Tania in China

Sat, Dec 9: Walking. Lots and Lots of Walking.

I don't set the "noisy bell" this morning, but still end up waking up just after 7am. I am taking it easy this morning, so I lay in bed watching TV and slowly waking up until past 8:30. I take a really long shower, then rush up to breakfast before it ends. I take my laptop with me hoping to catch my Mom by phone, but am too late. I do end up spending almost an hour talking to my best friend who is housesitting for me while I am gone. There was a problem with my garage door opener and his car was trapped inside, so he tried to call to get advice from me. Luckily the receptionist told him it was 4am when he called, so he decided not to wake me and to email me instead. I called him back to tell him how to get into the garage, and we talked about quite a few other things, too.

Finally I headed back to my room and settled down on my couch-bed to watch Ocean's Eleven. Cute caper movie, but I was not convinced by the ending. Ok, her current boyfriend was a jerk, but did that make George Clooney any less of a jerk? So after the movie I decide it is time to get moving so that I will actually accomplish something today. I had been told that the Nanjing Museum is free on the first weekend of every month, so I head there to try to finish up my Christmas shopping. Upon arrival I find it is not free today (maybe only on Sunday?), but the ticket is only $3, so I buy a ticket and spend the next two hours revisiting my favorite exhibits. When I make it to the giftshop, I find that things are not nearly as nice as I had remembered, and only buy one thing. A long trip for just one item!

I am not quite ready to go back and sit in my room, so I decide to walk to Carrefour. I have once again forgotten how far it is and it takes me almost a half hour to get there. I am frozen when I get there - winter has definitely arrived! I pick up a few more Christmas presents, as well as peanut butter for my remaining breakfasts in China and some snacks for my last nights. By the time I get to the checkout the place is a zoo, and I have to fight to keep my place in the checkout line. I am hungry, so for the second time in 3 days I eat at KFC. Since it is around 3 in the afternoon the restaurant is not that busy, and I love the cards that each of the cashiers has that they pull out so I can just point at what I want.

When I leave the store to find a taxi, I find that there are huge numbers of people looking for taxis, and very, very few empty taxis going by. I try walking a bit to different locations, but still no luck. Finally I bit the bullet and walk to the shopping district in the center of town. Now I am really cold again, and what could possibly help but ice cream! I decide to give the Dairy Queen one more try, so I head underground to find it. I have the same sundae as before, but this time instead of using hot fudge they use only regular chocolate sauce, and the pecans are not nearly as good as last time, and there are some shells mixed in. Very disappointing.

Now I am only about a kilometer and a half from the hotel, so I give up looking for a taxi and walk the rest of the way home. It was not really my plan to walk all the way back from the Nanjing Museum, but that was the result. I am exhausted and freezing when I get to my room, so I pull my big down comforter off the bed and snuggle down to watch another episode of Alias. When the room attendant knocks on the door to come in for turndown service I move to get off the couch to open the door and am seized with a full-fledged charlie horse! I am absolutely immobile for at least 5 minutes - the slightest movement sends stabbing pain through the back of my leg. I have to yell to have him come it, and try to explain to him it is ok to turn down the bed - I just can't move right now. Slowly the muscle finally relaxes, and I am able to hobble to the bathroom to take some pain killer. The muscle is very tender, and I spend the rest of the night trying to not point my foot at all in fear the muscle will cramp again.

An hour later I head up to the lounge for my nightly nightcap and nosh, and bring my computer with me so I can call my brother. When I call I find out I could have called an hour earlier - my niece decided to get the whole household up at 5:30 this morning. We have a nice chat - I ask my niece "How are you?" and she says "I am fine" for the first time - and I have my final internet phone chat with my brother. When I get back to my room I start watching Alias, and don't stop until I finally finish the series at around 1:30am. This is not helping with my lack of sleep!

posted by Tania @ 4:13 PM