Milk Fragrant Purple potato mud

Day  10 


I woke at 5 because a couple of cars decided to have a honking competition outside the hotel, went back to sleep, woke at 5:30 because Andrea decided it was too bright and got up to close the curtains, went back to sleep, woke at 6:30 because the tour was leaving at 7:30 to try to avoid G20 traffic so they put in a wake up call for the whole group even though we are leaving the tour today. I had trouble getting back to sleep.

At 7:00 Andrea woke up and we decided to go down to breakfast. The buffet was the biggest yet. There was something that they called pumpkin pie that was never served at any Thanksgiving table; glutinous orange squares. We both liked the "milk fragrant purple potato mud," purple mashed potato with a touch of vegetables and a thin cheese topping. The mung bean buns were particularly good.

We sat with a woman who we befriended on the tour, an endocrinologist from Redwood city and her nine year old daughter. Zach spent a lot of the bus ride playing with her and she was disappointed not to be able to say goodbye to him because we were letting him sleep as long as we could. 
After breakfast we checked out and boarded a van that Li Feng hired for the morning. We drove through horrible traffic, with pedestrians, cyclists, and small three wheeled vehicles in the road, several coming right at us in the wrong direction on our side of the road. Drivers play chicken all of the time, forcing themselves into adjacent lanes and honking often. We arrived at the morning's destination, a large market area that had hundreds of stores selling silk. Some of the silk was clearly fake, fabric in a bag that said 100% silk in big letters that had a small tag sewn to the cloth inside that read 100% rayon. Others are the real deal. Li Feng coached Andrea in the art of negotiation, explaining that we should pay about half of the sticker price. Andrea had no trouble knocking more than half off the price of everything she bought.

I thought that this activity was designed primarily for somebody other than me and the boys but Zachary found a replacement for the blankie that he was given at birth by Sparrow Hospital and loved until it was lost on a trip years ago and Joshua bought a fan. I thought that I could do some cool things with a model and some of the fabrics and started to say so to Andrea but only got a far as "You know some of these..." before she cut me off with "yeah, there was one back there that was really cool.  It had a whole tree pattern on it..." I let it go.

Laden with silks and other pretty baubles we hopped back into the van and headed to the airport in traffic that was surprisingly light. The airport security was efficient and caught every water bottle we had missed in our backpacks and the can of insect repellant we had goofed and not packed in a checked bag.

The plane was delayed, as was our last flight; apparently most domestic flights in China are. We ate shrimp dumplings, cucumbers, and plums while we waited. 
This plane flight reminds me that on our last flight Andrea showed me an email that she got saying that she had been promoted to professor. I didn't want to steal her thunder but she isn't one to toot her own horn, so I'll do it for her because I am immensely proud of her.

We landed in Zhangjiajie, were met at the airport by a guide, and had our usual exciting ride to the hotel. This is where Avatar was filmed and even from the van the scenery was amazing, lush green mountains, trees clinging to their steep slopes, disappearing into the clouds. In a way it reminds me of Sedona, a landscape so beautiful that it is surreal. Since we've been going to Sedona for years it is full of happy memories for me.

We checked in and headed to dinner. We had beef in a wok, kept warm on the table by a small fire, peanuts, cucumber, green beans, eggplant, and some pickled vegetables (radishes and a local bean). Unfortunately, the beef dish had chunks of beef fat that we picked out as we ate. After dinner we strolled along the street, stopping in shops to buy fruit, a razor, and nail clippers.  We approached what looked like a pet shop with rabbits, birds, and a huge rodent that I didn't recognize in cages and frogs, snakes, turtles, and fish in plastic tubs. It turned out to be a restaurant and the "pets" were the food. I wanted to look at the rodent but Andrea and Joshua were really upset so we hustled past. WeÕve since seen lots of restaurants using the same technique of displaying their ingredients including snails, clams, crayfish, crabs, and vegetables.
We were getting desperate for laundry but Li Feng and the guide both told us that there was no such thing as a laundromat in China. The hotels charge by the piece of clothing and 10 days of laundry for five people at hotel prices would be over $100 US so we bought some detergent, deciding that we'd just do it in the sink and let it air dry.

Andrea went first and carefully instructed the kids on what to do. While I started my laundry she went to the next room to help Zachary with his because he was having difficulties.  I got a sink full washed and decided to rinse and wring in a few batches. After rinsing the first batch, I set about trying to wring them out. I took one shirt wrung it but wanted to get more water out. I pressed it up against the sink and applied pressure. I was completely shocked when the entire porcelain sink fell out of the counter and smashed on the floor with a loud crash, scattering pieces everywhere. I was mortified, beyond upset, so I went and got Andrea who went and got Li Feng, who went and got the guide, who went and got somebody from hotel reception, who went and got the hotel manager, who went and got a maintenance man and two maids and then moved us one room over. I don't think I've been so embarrassed since Joshua poked an obese guy in the belly, looked up at him, and shouted "Dad, you lied to me. You told me that men couldn't get pregnant." at the age of five.
I finished doing that sink full of laundry in the new room. I Google mapped "laundry near me" on my cell, which is currently getting data and found half a dozen places. Li Feng is going to call them in the morning.