Bats flying around in 曲阜

泰山： At 4:38 a.m. I received a wake up call and groggily arose in the musky, damp air of my hotel room on the top of the mountain. I put on a heavy overcoat provided by the hotel and walked out to catch the sunrise. I sat on a rock and silently watched the giant mass of clouds marching past like a funeral procession in the valley below me. I thought about a lot of things. And the sun did rise quickly, magnificently, bringing a new day to throngs of people waiting for it in military-like overcoats.
I spent the next night in 曲阜 (Qufu)where Confucius is from. It was pouring down rain not long after we had arrived and a group of us went out into it quite unprepared looking for a meal. We wandered into a very impoverished area without a road, but just a muddy path with garbage filled ditches on the sides, peppered with restaurants and vendors all vying for our business. Walking past a dirty cart with dog meat(狗肉)inside, skulls and ribs visible amongst the mass of meat piled up on itself, my clothes were saturated and muddy, rainwater pouring down my face from my hair and the song "Videotape" from Radiohead's latest album "In Rainbows" was playing on repeat in my head. It was a very wonderful and haunting scene in my memory.
In Qufu I was told I looked like I was from 新疆(Xinjiang)by a restaurant worker, which I assumed was an insult since a lot of Han Chinese look down upon minorities.