September Journal

We slept in today, but Jon managed to make it out for a run. While he was out dodging cars, I spent a good hour or two updating journal entries.

In an effort to try to keep up with my goal of running at two or three times a week, I headed out for a nice run along the river. Because we slept in a bit today I didn't get out until about 10:30am and it was a bit crowded but I was happy to be running in a city again. I really enjoy running in foreign cities--it's a great way to get out and see the sites and the people in a manner that is less touristy than from a bus or a taxi, and is a longer route than one would usually walk. Nothing really special about the run except that I want to see a bit more of the city and will try for another run tomorrow.

Today was a big errand day. We gave our laundry to a little man down the street in a little laundry stall and then went to grab a quick bite to eat. After lunch, we went to the Intrepid Office in the hotel to ask Grant about Internet Cafes. We chatted with him for a while, and he gave us some cards of places to go. So we set out for a nice walk to a bookstore which had an extensive 3rd floor selection of western books. Jon found some books that he was interested in reading (I'm currently lugging around a surplus of books for myself and so am not allowed to buy anymore) and we picked up some cute bookmarks the store was giving away. The bookmarks were the Chinese zodiac symbols for the "Year of the Goat" and the "Year of the Pig". Jon didn't want the "Year of the Pig" bookmark despite the fact that this is when he was born. My year - "The Year of the Rat" - wasn't available.

After the bookstore, we went across the street to a huge office building that supposedly had Internet. We found it on the 4th floor in a crowded little room filled with teenage boys playing video games. They had two computers for us and the connection was fast so what a treat!

We needed to have an early dinner because we had tickets to a show tonight. So at 5:00 we went to Pizza Hut where a line was just starting to form out the door. But we got seated pretty quickly and had a yummy dinner. By the time we left at 6:00, the line was really long and we were glad we didn't wait.

At 6:45, we caught a taxi to the Performing Arts Center, where the group had tickets to see the Shanghai Acrobats. Unbeknownst to us, the Performing Arts Center is just above the Ritz-Carlton where we were yesterday. So we went inside the Ritz to check out their newspaper selection and to hang out at the bar until the show started at 7:30. Before we headed to our seats, Jon stopped by Starbucks for a nonfat cafe latte which he had to smuggle into the theatre in his shorts pocket as we were not allowed to bring in drinks. Jon couldn't help thinking of when Kramer had to do the same on Seinfeld - luckily Jon fared better than Kramer and suffered no burns!

The Shanghai Acrobats was a theatre version of "Cirque du Soleil". The set was not nearly as surreal nor as artistic as the Canadian troupe, but the acts were definitely entertaining. This is the low-down on what we saw:

What	Description
Yo-Yoers	3 women, each with a string and a large yo-yo thing, which they tossed from one string to the next and did some cool acrobats.
Knife Jugglers	4 men who juggled knives, threw plates, and did other funny skits.
Umbrella Balancer	A girl who - while laying on her back - balanced, twisted, and tossed umbrellas with her feet.
Wine Balancer	A man who balanced up to 12 glasses of wine on his nose - and then sang Karaoke!
Plate Balancer	A group of women with 3 sticks in each hand. On the end of each stick was a plate they were spinning. They did splits, headstands, and other amazing things without ever dropping a plate.
Water Magician	A man who continuously pulled bowls of water out from behind a blanket. At first it was unimpressive, but then he produced a HUGE porcelain bowl the size of a tub - filled with water.
Bowl Balancer	A man who balanced/juggled porcelain bowls of various sizes like the Harlem Globetrotters does a basketball.
Girl Contortionist	A very, very young girl who could twist herself into abnormal positions.
Flexible Man	A flexible man who could bend his body and fit through hoops and narrow barrels.
Chair Balancers	A troupe of seven women who balanced themselves - one on top of the other - on top of 9 chairs.
Knife Thrower	A humor break: the wine balancer of earlier came out to throw knives at one of the audience members who was blindfolded and put up against a backboard.
Jumping Acrobats	A troupe of acrobats who did flips from a teeter-totter type contraption onto the shoulders of their team.

At 11:00, my parents called from the States. We last spoke to them a few weeks ago from Kathmandu, and we all decided then that we really didn't need to talk on the phone because we email so frequently. But because of the events of the past week, we really wanted to hear each others' voices. So it was nice to talk to them and discuss our feelings and concerns. I felt much better afterwards.