A Kid's Day at the Park

So actually before I went to the countryside, on the Sunday before with that group of families, we went to the park. But not your average park, this was a minority park. China has 56 races in China, including the Han majority. Yunnan, which is the province I'm currently living in, has 25 races. This park had all 25 races, and you could visit them in different villages. From talking with a few friends, I've learned that the minorities are pretty well respected. The Han majority doesn't look down on the other minorities.

Anyway, as we entered the park, guess what's the first thing we saw? A freaking elephant! (if you couldn't deduct from the enormous picture). In hindsight, it was a really cruel operation: the elephant was chained up by the leg, only allowed to walk a few meters, and it was forced to obey like a dog for picture-posing purposes. But hey, this is China, I've seen worse things. And at 10 kuai for a ride, how could you turn it down? I got a nice little ride for my friend, patted him on the head (his hair strands were as thick wire coat hangers!), and hoped that at least he was getting some good grub.

We wandered around for a while, seeing various villages and running into the tallest Chinese people I've ever seen. They had to have been basketball players because there was a group of them about 6'7" or taller. Whenever I go to China, people always ask me, "So, are you gonna be the tallest person over there?" No. That stereotype doesn't hold anymore. True, they are on average shorter than Americans, but nutrition has come a long way. I'd say a more accurate stereotype is bad teeth. I think I started to realize this two years ago when I went on a mad search for floss, only to find it at Beijing's World Trade Center. Since then I've noticed teeth, or the absence of teeth in many cases. My teeth aren't perfect, but I've definitely seen colors on the once "pearly-whites" that do not belong there.

Okay, sorry for the tangent. Anyway, we walked around for awhile, finally came to this village where a guy was belting out "Beyond" (a famous Chinese song, I found out) while playing guitar. I politely declined an invitation to sing with him, as I didn't know the words, but I did get a picture—not taken by my American friend Jes but this random Chinese guy. He was a Beijing-er here in Kunming on business (a conference for facial recognition at Yunnan University, so this guy was smart) and really excited to meet me. He said he'd shoot me an email and maybe we could meet up when I get to the capital later this month.

What did we find next? An archery range! At one kuai (about 15 cents) per arrow, I purchased five. You could hunt all your favorite animals, from tigers to toucans to monkeys. After working that tiger like it had eaten my lunch, I found out that because I hit the target, I won a prize, a pretty pathetic prize, but a prize nonetheless! It is this red heart on a lanyard. I wore it around the rest of the day. Don't be surprised if it ends up in your stocking this Christmas. The whole day ended up at this posh restaurant with our friend's family. We were served a corn juice drink...basically like a corn smoothie, or corn-on-a-cob in a cup (see the yellow drinks in the pic). Sounds nasty, but I actually drank the whole thing.

What a kid experience. As you can see, I managed to turn something that could possibly be very educational into more of a play land. I eschewed the sign reading for elephant riding, guitar posing, and cross-bow firing. At one point, when admitting to Jes, my American friend, that I was ignorant of the difference between Taoism and Buddhism despite being an East Asian Studies major, she asked, "So, do you even study other cultures?" Nope, I'm just here for the party (and to study a little Mandarin). What a child.