even though i went to bed last night around 2:00, i still woke up around 8:00. my body wanted more sleep but my well-trained digestive system was open for business and demanded attention. i then lounged around in bed the rest of the morning, sort through the 6500+ photos i took on my 4-day trip to luzhou (and nearby luxian) and yibin (both in sichuan province, which is right next to chongqing). i let my image cataloaging program finally creating thumbnails for the first batch of photos before downloading the rest on my 2nd 32GB memory card. i didn't want to tax my netbook so i surfed the web on my tablet pc.

since i still have monday off, i essentially have a normal 2-day weekend. what a luxury, compared to my normal one-day-weekend of just sunday. around 1:00 i finally got dressed and left the house. i shaved before i went out, my week old beard caught in that dirty awkward phase that's not yet stubbles but not yet full beard either. i was going to grow it out to show fengya but she'd already seen it days ago and said it wasn't as thick as she'd imagined it.

i took the 101 bus into old changshou, looking to buy some of that delicious bread i had weeks ago, and maybe get some lunch. i arrived too late and the bread seller was nowhere to be seen. i bought a pound of roasted chestnuts (RMB$15) and wandered into the mall looking for a sporting goods store that might carry winter coats.

having no luck, i returned to the street where all the restaurants are located. i knew this from before, but there are actually 2 such food streets, both very similar, except on one of those streets is where i had those delicious noodles a few weekends ago, and i wanted to go back and try their lamb noodles. i couldn't find on the first or the second food street, but when i doubled back, i saw a place that looked familiar, except the restaurant name was different. confused, hungry, i grabbed a seat and ordered the intestines dao-xiao noodle soup (RMB$10). the noodle was okay, the broth on the oily side. looking at the menu posted on the wall, i noticed it was taped over another menu. when i went to go pay i asked if this used to be a different restaurant. they confirmed my suspicions, and the owner gave me a coupon for a free bowl of noodles on my next visit. i was really hoping to find some lamb noodle soup though. with the old place gone, i don't know where to go.

i also bought a plastic washing basin (for storing water in case they shut off the water again, and also good for soaking vegetables to release potential pesticides) before getting onboard the 105 bus back to my apartment. i took a little detour to buy RMB$20 worth of duck feet.

i spent the remaining afternoon at home watching a copy of oblivion on the HDTV, snacking on my duck feet and chestnuts. i bought way too much duck feet but still managed to eat it all (about 15 maybe). not sure if i ever want to eat it again. chestnuts were really good, and i saw a bunch of places selling them, so i know there will be a good supply. they make me thirsty though.

fengya returned to changshou in the afternoon as well, back from luxian. we chatted briefly online, i told her if she wasn't busy guo was going to invite us to dinner.

when evening came, guo called me to let me know he was coming down. i went outside to rendezvous, saying hi to the pretty hairdresser taking a break from work. i waited a while but didn't see guo, so i took a little walk around the block, before he called me. he was waiting on the street corner with fengya, who not only permed her hair (which i saw when we visited her hometown luxian) but also dyed it a dark shade of brown. she was also dressed, like maybe she was going out afterwards. we ended up having dinner at the rice porridge restaurant, my 3rd time in a week. i'm actually not a big fan, their rice porridge is kind of expensive (RMB$12+) for something that normally costs RMB$3 or less.

afterwards we invited fengya to come with us to ancient changshou but she said she was too tired. guo and i went anyway, and found the place to be quite busy with national holiday vacationers still enjoying the final days of their week long break. usually the place is kind of a ghost town, but tonight the streets were filled with vendors selling everything from food to shoes to kitchen gadgets to toys, as well as actual customers. we stayed a bit but returning to new changshou, which is about a 20 minute walk. we got back by 9:00.

fengya was still up so we chatted briefly. i complimented her hair, she told me i shouldn't be so quick to treat (as in dinner, as i did tonight) since people might take advantage of my generosity.

it's now almost 3:00 and i'm still up. i spent the rest of the night still sorting through my photos, tagging the best ones. i've picked about 500 out of the 6500+, which i think is a more manageable amount. better get some sleep, i might hike up a local mountain tomorrow, and i want to try old changshou again to look for that delicious bread!