There Are Tanks Outside (Day 3582 - 9/15/19)

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They start out the day walking to the bus that is taking them to the airport. They get to their flight on time and Stephen spends most of the flight playing through the entirety of Dragon Quest 2. He briefly shows how his water bottle falls right through the water bottle holder on the plane. Afterwards, they take a bus back to Mark and Rhonda's house.

At Mark and Rhonda's house, they all start to talk their trip. Stephen says that last night before bed they heard this rumbling from outside and Mallory looked out the window and saw tanks rolling down the street. He was considering filming it, but Mal advised him against it since they read online that it's not a good idea to film the police or military in China. Afterwards, they went to bed but were told that there was a bunch of infantry men outside as well.

Mal says that there were also people with flowers participating in the practice. Some people in their group asked the tour guide about it in the morning and he explained that people are allowed to bring in flowers into the Forbidden City during the ceremony, so they were also practicing. Rhonda mentions that she also saw some people dressed in white who all started running at the same time. Mark talks about how buses kept coming for 10 minutes straight until there were like 50 buses. The infantry men were also standing about 50 feet long on both sides of the street in the middle of the night.

Then, Stephen talks about how they had to re-walk those 2 km that they walked last night. They left the hotel at 4:00 AM and saw a lot of military people on the street. They followed their guide to the bus and the bus driver had trouble getting out of the blockade area. The bus driver picked up a different tour guide to help them at the airport and then they went to the airport. They flew from Beijing to Shanghai and then from Shanghai to Chicago. They arrived back at Mark and Rhonda's place by 7:00 PM. They all have jet lag, so they are feeling very tired. Stephen says that he didn't sleep on the plane because he was playing Dragon Quest 2. Mark watched 5 movies, Mal watched 3 movies, and Rhonda did her puzzle books. Afterwards, Stephen talks about how he and Mal are leaving tomorrow. But, they found out that the car is dead after they went to go put something in there earlier. It is strange because they just recently put in a new battery and a new alternator. They are planning to jump start the car in the morning.

Mark gives a short summary about where they went on the trip. He says that they went on a boat and plane so many times. Rhonda talks about how she was surprised that there were cities that were larger than Beijing and Shanghai that she had never heard of before. For example, Chongqing had a population of 30 million people. Mark talks about how the buildings in China aren't as spread out as it is in the U.S. and are instead built taller in a smaller amount of area. He says that these cities are 10 times as big as Chicago, but all the buildings are tall and packed in a small area. Stephen says that having visited cities like New York and Seattle, nothing compares to the scope of a city like Chongqing. He talks about how he thought the the 13,000 bridges in the city was unnecessary. But, after driving around the city you realize how big it is and that the 13,000 bridges are necessary.

Mark says that the Great Wall of China was more than he expected. He thought that the wall would just be on top of a hill or on flat ground. But, it curved up and down the hills and was very steep. Mark talks about how the sizes of the steps varied which made them hard to walk up. He also mentions that he and Mal have issues with height. So, when they were resting on the steps and looked down, it was really steep. This made their legs weak and they decided that they had enough and would return to the entrance. But, he says that the view was more beautiful than he expected. Stephen talks about how he thought that the Great Wall had an initial climb and then the rest was flat. Then, he talks about how there was another entrance to the wall on the other side of the parking lot which looked more flat like he had envisioned. Some of the tour groups were taken over there, but their group got taken to the entrance that had more difficult looking routes.

Rhonda says that the 1st emperor of China ordered his soldiers to build the Great Wall and also had terracotta soldiers made for his tomb. She says that the amount of work and detail that went into these huge projects is amazing. Rhonda comments that it's interesting to think about all the power that the emperor had to have all of these things made for him and the country. Stephen says that he became emperor when he was 13 years old. Rhonda says that she can't even imagine what becoming an emperor is like at only 13.

Next, Stephen talks about how he loved Greece because it was beautiful and had a lot of history. He says that one of the reasons he liked this trip more than some of the other trips is because China has so much history because it's so old. Beijing had been a capital for 800 years and a city for 3,000 years which makes it hundreds of years older than the U.S. Stephen was also glad he got a chance to walk through Tiananmen Gate that has Chairman Mao's portrait and the Great Wall. He says that these are the 2 things that encapsulate China to him. Stephen mentions that it was especially great since they were there during a pivotal point which is the 70th anniversary of the new Chinese government.

