As I am uploading this text from my iPhone, i realize I have not yet talked about Day 4 in Xi'an :P I will get back to this later. While travelling today, I have finished talking about our last days in Xi'an and our days in Hong Kong. So I apologize for the gap, I will work on this later!
The fifth day in Xi'an we spent on packing, shopping and visiting the man who had been taking such good care of us.
Since we would spend our last night in Xi'an in hotel that was closer to the airport, we needed to check out of the Paradise Resort in morning. Our bag were picked up in one car, while took another one to the city center. There we walked through some tiny shopping streets, and we got to try another local food specialty: Soup Packets. These are very much like dumplings, only they carry a bit of soup in them. They're gooood. After another while we decided we needed to cool down so we grabbed a nice Iced Mocha at... Yep... Dunkin' Donuts!! They even had Boston Cream donuts, so of course I had to get one. It was delicious!
The fifth day in Xi'an we spent on packing, shopping and visiting the man who had been taking such good care of us.
Since we would spend our last night in Xi'an in hotel that was closer to the airport, we needed to check out of the Paradise Resort in morning. Our bag were picked up in one car, while took another one to the city center. There we walked through some tiny shopping streets, and we got to try another local food specialty: Soup Packets. These are very much like dumplings, only they carry a bit of soup in them. They're gooood. After another while we decided we needed to cool down so we grabbed a nice Iced Mocha at... Yep... Dunkin' Donuts!! They even had Boston Cream donuts, so of course I had to get one. It was delicious!
Wall decoration at Xi'an's (only) Dunkin' Donuts
Afterwards we were picked up again and taken to Linzhen's uncle and his oil refinery. He is the General Manager of one of China's largest refineries, which explains how he had the means to welcome us with so much hospitality. After touring the plant he invited us for a home-cooked dinner, made by one of his personal chefs. As you might be able to guess by now, the great food was accompanied by a lot more Bajo!! We got to demonstrate our Chinese language and chop sticks proficiency, which would be met by many many toasts, whether we succeeded or not. Although I am proud to say I am becoming quite ambidextrous when it comes to chop sticks :) I would usually be the only person in our company who is left-handed, so this provided me with a great motivation to learn it right-handed as well.
Local Specialty: the Belt Noodle. Also, one of the shirts I bought here: Communist Panda!
My Chinese name in Cherry stems: Jie Fu (pronounced as Tje-Foe)
After diner and drinks we took another tour around the workers' living quarters. Apparently it is common here for worker (and their families) to live near the factory grounds. I guess this is a nice solution, because housing was cheap and many social and sports facilities are provided.
We ended our night at the hotel near the airport, where we got to spend one last night, before we would leave for our next adventure: Hong Kong! I had a hard time sleeping because of mosquitos, but it did allow me to take this nice picture that is quite symbolic for China, I guess.
We ended our night at the hotel near the airport, where we got to spend one last night, before we would leave for our next adventure: Hong Kong! I had a hard time sleeping because of mosquitos, but it did allow me to take this nice picture that is quite symbolic for China, I guess.
Chinese sunrise.. quite symbolic
I will leave it at this again, as you can tell I am still behind. I wrote this blog while we were riding the Ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. More will follow soon. Just 7 days remain. I'll be home soon!
All the best,
Jeff
All the best,
Jeff
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