China: Yantai, Day 1

This was the first day they allowed us to sleep in to a decent time. Normally we had to be up by 7am to have enough time to get ready for the day (which is fine if you're a morning person like I'm not), but we didn't need to leave until 10am, so I slept in until 9! It was overcast, so we didn't get to see the sun quite yet, but at least the air was clear. Our very first visit in the city of Yantai was to the Yantai Museum. I knew beforehand that Yantai was hosting us, but I didn't really know what that meant until we arrived. As soon as we got to the museum, we were surrounded by Chinese press taking pictures and videos and conducting interviews. I felt like a celebrity. There were signs everywhere we went welcoming us to their beautiful city. I've always been a fan of museums, so I was fascinated by their old artifacts and history. The hosts were so kind and anxious to teach us about their culture. We then stopped by the hotel for lunch and to rest for an hour or so. In Beijing, our schedules were always so jam packed, we were exhausted all the time. I think the tour guides we hired wanted to make sure we saw as much as possible, but it made it hard on our bodies. Yantai provided us with some much-needed rest while still allowing us to see and experience many things. It was perfect! Anyway, in the afternoon, we got to tour their relatively new Cultural Arts Center, which consisted of the Children's Palace (an arts school) and a theater where they put on a show just for us. Again, the cameras surrounded us, capturing our reactions to the magnificent Peking Opera. We got to walk around the center, where they had artwork on display, people practicing their instruments in the practice rooms and working on art projects such as paper cutting and weaving. We stopped in another room, where yet another wonderful concert was performed for us. We were then presented with a beautiful hand–crafted calligraphy poster and a paper cut page for every one of us. I can't imagine the amount of time that took to prepare. Just for us. See what I mean about the hospitality? If I ever make it back to China, I would want to visit Yantai again. After the cultural center visit, we had some more free time at the hotel, so a few of us took a 10–minute walk to a local supermarket. Ok. So, let me give you a visual. Remember all those looks we got in Beijing and random strangers wanting their picture taken with us? Well, Beijing is a big touristy city, so you'd think they would get a lot of outside tourists. China is a difficult country to visit, though. Not only do you have to have a passport, but an expensive visa as well. And the plane ticket alone costs an arm and a leg. If you do decide to go to mainland China, you're most likely going to visit one of the bigger cities such as Beijing or Shanghai, not a lesser–known town such as Yantai. I can imagine they don't get very many tourists, especially white people. So, just imagine three white girls (and a Chinese-born friend) walking through a dumpy Chinese neighborhood heading to the supermarket. Since we were only there because my Mandarin-speaking roommate was leading the way, we stuck out like a sore thumb. My roommate translated some of the comments the natives were making about us. "Look, I wonder if they're princesses!" "Daddy, the white people are coming!" And the look of shock from a little boy no more than 10 as he almost ran in to us in the supermarket made us all laugh out loud. The store was fascinating. It's an interesting perspective being in a foreign country where you don't speak the language and you have to rely on pictures on the food packages to figure out what a product is. Sometimes there are English translations, but more often than not, you have to figure it out on your own. I got some American snacks such as chips and chocolate and I got some Chinese snacks to try, which I actually really liked. Apparently they sell them in the states, so I'm going to have to find a Chinese store here and buy some. As we checked out, I think we may have annoyed the cashier as we bought our snacks one by one, not speaking an ounce of Chinese other than "thank you." Oh, did you know you have to ask and then pay for grocery sacks if you want them? Stuffing the snacks into our purses, we walked back to the hotel, where we hung out for the rest of the evening and had dinner before retiring to our rooms. I was out by 9:30pm. It was glorious.