianca, John and I took a two hour van ride to see the Leshan Buddha -the largest Buddha in the world. Our driver dropped us off at a restaurant near the Buddha, then we set off! I was glad I kept my student card because it came in handy when getting in! We climbed up the hill then checked out the temple next to the Buddha before getting in the daunting 1-1/2 hour line to see the entire Buddha. We played games to pass the time like Heads Up and Never Have I Ever, which made even more Chinese people stare and take pictures of us than before. I swear, some people seemed much more interested about a gaggle of giggling foreigners than they were by the Buddha itself!

The party rockin crew is ready to hang with the Buddha!

We got terribly lost on our way out and ended up haggling with some tuk-tuk drivers to take us back to where we needed to be. I sat in the front on our way to Chengdu, and the driver dubbed me as the dj of the trip. Despite our plans to sleep before our night out, our van quickly became the rockin party/karaoke van. Even our driver was smiling and bobbing his head!

When we got back, Viv, Bianca and I rushed to an H&M to look for some going out wear. We couldn't find our way to the H&M so I tried asking a security guard. We quickly had a horde of people gathered around us staring. One of the women pointed us in the right direction and we were off. After rushing to get ready, we met everyone downstairs and took a cab to a student bar called Jellyfish. Being foreigners, the bartenders loved giving us free shots of straight vodka (which I tried to avoid, yuck!). We danced our feet off and pulled out our coolest moves (the microwave was my key move of the night). John, Georgia, Bianca, Simeon and I ended up being the last ones out. John and I argued about who was left in charge of the group. After John came up with the ever so cool dragon formation, I decided he earned group leader though. It was like we were drunken superheroes rushing into formation every time John yelled, "Draagons, asseeeeembleeee!!!"

Despite making grand plans to get up early the next day, we all stayed in late. I attempted to dye my hair purple, but the dye only stuck to my bleached ends and ended up looking totally uneven! We took a walk to the Wenshu temple where Kid told us his story of coming to Buddha. It was such a touching story -I had never expected him to have a story like that! It just goes to show you not to be hasty to judge because you never know someone's backstory. Afterwards, we walked to the Mao statue in Tianfu square.  We went back to the hostel to wait for the train where I got some much needed sleep. Next stop, Xian!

One of the pictures from the Wenshu temple.

Mao in Tianfu square.  There were also a lot of high-end shops around this area.