Water, water everywhere
June 25 – Dujiangyan Irrigation Project
Today was designated a late start day (10:30am). The kids, determined to make the most of the hotel, got up at 8am to use the work out room and go for a swim. The adults joined them at breakfast around 9:30 and at 10:30 we were in front of the KFC being whisked away to Southgate, the old part of Dujiangyan.
Today’s adventure was walking around the 2,000 year old irrigation project. The ingenious design successfully tamed the Min River (Minjiang), the longest tributary of the Yangtze and turned a perineal flood zone into a well managed source of farming water. Of course, we started by feeding the giant carp.
The delightful walking circuit took us to the edge of the irrigation, across a bouncy swinging bridge, up to the top of a temple, and back to town. Along the way, the kids had ice cream, watermelon juice, cucumbers, and sugar on a stick. Tom added two more Warriors photos to his collect with a pair of Kevin Durant fans. It was noted that no other basketball jerseys of any kind have been spotted thus far.
Somehow along the way, Evie turned the 3 boys into a marching troop who obeyed her every command. By 3pm we were back at the cars and by 3:30 we were sitting at a restaurant for our second hot pot meal, this one 500m from the school everyone teaches at.
At 4:30 Michael and his wife scooped up tom and sue and took them to his artist academy 30km from Dujiangyan. Taking free range parenting to the max, Evie and Tyler were given $20 and Sue’s phone and were driven back to the hotel. We should be back by 7, we said, but we were quite wrong.
Not fully understanding what was in store, Michael stopped en route to pick up one of the artists and a few minutes later a car with 3 more artists joined us for the hour+ drive to the studio.
Once there we were treated to a display of classic Chinese art. Each artist set to creating a unique work of art, all classically Chinese brush paintings, but each unique in style. The director/benefactor of the academy (Mr. Liu) came to meet us and gave us a tour of the facility and showed us his office. It turns out he runs an advertising business focused on building brands for small companies.
After the tour, we returned to the studio to find that all of the works had been completed and after 15 minutes of group photos we were gifted each of the works!
It is still a mystery to us why we were treated like royalty but around 7:30 we back in the car for the drive home. Unfortunately, because of the mudslide some 100km from Dujiangyan, the highway was closed and instead of a short drive home it took 90 minutes to get back.
Thankfully, we were able to be in touch via cell phone with the ever responsible Evie and the kids did great on their own for nearly 5 hours. Tom joined the artists for a late dinner while Sue took the kids to KFC and out to Southgate for some late night shopping.
Tom regaled the artists with photos of burning man and answered their questions about America (What holidays do you celebrate? Why are there so many guns? Does everyone have a lawyer? Do Americans live longer than Chinese?)
At 10:30 we were back in our rooms, tired but chuckling at the absurdity of our day. Tomorrow we will be picked up by our the Chengdu homestay family that Sue and Tyler stayed with during their school visit in April.
Without question, having friends in china makes all the difference in the world!