A small river town called Lizhuang

(A part of my journal entry for November 15)

It is not a village by any means, but rather a small river town on the ominous Yangtze River. We stayed in the only hotels in the town right up against the river. We spent our afternoon exploring the town and attempting to interact with the local people. This attempt was not foiled by our inability to speak Mandarin, but rather their ability to Mandarin. The townspeople all spoke Sichuanhua, while the students and more educated people spoke some Putonghua(Mandarin). We sat next to the river and played Chinese card games while sipping on 1 RMB green tea. The glass was never-ending. Dinner was a unique blend of Sichuan cuisine and a flavor of local specialties; the most famous of all being a cast iron hot pot place squarely in the middle of the table. We ate next to the river but couldn't see it because the lights from our table where the only lights within close proximity. After dinner, some of us went to go find pool tables. The locals kept winning but liked to play us so we got to keep playing on the table. A curfew sent us all to bed early.