August 4th, 2018
Despite having one of the worst feelings of sickness in my life last night I woke up the next morning at 6:00 am and felt absolutely wonderful. Po-po came in to give me a bowl of water and I think I hallucinated her face as Meredith’s for a second before realizing that there was no way that was possible. I took two Tums and fell back asleep for about an hour before waking up again to make a plan for the day. At 7:00 am I texted Daniel and Mason since they were the only two people who were staying in Shuangliu today (everyone else had families who weren’t afraid of rain and brought them to the mountains). Daniel responded about half an hour later questioning how I was alive after how sick I had been last night. Apparently Martin’s food poisoning was so bad that he had to spend the night in the hospital.
We decided to meet up with Frank and Co. around 10:30 after Daniel went to the clinic to get his bandages changed for the day but Mei Mei and I were running behind. Po-po offered me breakfast but I still didn’t feel like eating anything so Mei Mei had hers and we were off. We took a san luen che to the school gate where we would pick up Frank and his friends before meeting Daniel and Mason at the clinic, however, they were also running behind schedule and were just getting off of the bus when we arrived. 
We were both surprised to see the other people there but after a quick Hong Qi Chain (a convenience store) stop we decided to split up because Mason needed to go to the yinhang (bank) and Daniel needed to stop by the yiyuan (hospital – technically he went to a private practice clinic but I’m not about to learn that oddly specific word). We took a taxi to the clinic and they changed his bandages while the little boy next to us got his ears checked out and watched Chinese Paw Patrol. We then met up with Mason, Frank, and friends before splitting up again to ride to the ditie zhan (subway station) at the airport. On the way Daniel and I saw a motorcycle gang of Harley Davidson’s which are apparently super expensive here in China so these guys were a big deal. They weren’t too tough though because some of them waved at me for the vlog. We made it to the subway station and Mason’s car spotted us in line for security but Frank had them enter through a different way, so now we had split up three different times. Daniel just wanted a coffee from a McDonald’s that didn’t appear to exist on any of the floors we tried so we gave up and rode the elevator down to the subway station. Mei Mei and Daniel wanted to wait for the others at the entrance but I said they probably already went down to the platform so I split off from them to go find everyone else. Sure enough, I was right and Frank was standing at the bottom of the escalator waiting for us. I told Mei Mei and Daniel and for the first time we all got into one mode of transportation together.
We decided that first we would go to the Global Center, which is the largest air conditioned building in Asia (as I’ve said before, malls here are crazy). We wandered around for most of the morning we had left and explored all the shops. Mason and Daniel tried the hoverboard segways that used to be oh so popular and garnered the attention of more than a few people who surrounded them in a circle as they spun around. Mason also convinced Mei Mei that the Spanish Sonnet Anthology he was reading was in English which effectively freaked her out because she has the best English and couldn’t understand a word. We also saw the Croc® Store and its appropriate slogan “come as you are.” After some time spent in Uniqlo we were ready to have lunch. The Chinese boys showed us the “food city” in the basement of the mall, basically their adorable name for a food court. I was still not feeling well in the duzi teng (stomachache) department so I just nibbled on a Rou Jia Mo (a popular street food snack of sweet, stewed meat tucked into a crisp flat bun no larger than a saucer). Mason slurped a bowl of Hongshao Niu Rou with Mian Tiao (Beef with Noodles in a brown sauce) and Daniel enjoyed his first plate of pan fried noodles. Frank and Co. shared a sizzling platter of meat with la jiao (Sichuan peppers) and drank lime, lemonades the size of a Big Gulp. I guess you need something to wash down all that pepper.
After lunch we stopped by the Adidas store and the bank before our lsat stop at the Global Center: Nanalucky. Mei Mei had told me about this bakery for “style photos” (basically any picture that’s remotely Instagram worthy or “bloggable”) and said she really wanted to go.
She mentioned this around the first weekend that I came to Chengdu and we had been pushing it off every time we came into the city. I told her that we would be sure to go today and so we took the elevator up to the nineteenth floor and saw Nanalucky in all of its glory. I write this very sarcastically because it was an overpriced cafe / clothing store that had a bunch of neon signs and a ball pit to take photos in. Did I mention that in order to enter the store you have to purchase a drink, so I was the one required to fork over ¥48 for a subpar lemonade that I can get much better for ¥8 at Tea & Brown. The boys sat outside and played Pub G while Mei Mei and I went in to get my money’s worth of photos.
The only problem was that when I asked Mei Mei to be in any of my photos, she refused. She didn’t want a single photo except for one that I made her take in the ball pit (also there was a strange liquid substance on the bottom of that thing that I don’t ever really want to know what it was). After taking a lap around the warehouse and finally getting my drink I practically chugged the thing because I felt so bad for making the boys wait for this. They didn’t seem to mind though because they were so engrossed in Pub G but I just hate wasting time. Also, Frank posed for this precious one below. 
