I know what hood rat things look like in Dayton but I keep wondering, "What do 'hood rat' things look like in China?" Well, this weekend I found out.
I went down to the river for a night tour. The boat ride was really beautiful. The downtown area isn't much like the rest of the city. The buildings are all new, clean, and very well lit. That is not the case where I live. Anyway, it was fun to see in real life what I saw in pictures before I came here. There's a huge ferris wheel over a bridge - the Tianjin Eye. It's really neat but not something I care to ride. It was built in China and it's hanging over a body of water...those two things don't really scream "sturdy and safe."
Anyway, while we were on the boat, we saw people setting off Chinese paper lanterns. You know, like the ones in Tangled. It was SO COOL! With the boat and the lights and the cool fall air, the lanterns made everything feel really magical. The girls I was with agreed that we needed to find some lanterns and release our own. As we were getting off of the boat, we saw a family lighting a lantern, so we stopped to watch and then ask them where they bought it. As they were trying to get it into the air a police car came driving down the walkway (yes, walkway), made them put out the fire, and asked where they bought the lantern. The people didn't answer, but put out the fire and walked away.
That should have been enough to deter me from any further searching, however...
It felt so much like a Disney movie I just couldn't resist. I (along with the two 20-year-old girls accompanying me) searched on, looking for the seemingly illegal goods. We came across a guy selling them for ¥10. Yes, please! I'll take two! Unfortunately for the guy, it's hard for American's to blend in here, so a crowd had started to gather. As I was getting ready to pay him, I saw a police officer come barging through the crowd out of nowhere and grab the guy selling the lanterns. Before I knew what was happening I told the girls, "Walk away! walk away now!" and we got the heck out of dodge. A few minutes later we walked back to where we had just tried to buy the lanterns. Where there was once 1 guy selling them, there were now 3. We quickly handed the people ¥10, took our lanterns, and left. I still haven't released my lantern...maybe I will do it this weekend. I can understand why they are a bad idea - fire floating through the air usually doesn't end well. BUT I just can't help myself, so here's hoping I don't burn anything down.
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