Trip to Dongbei-Jilin (2)

The last two days have been pretty uneventful, but nonetheless very enjoyable. We decided that the skiing was fun, but not especially great and fairly expensive. So we spent yesterday and today moseying around Jilin and experiencing north China. We did some significant searching for the famous 'rime' trees in Jilin. These trees are covered in ice from the hydroelectric plant mixing with the cold water if the river and making some steamy mist which freezes on the trees. We found the main street and park for this phenomenon, but saw no rime. Se we headed into a hotel and the receptionist informed us that the weather was not right to create the spectacle. We did get some nice, powdery snow; but maybe that was the reason for the lack of rime. When searching for lunch one day, we were able to eliminate two restaurants based on the stench upon entering. It was just a little too close to that of a meat rendering plant. Today's search for lunch was also interesting. We knew there were two pizza restaurants in the city, so we asked a very friendly taxi driver to take us to one of them. After awhile we realized that she had no idea where either of them were, despite the fact she claimed to be taking us to a good, big restaurant with pizza. Well she took us instead to KFC, probably because she assumed it was Western, so would be good enough. We informed her that KFC does not serve pizza. So I called our always reliable friend Cao Xingxing, who after talking with the driver told me the woman did not know where either of the restaurants were, or even what pizza was. Instead, with great improvisation (which only the taxi drivers in China can offer) was taking us to a restaurant of her choice, and was also disappointed we didn't want to go to KFC. (Cao Xingxing really is a good sport, I don't think that when she became friends with us she realized it would include random calls in which we say hello and then hand the phone to some strange Chinese person and require her to do our talking for us.) So, we cut our losses, got out and found a suitable restaurant, but no pizza. We are now in Changchun at the airport, awaiting our flight to Shanghai. It has been a very, very fun, interesting, and generally cold trip (but we brought long underwear)!