To make everything worse when I asked Mei Mei why she didn’t want to take any pictures she responded by saying, “I can come here when you are at school and take photos if I want.” Yes, that meant that this place wasn’t actually that special to her, but communication is very indirect here so she made no mention of that beforehand. The good news was that Daniel found his way onto the rooftop because nothing can keep that boy from his roofs, so I guess the trip wasn’t a complete waste of time.
We took the subway to Chengdu after a very messy ticketing experience, but at last we made it. Some of the boys wanted to stop by the Air Jordan’s Store before splitting off to go shopping on their own. Mason only wanted to see Prada so we went to IFS and explored the store before being subtly kicked out after Mason took a picture of a shirt and Daniel removed a tie from it’s glass display case. I captured a little glimpse on the vlog, but I think high fashion is overrated anyways so everything in that store meant nothing to me. Mei Mei said that she had a tou teng (headache) and just wanted to rest before we continued any further.
We stopped for boba tea at Gong Cha before heading to the Starbucks for a rest. Mei Mei’s phone died and this Starbucks only takes WeChat Pay so we plugged in her phone and waited for it to be revived so she could get her drink. After what felt like forever she and Daniel went downstairs to place their order. Mason and I watched their seats and had a flow of conversation that goes mostly as follows:
Tell me about your graphic design work?
What’s your favorite font?
In eighth grade it was Amatic but now I’m really liking Didot
*Sure enough, I look up and a man is wearing a shirt with a quote written in Amatic font. Then Mason opens his Instagram feed to see that the former art director of Off White posted a picture talking about the best fonts
I have no idea what Off White or really any of the brands you’ve been talking about today are…
Do you know what a Hypebeast is?
Absolutely not, but I can kind of infer
*He proceeds to explain a thesis worthy amount of information about brands and people that I have never heard of
[Insert art history and Goya here] Finally, back to a territory I know
What’s your favorite book?
There’s like 10…
Have you read Brad Carrigan’s work American?
No
I will send it to you
More discussion about Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca
And then…
Forty five minutes have probably passed by this point when Mei Mei and a pissed looking Daniel walk back up the stairs. After all that waiting Starbucks didn’t have the drink that Mei Mei wanted and they were out of the double chocolate muffin that Daniel wanted, but the barista had already charged his card so he had to accept a nasty piece of cheesecake. After a little more waiting around for them to finish their sad menu items Frank and his friends met up with us at the Starbucks. We needed to head home but not before I peeked into the MUJI exhibit of ‘Found Things’ at Tai Koo Li.
We decided to eat at our favorite jian bing (scallion pancake) stall in the subway station. (They still have not restocked with the special soy milk in case you were wondering) 
Frank and his friends found small niche tucked into the wall where we could eat. He even let me try his brain noodles. (Yes, mom these are noodles in a spicy broth served with brain and it was delicious. No, I will not be taking you to eat there anytime soon because I value everything you’ve done for me in life so far, however, I would encourage you to try it because it really was quite nice.)
We finished eating and were ready to get on the subway when Frank realized he forgot his new jacket and shopping bag at the Starbucks. All the boys sprinted back to Tai Koo Li while Mason and I went to the Skechers store because they “fit his aesthetic. ” Then Daniel and I wandered off to try on some outrageous glasses which ended up turning into us looking at watches, more glasses, stopping by a donut shop, walking through some underground tunnels to Tai Koo Li, finding a stationary store that we must revisit, and him trying on a navy suit from a custom tailor store, all before returning to where everyone else was. We did more in those twenty minutes than we did all day. It was nice to take it easy though considering disasters we were recovering from.
Once we loaded onto the crowded subway and were on our way home we could relax again. We plugged in and I was slightly amused when Daniel’s playlist switched from Call on Jesus to Aretha Franklin’s Respect… so many layers. As we were making the transfer to the line 7 train Frank called out to us saying it was the last ride of the night so we started hauling’ it into a sprint to make it on time. We were yelling and catching our breath from the moment of adrenaline before falling back into the rhythm of the subway ride.
At the airport Mason and Daniel tried again to balance on those pole things and we said our goodbyes to all the boys who went with us today. Frank called us a Chinese Uber and within twelve minutes of us exiting the subway station we were in a car and on our way home. May I remind you that our former record was an hour and fifteen minutes… He is so capable and efficient it’s just the greatest thing. We safely made it to the school before parting ways for our houses. When I made it home and connected to the wifi there was a single WeChat from Mason with a link:
Meals Miles & Marria 