Luzhou (7-21)

I had arranged to stay in Luzhou for the weekend after the teachers’ training so I could see more of the city while I was there. Lisa arranged for teachers to be “on duty” throughout the weekend. I was told that I could call the duty person if I needed anything. Although I felt a little awkward about this, it was nice to know that someone would be available if I needed assistance.

Friday afternoon, after the teacher on duty helped me check in to the hotel, I settled in and realized how tired I was. So I relaxed in my room for a few hours before venturing out. The teacher had told me that there is a supermarket near the hotel to the right. I didn’t see a supermarket, but I found the street market and walked around it for a while. It’s interesting to see what is sold. Mostly clothes in this market and a lot of food on skewers, which I later learned is a specialty in Luzhou.

Then I headed to the river. I’d chosen the hotel because it is near the Yangtze River and I wanted to spend some time along this river. There is a walkway beside the river at river level and one on the cliff above it. The trees beside the walkway are in the water now. I learned on Saturday that the river is quite high—much higher than usual—because of the recent rain farther north. There were a few people walking along the river at this time—about 5:00. 

Several men were fishing—some with poles; some with the large nets I saw in Vietnam. At the confluence of the Yangtze and the Tuojiang Rivers, there’s a sandy area where children were playing. 

Someone was flying a bird-shaped kite that was so realistic that it looked like a hawk flying. The wing tips flapped as it floated on the air currents. I was fascinated and watched it for a long time but couldn’t see who was flying it. 

On the upper level at the confluence point, there are several areas with plants and trees. During the two hours that I was along the river, the number of people walking increased.

I was so tired that night that I slept for almost eleven hours. When I woke up at 9:00 Saturday morning and went to breakfast, a woman was mopping the floor. I’d missed my included breakfast. I returned to my room and relaxed for two more hours, as my energy level was still low. Jessica, who was my contact for Saturday afternoon, called in the morning to see if I needed her. I didn’t need her but would enjoy her company, as she was one of the teachers I had chatted with and felt that I had connected with. Since there isn’t much in the area near the hotel and I didn’t know how to get around the city or where to go, I was happy to take her up on her offer to meet me and take me some place.

While I waited, I decided I needed to get out and move; so I walked around the area near the hotel. I walked to the Bell and Drum Tower and the Bao’En Pagoda, an octagonal pagoda. Both are landmarks in the city, but both were (or maybe are always) closed; so you can’t walk up any more. They’re just interesting buildings to look at briefly. I was glad I hadn’t gone out of my way to see them, as they are only a couple blocks from the hotel. I window shopped and ate a dish of noodles and then returned to wait for Jessica.

We went to the Baizitu Square, where there are a cultural pavilion and an amphitheater. There we met two girls—Dangerous and Janie—who had just graduated from high school and whom Jessica had invited to join us so they could practice their English. The pavilion is a covered walkway along the Tuojiang River that has paintings depicting Luzhou’s history on panels across the top. 

One section has paintings of 100 children, three in each painting. It’s cooler in the pavilion, since it is covered, and in some places there’s a nice breeze; so some people sit there to relax. 

Outside the pavilion between the two sections, there is a section of the old city gate 

and there are five old brass drums. Long beans were drying on the drums. I was fascinated by this and by ones I saw later drying on top of trash cans.

After walking both ways through the pavilion, which is 650 meters long, we went to the Cultural Square. It features a huge, semi-circular amphitheater that faces the river and can seat 20,000 people. It reminded me of Roman and Greek amphitheaters. Along the outside at the top, there are eight pillars that have 100 children carved on them. Jessica explained that the children were for good luck to have many children in the past and for happiness.

Our next stop was a tea house, since it Jessica thought it was too hot to go anywhere else. There we had a pot of special tea made from young leaves and relaxed for an hour. Then we went to the supermarket, which, I learned, is a mall.

Jessica had to leave to go to a friend’s birthday dinner, but she arranged for the girls to take me to dinner and to another park. The menu at the restaurant had headings in English, but everything under the heading is in Chinese only. Things like that make me wonder why they bother with the English headings; it’s all show. 

