I Love Panzhihua ("and that's when Feifei saved the dog")

Seriously. I love Panzhihua. LOVE Panzhihua! Everything I like about China is embodied in this wonderful city, yet anything I've ever disliked has been eliminated. This city is my new obsession and I think I shall live here some day.

Soooo let me tell you about the glory of this city. Besides the fact that it is BEAUTIFUL (stunningly beautiful) and there are mountains and trees everywhere and the city is beyond clean, the people are so nice!  In Guizhou and other places of China I have been to, people are, without a doubt, extremely nice, overly accommodating and helpful, and extremely friendly.  The difference, however, is that in Panzhihua no one talks to us or about us like we aren't human.  Sometimes I get the impression that, in spite of how nice people are to me, sometimes there is still an air of "this girl is profoundly different from us humans."  Here, though, we are much less of a spectacle even though, oddly enough, Panzhihua has even fewer foreigners than Guiyang.  If China were Chicago, Panzhihua would totally be the Naperville, and Guizhou would be the South Side.  I love it here.

Today we were joined for lunch by a total stranger, a 21 year old boy who honestly had no ulterior motives, he just loved that we spoke Chinese, were foreigners, and wanted to show us Chinese hospitality.  He didn't eat anything (in spite of our insistence), he simply sat with us, made sure we were taken care of, and was just great company.  Afterwards, he simply said goodbye, bid us a happy journey, and went about his day.  A great moment in Chinese hospitality. :)  

After a delicious lunch, Colleen, who clearly has adapted to the Chinese custom of taking care of your body, took us all to get our hair washed (there's no such thing as a simple hair wash in China; unlike the US, when you get your hair washed in China you also get a head massage using pressure points...it's a beautiful ordeal), cut and styled.  Also unlike the US, hair salons in China are run primarily by attractive men...and they are not gay.  There is nothing more wonderful than getting a sensual massage and wash by a good looking Asian man who knows all about style, then takes you to a mirror, tells you how beautiful you are, flirts with you, and then makes you even more beautiful by giving you a really cute style.  No strings attached, just some good natured touching and flirting. ;)

Once our hair was clean, flowing and looking better than it has in a while, Colleen decided to continue showing us how to "take care of our healthy" (a common Chinglish phrase) by getting our nails done.  I've never had my nails done, nor have I ever been the kind of person to want to get my nails done, but for only 10 yuan I figured, hell, why not? Well, Friends and Family, I am now a new woman! Sporting a flirty pink polish with dainty white flowers, nice hair and a new perspective on life, I have rediscovered my inner-woman.  I strutted. I shook my butt. And darn it, it felt good. I felt like every step I took down the clean, beautiful streets of Panzhihua called for yet another Asian man having to turn his head and say (in perfect standard Mandarin that I naturally understood) "Wow, look at that beauty queen. There's no stoppin' her!" while birds and butterflies fluttered about my newly styled head. "Helloooo Panzhihua!"

Strutting up the steep mountainous streets of the much adored Panzhihua, my newly-beautified friends and I were suddenly stopped by the most absurd sight...ever. Two dogs, both about mid-calf height, were standing on the sidewalk...butt to butt.  We stopped in our tracks and stared at this strange sight in disbelief. Whatever were they doing? Were they born this way? Did someone play a cruel trick on them? Colleen and I couldn't tare ourselves away from the spectacle and while our friends pressed on we continued to walk around these dogs, inspecting them from every angle.  Soon, a crowd gathered around us while I, in hysterics, sputtered through laughter that someone needed to explain what was going on.  A few men insisted the dogs were making love, but I've been around my fair share of pooches to know they do not do it butt to butt and Colleen and I continued to investigate.  One of the dogs, I like to think it was a female, looked up at me whimpering and continued to try and pull away from the other.  Finally, I decided to risk my leg to a potential angry bite, took my shoe, placed it gently on their back, realized the dogs didn't mind, and then I started slowly pushing my foot down.  The men around us laughed at me and said it wouldn't work, but within less than a minute the dogs were set free, liquid gushed everywhere, and the dogs happily limped off (in opposite directions). And that's when FeiFei saved the dogs. :D What had happened to them in the first place? you may ask.  I have no flippin' clue.

Now, it is nighttime, and I just spent a good 10 minutes staring up in disbelief at a sky full of stars. Real stars. Bright stars. The first stars I've seen since I left the comforts of Iowa.  It was spectacular!  And guess what! I'm on the other side of the big dipper! How exciting is that?! Here I've been on the other side of the world for almost 7 months now and I haven't even gotten the chance to appreciate the sky from a different angle until now. I love Panzhihua. :D

Tomorrow morning, unfortunately, my comrades and I will depart from the glorious city of Panzhihua and go south on an 8 hour bus ride to the ancient city of Lijiang.  I'm told Yunnan (the province we're going to spend the rest of vacation in) is the most beautiful place in China.  Since Panzhihua is close, I'm not surprised to hear it. According to Colleen, Kunming, the capital, is even nicer than this stellar place. I feel like I'm in for a real treat. :) In the battle of China vs. Val Flynn, China may have won many times, but by god, in Panzhihua, I rocked China like a hurricane. :D