Downtown Changzhou

All week we have been so curious about downtown Changzhou!  We didn't think it could be too far away, but I don't think any of us were prepared for how big Changzhou really is.  So Bailey and I decided to check it out, along with 2 other married couples that we befriended (Sheyanne and Petro, as well as Rachel and Spencer).

Rachel did some research on how to get to the city, but we couldn't find the bus we were supposed to get on.  So, instead of bus 320 we hopped on bus 302 because those are basically the same numbers, right?  We hopped off when Rachel's phone said we were by a Wal Mart, because a Wal Mart is obviously the mark of a downtown center.

Instead of going to Wal Mart, though, we went through an odd looking alleyway which opened up to a beautiful park!  It had a temple with some cool golden statues in them, lots of other amazing buildings, more statues, an exercise park, old ladies dancing, and of course, men gambling.  We didn't explore it all, so we need to go back!

We then found a McDonald's, which to the boys meant food, and to the girls it meant ice cream!  Mmm!  It was in a mall, and also in the mall was a creepy monkey looking dude.  He had us get a picture with him, but then started asking for money to pay him for it.  Definitely an awkward situation when there's a huge language gap.  With the help of some local teenage girls, we found out that he was asking 100 kuai (about $14)!  What?!  Definitely a tourist price.  Shey and Petro were super smart and booked it right after the picture was taken, but the rest of us didn't anticipate the monkey wanting money.  Luckily, he was satisfied with watching me delete the pictures off my phone.  He followed us for a little bit to see if Petro and Shey would appear, as he knew they had pictures too, and it was a huge relief when we lost that creepy dude.

Next we found Changzhou's ancient city wall!  It was beautiful!  That is one amazing thing about China.  There's so much city and urban life everywhere, but there are also always reminders of China's rich ancient history.

We also found a cool bridge (there's lots of rivers and canals all over this place) and some old looking buildings with cool shops in them.  I wish I could have spent more time at that art supplies shop!  But the sun was starting to go down, and we wanted to find a Wal Mart before heading back home.  So at that, we called it a day!