The park is a newly built park that has a few ponds and nice paths with lots of trees. I enjoyed the girls. Both are going to university in September. They’ve been friends since primary school when they were in the same class. Dangerous went to a special foreign language high school in Chongqing while Janie went to a local high school. (As in Thailand, students stay with the same class all the way through elementary school.) They each tried to speak to me, and I could tell that they had thought about what they would say. After Jessica left, they checked words in their dictionaries. They’re very sweet.

The girls are enjoying their summer vacation this year because it’s the first time they haven’t had to take special classes to study for the university entrance exam. That’s what high school students do during school breaks. I had had some writing students mention that one difference between high school and university is that they had no free time in high school but now they have a lot of free time.

Jessica is 50 years old. She will retire in five years, since retirement at 55 is mandatory for women. Men retire at 60. She has a certificate to teach Chinese as a foreign language and hopes to do that after she retires. The government has a program in which it sends people, under age 60, to other countries to teach Chinese, and she hopes to participate in it.

After the girls delivered me back to the hotel and to my room, they went home, and I went to the river. Since it was 7:30, many more people were out than on Friday night when I was there earlier. I saw the man flying the kite. 

At the confluence, there were three groups of people dancing. I enjoyed watching all the people again.

Sunday morning Winnie met me, as arranged on Saturday. She brought her son along so he could meet me. He, too, just graduated from high school and will go to university. He didn’t say much, but he’s very nice. We walked along the Yangtze in the other direction. There was a lot of construction going on; so it wasn’t as enjoyable as walking in the park area. But I guess it’s a famous street. 

It’s tree-lined and rather nice—at least it would have been nice without the construction. 










On the way back, we stopped at the Wine Cellar of Luzhou Vintage. Winnie had never been there; so it was new to all of us. The sign at the ticket office mentioned that people over 60 can pay half price. Worked for us, as Winnie was paying for me. It’s a museum about the local baiju—liquor—industry, which started in 1573. One famous brand is called 1573. 

One building has displays of many special bottles. 

Another has the First National Liquor Cellar, the original site for making the liquor. A third has liquor being made, but it’s not open for visitation.  

In addition to the liquor, Luzhou is known for litchis and longan. Jessica gave me a bunch of litchis when we met on Saturday. They were delicious. I saw a couple men selling longans, but Winnie and Jessica said the main season is next month. We saw the trees across the river from the pavilion.

Lisa and Winnie thought I was leaving on Monday even though I’d told them both I would leave on Sunday. So Winnie and Mark stayed with me instead of passing the duty on to Lisa. We had lunch at one of the restaurants that feature the skewered vegetables and meats. You choose the items you want and put them in a basket. 

Then they are put into hot, seasoned water to cook and delivered to your table. Fortunately, the water wasn’t too spicy and I could eat the food. Winnie and Mark had extra dishes of hot sauce to dip their food in.

After lunch, we went to the bus station. Mark had called and learned that there is a bus directly to Wenjiang at 2:20. After I bought a ticket, I told Winnie that they didn’t have to stay with me, as it was only 12:00, and I could get myself on the bus. They then checked my bags, and I learned that we would walk around the shopping mall next to the bus station. It’s new and most places aren’t open yet and very few people were shopping there. It’s huge, and it seems that just about anything can be found there or will be there eventually when it’s finished.

They put me on the bus. Mark went on with me to make sure I was settled in a seat. Then Winnie got on to say good-bye. The young woman next to me was a delightful English teacher who just finished her first year of teaching middle school. Her English is excellent. She was a little apprehensive about speaking because I was the first foreigner she’d talked to. She had foreign teachers but never spoke to them outside class and didn’t speak much in class. She learned to speak from listening to music and watching movies.

I was really happy that I was able to get a bus directly to Wenjiang and didn’t have to mess around changing bus stations and buses in Chengdu. This was so much easier.

I was glad I had stayed for the additional weekend and had some extra time with Jessica and Winnie. With their company, I saw more than I would have seen on my own, and I enjoy both of them. I also enjoyed my time alone walking along the Yangtze River for the first time.