For the first time ever, I found myself alone. Instead of calling someone to go do something, I thought it might be worthwhile just to explore on my own. So, I started walking around the area around the Wal-Mart. I found a movie theater and took a picture of 007…apparently this movie is very popular here. Many locals have asked me about it.

I wandered around some more, saw lots and lots of decorations for the Chinese New Year. This is the equivalent of Christmas in the US. There were tons of “jin zhu”s (gold pigs) everywhere, except most of them were not “jin”.

Around the entrance to “Happy Valley”, the amusement park, I snapped these next two shots. I thought the name of this store was kinda funny: “Happy Store”. OK?

The next shot is of a common man in a typical pose for Chinese folks, at least what I can gather as common or lower class folks (maybe the uneducated ones). This squat pose is quite common, but you’ll never see someone in a suit sitting this way. It’s just curious, I think. I can’t do this ’cause of my knees, not that I would anyway. Oh that reminds me, once I saw some toddlers walking around with pants with a big gap right in the fanny. I’m guessing these were designed like that so you could squat and “go to the bathroom”, so to speak, without even having to unzip. I’m pretty sure I’m right ’cause I noticed the parents shooing them off the sidewalk. I didn’t bother sticking around.

I decided then to hop the subway and head down to various places and wander around. I got off at a couple of stops…each one looked completely different – strange huge buildings all around me. I went into stores, wandered over bridges, through tunnels, small shops, and so on. I got brave once and asked where the bathroom was. I must have done a good job because she pointed downstairs. I went down and found it. A significant language victory!

I wandered more, paying close attention to the skyline in case I got lost. I had someone grab me and ask me about buying DVDs. I said, “Sure” and they brought me around to a little area where they asked me to sit. I declined to sit in one of the teeny stools and they seemed to think I was wierd for saying that. Oh well, after many confusing conversations, I managed to ask them if they had the first season of “Lost”. They sent a runner looking for it. “One minute!” the guy said in broken English. I waited like ten and started to get impatient. They wouldn’t even entertain an offer until the fetcher of the DVD returned. When they got back, I offered 20 which was the exact same price I got for *four* seasons of 24. They laughed at me. “Well, heck with you guys, I’m not in the mood to bargain anyway. Take it or leave it.”, I thought. So, I got up and walked off. The girl ran after me grabbing by the arm. “Hey! Hey! What you offer!” “Er shi!!” (20 Yuan), I replied defiantly. She turned and left.

Here are some pictures around the city (check out the gold tower with the New Years lanterns in the foreground):

I made my way back to the area around the Wal-Mart. My feet were hurting so I thought I’d look for a foot massage place. After, a while, I found one and summoning a little courage (the language barrier thing), decided to walk up. Well, I was immediately swarmed upon by a hoarde of girls, maybe 10 or so and they started chattering at me. I just kinda of smiled and then said, “Ni hao.” They all started laughing. Hmm, why was that so funny? Probably because they were asking me something and all I did was say, “Uh, hello?” Well, more chattering ensued so I said, “Wo ting bu dong” (“I don’t understand.”) More laughter. The head masseus (I reckon) started chirping at me and all I could do was try to hear something I recognized…nothing. Dang, I didn’t learn the word for “massage”! Then I recognized “Chi dian ban!” “Seven thirty!” 7:30? Did they mean they didn’t open until 7:30? Why were they all hanging around the entrance then? Oh well, by this time it was 6:30 and I didn’t feel like hanging around for an hour. Besides, I was hungry, so I repeated “chi dian ban”, nodded, smiled, and headed home. I didn’t bother returning. That will be for another day and another adventure.