Okay, it's been a few weeks since I put the first part up but I decided I should finish this before I completely forget what happened during my vacation.

Let's see...I left off just as we got back "home", which is Chongqing for me. We weren't actually supposed to have arrived that night, but since the plane tickets were so cheap, we went by plane rather than by train, which saved us half a day. We didn't call my grandparents to tell them we were arriving that day 'cause we wanted to surprise them. And we did. My dad and I knocked on the door and my grandma was on the other side going, "Who is it?" I said, "Grandma, open the door." Her response was to say, "Anita? Are you really here?" It was a nice little moment. Turns out my great-aunts and great-uncles were at home, too. It was nice to see everyone, especially the great-uncle that I had never met before. It was so great to just stop and relax, not worry about where we're going the next day.

Of course, even at home we just HAVE to go out for meals. It's mostly because EVERYONE wants to treat us to a meal, and my dad being my dad, he never wants to turn down a free meal. So the ten days we were in Chongqing consisted of meeting up with old friends and relatives, eating, and shopping. I wasn't complaining much, espeically not on the shopping part. However, my love for cats have great diminished. Let me just tell ya, when I came back to Chongqing six years ago, there were these two roosters that would wake me up early every morning. I felt like killing those roosters and cooking them in a stew. This time, there were two cats that make those roosters seem like a whisper in the wind. I had no idea cats could be that loud and annoying. The first night I heard them, I thought they were having a fight or wild animal sex, or something along those lines. It was awful. I love animals, especially furry ones, but I wouldn't have shed a single tear if those cats somehow turned up dead one random morning.

On the subject of shopping, shoes are really cheap in China. I bought like 5 new pairs of shoes for less than $15. Good deal, I'd say. And the place that I bought the shoes was insane. I swear, I had never seen so many shoes concentrated in such a small area. I think there might have been more shoes in that place than in any shoe warehouse in the U.S. Like I said, insane.

I wanted to buy a katana in China but I couldn't find one that I was really satisfied with. I did find a nice store that had two sets but the one that was better looking was a 2-piece set while the lesser one was a 3-piece. Disappointment. A funny thing did happen in that store, though. This New Zealander was in the store trying to buy this beautiful teapot, but he was having trouble getting the salespeople to lower the price because of the language barrier. He said that he'd only pay 100 RMB but the store's lowest offer was 150 RMB. He thought the store was trying to cheat him. My dad and I convinced him, in English of course, that 150 RMB for the teapot was a very good deal (and it was) and that if he really wanted it, he should take their offer. He eventually bought it and left a happy man. Now that I think about it, I wonder if the store would've given me discount on the katana set since I helped them sell the teapot... Oh well, too late now.