Then, Mark talks about how the Chinese food in China was a bit disappointing. They had a large amount of food available to eat every day. For example, they had 12 plates of food during 1 meal. Stephen says that the amount of exemplary food was very minimal to which Mal and Rhonda agree. Mal says that the food she enjoyed was the Peking duck, some shrimp they had on one day, the dumplings they had at a certain restaurant, and the bao at the first hotel. Stephen thinks that the reason why they think that the food was disappointing is because the food on the boat was overall very bad. The river cruise lasted for several days and was in the middle of the trip, so that may have made it seem like the food was worse than it actually was. He says that the lunch buffet on the boat was especially bad. Then, he talks about how they had boiled winter melon which was cut into strips. Stephen regrets not filming the moment he first tried it, but he says that it didn't taste like anything. He mentions that there are 3 people in their Discord who have family in China and sometimes spend time there. They told them that no one has ever served winter melon in strips. Stephen talks about how when he sees some odd food, he will go and try it. Often, the food he tried had no flavor.

Mal then talks about how she really liked interacting with the people in China even though she doesn't speak any Chinese. When they were at the Three Gorges Dam, kids kept coming up to take pictures with Stephen. Stephen was surrounded by Chinese people taking pictures with him and of him. Some people would sneakily take pictures of him in the background while some people stood in front of him and pretended to take a selfie. Stephen says that some people were subtle about it, but about 2 people recorded him while walking around him. This happened to them and the rest of their tour group during the entire trip. When they were at the Beijing Zoo, families also kept coming up to them for pictures. One parent sent their 5 year old kid over to Stephen to practice his English and to take a picture. Rhonda says that when she and Mark were at their tour group's meeting spot at the zoo, a young boy came up to her and asked "How are you?". She replied "Tǐng tǐng hǎo" to him which means "very very good" in Chinese and he ran back to his dad. Rhonda wanted to reply to the boy in a way he could understand and thought it was really cute how hard he tried to communicate with her. The boy's dad then spoke to her in Chinese which she couldn't understand. He then gestured that he wanted to take a picture of her. She says that it was kind of fun to see how people respond to foreigners.

Rhonda's friend had told them before the trip that if you have any physical differences like having blond hair, blue eyes, or being tall, then people will take pictures of you. Rhonda's friend said that there are a lot of Chinese people who have never been to the states or seen an American before, so they will gawk at you; pull you out of the crowd and take pictures with you; or record you. There were about 50 high school kids on an outing and all of them wanted to take a picture with Stephen because he is tall. Mark says that when they were at the Summer Palace every once in a while someone would want to take a picture with Rhonda. One young girl also chased him down and grabbed his arm because she wanted him to take a picture with her grandpa. Mark then talks about how they went on a lot of buses and some of those buses were tour buses which have an open top. Some Chinese people who are driving or walking past them would see them and turn towards each other and start talking. Then, when their bus reaches a stoplight, people would start taking pictures of them. Mal says that sometimes she would be standing behind Stephen and people would tap on her shoulder. They would then point to Stephen and gesture how tall Stephen is. There was one time where he and Mal were in an elevator with 2 Chinese people. They gestured how tall Stephen is and how short Mal is in comparison and then laughed.

Stephen says that he enjoyed the trip and he was glad to get a chance to see how China really is. Mal says that it is fascinating seeing how China actually is compared to seeing it in the media or on the internet. Then, Stephen talks about how there were a lot of police in the larger cities like Shanghai and Xi'an. There are so many more uniformed officers compared to in the U.S. The tour guide told them that those people are security guards and that military police officers get hired out as security. There are also a lot of camera in China. Mark says that you can't walk 25 feet without there being a camera. After, Stephen talks about how the stop lights in China have count downs for each of the lights. He says that they should have those count downs in for stop lights in the U.S.

Then, Mark talks about how they have been in these clothes for 30 hours. Stephen says that they all look good for being in these same clothes for 30 hours. Mark jokingly says "Speak for yourself Stephen, you gorgeous man". Stephen says that he does feel disgusting being in these clothes for so long. He then says that they are going to go get some sleep now. Rhonda interjects and says that they aren't going to sleep until at least an hour and 30 minutes later. This is because they want to try and go back to their original sleep schedule before the trip. Stephen says that he and Mal will be driving to Chaz and Jeff's house tomorrow.