任是无情也动人

My visiting family members from CN are back from the East Coast for a weekend layover til their flight back to CN tomorrow. Yesterday, they rested and sorted out all the souvenirs they bought to see how everything will fit on the trip back.

Today I played chauffer and guide for a one-day tour of Silicon Valley.

Started off at Facebook (now Meta) HQ this morning. Though this place is pretty average looking and not very photogenic, IMO. So we didn't stop for too long. Parked at one of the random parking lots (at least the parking here is easy) and took some pics. Then drove a circle around its campus.

Then we moved on to Stanford University. Had a leisurely stroll through all the touristy hot spots there. Had a quick lunch at the food court south side of campus. They spent some time deciding on buying souvenirs at the student store. Then strolled back north and looked through the Cantor Arts Center. By the time we were done it was already near 4 PM (meaning we spent around 4 hours there -_o...)

After that, went to the Google Metroplex. Parking was a pain to find, and we ended up parking at the Google Store short term parking lot. Took some pics of the Google Store... doesn't seem like the Metroplex itself is too photogenic...at least, we didn't find the "front door" with the Google lettering on the building.

Next up was Apple HQ. It's a much smaller campus. Parked across the street from it at another company's empty parking lot. Took some pics of the rounded building. Though couldn't find an Apple logo to include in shots.

After that was Intel HQ. Again, this campus was even smaller. But very photogenic in that the company name is prominently displayed on the building. XD

Last stop was Nvidia. Interesting building, but no parking (its underground visitor parking lot was closed) and we ended up parking at a nearby business' lot instead. Pics could capture some parts of the interestingly shaped building, but the company logo was blocked by some tall grass (it's too low!)

Didn't have time to make the last stop on the wish list, Adobe, as we had plans to drive back and have dinner with some other relatives here. But we did get most of the items on the list done. Tomorrow I'll be seeing them off to SFO!

Got up early again and had standard hotel breakfast, before the group set off.

First stop was the native guide tour down into the lower Antelope Canyon. I didn't join this one because didn't want to do steep climbing in this heat.

Second stop is the top of Antelope Canyon. Took some pictures there from the railing part.

After that we had lunch at a Thai place. I thought it was average... The pineapple fried rice didn't even come in a pineapple.

Then was the long drive back to Vegas, where we checked in at the Circus Circus casino. The city was definitely busier today than the previous time, most likely due to the upcoming weekend.

We didn't do any further shows tonight. After a quick dinner of fast food, we went to the Bellagio to watch the fountain display. Also too some photos of the surrounding places, before heading back.

Got up way too early and ended up waiting for 2+ hours in the airport.

Arrived in Vegas around noon is, which was too early for hotel check-in. So we grabbed a quick lunch at the food court and bought tickets for the 2 pm presentation at The Sphere. The short walk from taxi drop off zone to the building felt like we were eggs in a simmering pot.

My uncle surprisingly had fun with the Aura robots before the show. The show itself was very nicE. The huge screen encompassing the entire dome created 3D effects without needing special glasses. The only complaint I have is in a intro about Earth, none of the geographical locations nor people shown were East Asian. Lots of representation of India, middle-east, Europe, North America... But nothing from China, or even Japan, Korea, Vietnam... Tsk.

After the show, instead of braving the heat in the parking lot for a ride share, we took an indoor sky bridge to The Venetian, and then got a taxi there back to our hotel at the Excalibur.

For the evening, it turned out all shows for the Cirque were sold out. So we ended up doing a magic show by David Copperfield. Have to admit it was fun. I'm sure a lot of the jokes went over my uncle/cousins' heads. But the magic demos were impressive.

Tomorrow, the tour bus for the grand canyon leaves early. We tried to buy some stuff for breakfast ahead of time, but... Eh. Seems like Vegas just doesn't do breakfast.

The making it home part was the easy part. The aftermath...ah-haha... -_-

Pretty much all of the foods in the refrigerator (not the freezer) had to be thrown out. Just the eggs and various canned stuff/bottled sauces left. I figured I would buy some groceries the next day, along with other errands I needed to run...

And then the next day, I try to start the car, and the battery on the Prius dies again. LOL. I have no idea where the charger we used last time is located; searched the garage and couldn't find it. We do have 2 other cars, but the keys had been left at a relative's place, because my parents were paranoid about the house getting robbed or something while we were out. (Me: -_- ...)

