So I just got back from my trip to Phoenix and it was awesome! The city is really really old. They have perserved it over the last 600 years so all the cutoms and traditions have mostly stayed the same. As an example: Chopping off an catfish's head in the middle of the street or having no existing toilets (just squatters).It is what I picture China to be like before I actually came here. The people in Phoenix are AMAZINGLY nice, we had several occasions this trip where we made it through certain complications because of the help of a stranger. I'm a big believer in service now.
Most of the trip was sight-seeing to all the different places around the city. The second day we were there we took a van with around 20 other people and went on a guided-tour to three different locations. The first location was the Southern Wall. A couple hundred years ago they use to build walls around each province in China to protect the people and we got to see the remains of the wall in the Hu'nan province. It got us really excited to see the Great Wall in three weeks.
The next place we stopped was my favorite. The van dropped us off in a little village and we went on a hike. It took you through the mountains to a lot of different waterfalls. It was beautiful! There was one point where you were hiking on wooden planks, next to a rock, right next to the waterfall. A little nerve-wrecking, especially when the bars you hold onto only went to you knee (made in scale with a Chinese person's body :), but it was a blast!
The third and final place we went was a little town where they put on a Chinese Culture show. They had all the traditional Chinese things; drums, climbing poles (just like Mulan!), and walking on fire. It was pretty entertaining.
Phoneix was a beautiful place, espeically at night. Since it is their Memorial Holiday Weekend here there was a lot of partying going on. We got to join in the festivites a little bit by buying flower wreaths for our hair and going to graveyards. Raychel, Jadie, and I also bought a boat with flower candles attached. You would light the candle in honor of an ancestor and let it float down the river, thinking of them. It was a really culture-enriching trip :). I loved being there but I'm also very excited to be home to see the kids tomorrow!
