Grasslands, back to Shanghai

The final tourist spot of the trip was to the grasslands. We were the first tour bus there, so it wasn’t too noisy yet, which I was infinitely grateful for. Nora, Tara, and I walked out into the field and listened to the silence while the other tourists got horseback rides. On the bus ride back to the city, I watched out the window and saw herds of mountain goats, sheep, camels, and cows grazing. Some were domestic, others were not.

Then it was time to fly home. Home to Shanghai. We had pizza hut and beer when we got back, after a week full of sub-par food (besides, of course, that which was bought from streetside vendors).

Professor Ferry has another trip planned for us at the end of the term, to Sichuan province (famous for spicy food) and Xi’an (famous for the terracotta army unearthed in the 70s).

Nora and I are still working on the plans for travel before we leave in December, but we have decided to go to Hong Kong and Beijing.

I had classes this morning (Saturday). Apparently a week-long holiday is only allowed to be exactly a week long. You can have the week, but not both weekends… that would just be too relaxing.