So I end up buying the Duralast aux battery I researched the last time this happened, because that place makes same day deliveries. (Oh, and also ordered delivery for food that day.) It arrived pretty fast, just a few hours after I made the order.

Then it was an effort to open up the back trunk to get to the Prius aux battery, because there's no way to open the rear door once the battery is dead. So I had to put down the back seats, crawl in and remove the floors in the trunk from inside, and then stick my hand into the trigger thingy to open the hatch manually from inside. It's a good thing I am small, and the whole exercise still made me bend in unwieldy ways. (-_-)

Then, I tried to loosen the bolts holding down the aux battery using the spanners found in the garage...and none of them fit. Blergh.

In the end I still had to wait for the next day, when my relatives came over to deliver the car keys and other stuff my parents left with them, and also brought over some spanners they had (I sent them a pic of the bolt in question). This time I was finally able to loosen the bolts and replace the battery using directions from youtube. Car is now able to start properly. In time for my dentist appointment this afternoon, to drop off the laptop I need to send back to Cisco at the USPS, and to buy groceries.

Speaking of USPS. I had used the hold mail system for the duration of being out. It worked pretty well. They delivered all the held mail in a bundle on the morning of the 18th, which is when I believe I set the holding to end.

I had originally set a day aside for adjustments or making up for missed opportunities, and we had thrown ideas around like doing a 熊猫谷+都江堰 combo or 四川科技馆+人民广场 combo. But then my period started, and cramps hit, and thw weather is still hot... So we just ended up taking the day off for rest.

Slept in this morning and had breakfast at the hotel.

Around noon, dropped by a stand my mom found which were selling shoes at discount for 50 rmb. Since my old shoes were falling apart, went ahead and bought a new pair to directly replace them.

For lunch, we ate at a 钵钵鸡 shop. Portions were about 3x that of the stand we previously bought from, and the end result price for our meal was lower. Wow, in retrospect, the stand next to the hotel was quite obviously overpriced. Taste was much the same. We picked the red spice sauce base, but it wasn't unbearably spicy. Afterwards the tongue was a little numb, but nothing some pastry and milk tea couldn't cure.

In prep for tomorrow's departure, I tried to do the check-ins ahead of time. UA worked this time, but Air China did not, as expected. So will need to do that check-in in person. And since I didn't buy these tickets together, it probably means I have to transfer between them the long way around, fully check out domestically and then check in internationally.

For dinner we also went to a nearby place. Afterwards tried a few fried skewers. Tasty, but probably not healthy.

Then came back and packed things up for tomorrow. Some things will get left behind to save space, but got things all stuffed in.

Today's visit was to the Chengdu Museum, which opens at 9, so we left the hotel at 8 for a random breakfast serving place nearby. The taste was meh.

Museum entry was free. Unfortunately it was also very crowded. Were started on the upper floor is and worked our way backwards chronologically. So from near modern, to WWII, to republic era, to late Qing. A lot of this was complicated texts.

Then floor 4 was Sui, Tang, 五代十国, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing. Then floor 3 was Pre-Qin through Three kingdoms/north & south. Floor 2 was prehistoric times and mostly stuff we'd already seen at other sites.

The place was big, and by the end we were flagging and rushed through floors 2 & 3. Skipped floor 1 as that had a separate international historical jewelry exhibit, which cost a separate fee to enter.

There was also a basement floor which contained a natural life sciences exhibit, geared mostly for kids. We joked that this was probably made up of specimens donated by some dedicated big game hunter. I mean, it was obvious most of the herbivores were "real" preserved specimens. Thankfully the endangered species were just models and not "real". The best part of this exhibit was that the AC was turned up much higher (to preserve the specimens probably), and it was a reprieve from the heat generated by the masses from the above floor exhibits.

After leaving the museum, we went to the underground shopping at Tianfu Plaza for lunch. Picked a random place for soup noodles that were big on portions and meh on taste. Also ordered a 冒菜 veggie item which was quite spicy, but at least ticked off another item in sichuan cuisine.

At that point, the temperature was way too hot to be visiting the People's Park nearby. (High temp today is up to 31 degrees!) We had also briefly considered either the 四川科技馆 or 恐龙量子场, but both of those places seems to be targeted for kids and interest wasn't high. So we just went back to the hotel in the end.

