wushuzilla

After the last events (duilian: sparring sets) of the 11th All China Games in Binzhou, Shandong, China, Ruhi and I, along with Marla, Jenn and Wu Di, headed back to the hotel, but not before stopping to take a few photos outside the sports arena.

We were going to the hotel to take care of a little file transferring.  Wu Di had asked for the footage of her events and the various photographs I took during the competition.  Wang Xi also asked me to give Wu Di his changquan form so that he could take a look.

After that everyone was on the hungry side.  First we went down the street to our favorite restaurant with the large chef, but he was just closing up (it really was a very good restaurant).  So, we climbed in a couple cabs who took us to BoHai Road No. 6 (bohai liu lu) which had a bunch of Muslim restaurants.  We walked around until we found a good one.  It just so happened to have Zhang Ji Dong eating there with a bunch of coaches and judges (he was just certified as a judge).

But we sat at our own table and then Wu Di called over some friends to visit us.  Gao Song, coach for the Hong Kong Team (originally from the Liaoning Wushu Team) and Yang Yu Hong, super nice guy from the Shanghai Wushu Team.

We ate a bunch of food and had a nice time, but unfortunately Ruhi and I had to leave early because we were waking up at 5:00 AM and it was already almost midnight.  We said our farewells and headed back to our hotel to pack and prepare for our very long day of travel on the 15th.

5:00 AM came along a bit too soon, but we managed to pack up our things, check out of our hotel and get on to our long-distance (2.5 hour) bus to Jinan by 5:35.  The bus took off as scheduled around 5:50 and we slept uncomfortably in our seats until arriving in Jinan and taking a taxi to the train station.

When we got there I realized that one of the train tickets had fallen out of my pouch.  We were planning on upgrading to the soft-sleeper, but instead upgraded one ticket and purchased another for the berth next to it.  But something pretty amazing happened later on while we were on the train.

A few hours after departing from Jinan a conductor came up to our compartment and said that someone had turned in our ticket and that we could get a refund for the price of the original ticket.  To be honest, we were floored.  It isn’t often that someone in China comes up to you and offers to give you money.  We were so surprised we took a picture to make sure we didn’t dream it.

We shared the compartment with a nice man from Urumuqi and his business associate.  He invited us to come visit him out in Xinjiang, which we just might do someday.  It really is a beautiful place.  He showed us pictures and it actually looked a lot like Eastern Idaho.  I showed him some photos of Eastern Idaho and he agreed.

Our train made its way through Shandong, across Henan, through Zhengzhou, and then over to Shaanxi, where we rolled in to Xi’an around 12:30 AM on the 16th.  We did manage to sleep for a few hours on the train, but it was hardly a good night’s rest.  After a taxi ride from the train station to Xi Gao Xin (Xi’an High Tech Zone, where we live) it didn’t take very long to crash in to bed.

And here we are in Xi’an.  I’m about a week behind on these blogs, but I’ll get you back up to date with the next one as it will be a recap of my first week in Xi’an.  Stay tuned for my adventures getting the luggage we shipped from Shenzhen, hitting the Muslim Quarter for some Shahaub Dumplings, and our outing with last year’s Chinese National Taiji Champion!

Related posts:

1. Macau to Binzhou
2. (Sm/F)og, Three Things and a Bonus (12/1)
3. 11th All China Games
4. Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Anhui | 飞机,火车和汽车: 安徽
5. 48 Hours to Southern China