On the way back by IFS, we found a shop for panda paraphernalia which included T-shirts. It's the first and only T-shirts shop with Chengdu related designs I've seem so far! Finally bought a panda T-shirt for the trip!

Back at the hotel, we rested a bit and avoided the high afternoon temperatures.

This evening we went to see the Sichuan opera performance 芙蓉國碎. Dinner was eaten at an upscale restaurant across the street called 柴门头啖汤. Their roasted pigeon and stone pot radish were delicious. Also ordered pig snout (拱觜) turned out to be like bacon. Tasty, but probably not healthy. 😔

The actual opera performance was quite fun. It's obviously been adapted for modern audiences, cut into segments containing the core techniques used, and reducing the amount of cultural context needed. Singing is done with a recorded track, and some of the scores have obviously come from adapted pop music.

The parts that stood out were the 水袖 dances, the acrobatics while holding a lit bowl on the head, the puppet bits, a hand shadow performance, and of course the 变脸 performance. Of these we saw a bit of the fire bowl and 变脸 tricks at Kuanzhai Alley before, but this was definitely more elaborate. Also, I think among the 'faces' swapped, there was a Doraemon and a Spiderman mask. 😂

My favorite bits are the puppets. First the one who plucked a flower out of a bouquet and stuck it in its hair. And then the puppet that also performed 变脸 and spewing fire.

Lighter day today so we left at a leisurely 8 am, when some breakfast shops are actually open (le gasp). Breakfast was eaten at a bun shop called 李与白包子铺, which offered a variety of buns and related breakfast foods. Taste was good, none were spicy.

We then took the metro to 金沙遗址博物馆. Unlike 三星堆, this site was more like a park with the museum as part of it, rather than just a single museum building. Also, since chinese citizens over 70 can get in without paying, it seems to also be a park for the elderly.

We went through the various exhibits and got pics of the iconic sunbird disc, as well as some souvenirs. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like chinese people believe in T-shirts? At least, almost none of the tourist spots we've gone to so far sold basic T-shirts in the souvenir shops. 😮‍💨

After finishing the last official exhibit, we also wandered around the rest of the site. Found a pen where they got deer! Not a petting zoo, but also no signs against sticking your hand in to touch them. There is a sign against feeding though. 😋

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Kuanzai Alley but then walked further onto 奎星楼街 and had lunch at a highly rated restaurant there. Food was good, and then then they gave us free dessert for filling out high ratings reviews for the place online. LOL, I guess that's where their high rating comes from.

After resting at the hotel for a bit, we went on to have a quick dinner and then to capture some night scene pics of the city.

For dinner we had turtle. It was OK, and spicy.

The we went to 交子之环桥 to watch the light show at the 双子塔. Unfortunately, Baidu lied to me. There was no special light display at 8:30, just a continuous 3 minute loop of LEDs. Ended up just taking pics and videos of that and the nearby scenery. Also, there was a drone that was flying around up there and taking aeriel pics too.

Next we went to 生机之塔 near SKP's plaza. There are 6 pillars there which spout water and perform a looping light display. Took pics ands vids. Then got trapped in the SKP underground shopping mall for like 40+ minutes before finally making it out to the line 18 metro station.

Overall the night light displays were underwhelming, and not quite worth all the time and walking spent.

Stated off a little later today. Had breakfast at a nearby high ranked 面食 diner. I got a 酒酿豆花 which was tasty, and their 手抄 sizes are generous.

We took the metro to Dufu Cottage. Went in through the north gate directly into the garden area. Beautiful place. Took plenty of pics and selfies.

Also, it seems like in 2001, they found actual archaeological evidence of Dufu's residence and tools and stuff. So now some of that has been put into his cottage reproduction (the stone made stuff in the kitchen at least), and the rest were put into a 唐代遗址 exhibition. My mom didn't remember this place when she visited in 2019 though...

The main halls of the reserve weren't as interesting, so we went through them quickly and headed to lunch. There was a very high ranked mapo tofu restaurant nearby, but unfortunately it was so popular that it was full and had a long waitlist. So we ended up eating at another nearby place, with trotter soup, sweet roasted duck, and somewhat over ordered on the vegetables.

After lunch we went to the 四川博物院 which was just across the street. They had some interesting exhibits of civilization in the area from the prehistoric eras (旧/新石器时代) all the way through 隋唐/五代十国. After that I guess 蜀 region did not have much archaeologically that stood out from the rest of the country I guess.

Note: Also ran out of charge on my portable charger, after 3 days of partial usage = 50% phone.

We left for dinner early and went back to the mapo tofu place - 陈麻婆豆腐(旗舰店). This time there was no wait. The tofu was indeed delicious. And *extremely* spicy. Everything else we ordered was to reduce the effects of spice - 蓝莓山药, thick veggie/corn soup, fruit platter, coconut drink. Still couldn't finish the tofu, but got stuffed on everything else. Took the coconut drink to go back.

Walked a little bit in the park next to the museum afterwards to help digest. The view wasn't as wow as what we saw earlier in the day. Then we took the bus back to the hotel. Struggled with the app for bus payment, until cashew paid for me. I eventually figured out how to register with my passport number, but I'm not sure if I'll be using the bus again this stay.

Tonight is also when my parents get in. Some hotel, same floor. But they also brought a change in scheduling. Ah well.

New tentative schedule:

4/11 THU - * 三星堆
4/12 FRI - * 都江堰
4/13 SAT - * 金沙遗址 (in city)
4/14 SUN - 武侯祠(+锦里)
4/15 MON - 成都博物馆
4/16 TUE - free

This morning breakfast consisted of the milk tea and rabbit head we bought last night and put in the hotel mini bar. One was normal spicy and one was non-spicy (五香). It's not a complete visit to Chengdu without eating rabbit. 😙 It's a good thing we had these leftovers, because apparently all the food places nearby the hotel don't open until 10 am.

On the way to the metro, we collected some info about the tour buses that run from the IFS plaza. There are buses periodically going out to the Panda reserve and 三星堆. Also found a bus stop with service going to 青城山 + 都江堰 (in that order). Good to know for future plans.

Then we headed off to Wenshu Monastery by metro. Entrance was free, I guess they make money from prayer donations and incense. Walked around, saw some monks and a black kitty, took some pics, did not pray. The place is quite pretty.

Then we went to Kuanzhai Alley which was on the way to the next scenic spot. Had lunch at a place which offered performances as you ate. The 酸菜鱼汤, 凉粉, coconut drink was good. The 担担面 not so much, too salty. The performance was also cool. There was one where the guy did tricks while balancing a lit bowl on his head, some dances, a wushu tea pouring exercise involving a teapot with a looong mouth, and of course the famous 川剧变脸.

After lunch we went onto Qingyang Palace (Temple). It had a 10 rmb entrance fee, and a lot more cats. 😋 Also a weird balance of gaudy decorations mixed with intricate ancient building style. The most surprising bit was one of the main temple rooms had 李渊 & 李世民. The local daoist explained that part of the temple was built in the late Tang at the order of the emperor who went to Chengdu to escape the 黄巢 rebellion, and of course they would honor their ancestors.

After taking the metro back to Chunxi Rd, we wandered around the IFS shopping area there (multiple levels of it). Eventually had dinner at a restaurant called 同仁四季 which served a coconut-bamboo-watercress-chicken hotpot. Not Chengdu style food, but it was tasty.

But by the time we came back to the hotel, my feet are once again killing me. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much lighter day. And I'm also considering rearranging later itinerary plans to reduce stress. (As well, we might need to scrap plans for 峨眉山 because all tours there depart too early.)

This morning we went to the 六朝博物馆, which has exhibits from Nanjing during its term as capital from the Three Kingdoms era through Jin and the North/South dynasties. Found out the local museum ticketing system uses meituan and requires passport info (but not necessarily the original documentation?).

Took some pictures and collected some stamps as souvenir.

Afterwards it was too late to visit other museums, so had a quick lunch. Also browsed a local clothing shop and bought a new pair of jeans. (My previous jeans have either been discarded as worn out or… no longer fit.)

This evening, ate out at a restaurant with my uncle/cousins whole family. Topics that came up included the state of the work force, and especially the hospital work force my cousin's wife belongs to. Mom attempted to pay the bill but lost the fight with my aunt.

Tomorrow will be onwards to Chengdu!