A poetic trip from Litang Dec. 26th

In a dry narrow boulder filled valley we stopped for a bathroom break. Our driver a Tibetan man clad in earthen tones and sporting a cowboy hat with a feather in it walked down the road. All of the plants are crispy and dry. I ran down to the the partially frozen creek that the small winding road follows to rinse my hands, and was refreshingly surprised by the temperature of the clear creek water. I spashed my face and felt sooo nice.

Blinkmiss

under thin layers of ice,
reflecting brilliant sun,
Fresh Creek water flows,
gurgling, whispering ecstacies
of a myterious world,
to the thoughtful ear only.

The breathtaking winding bus trips from Chengdu to Kanding

Chengdu
While we were in Chengdu Anna and I stayed at a really nice hostel and met this super nice guy named Keith who's from New Zealand. We were going to go and check out the pandas but we ended up sleeping in. Chengdu is a really nice city and I think that I'm going to go back there and work in January and February to save up some money so that I can spend March in Nepal and Tibet. It'll be hard to find work, but I'm going to do it, i know I will. The reason it'll be hard is that many schools only want white teachers from Briton or North America. Anna helped me buy a SIM card for my cell phone which I unfortunately needed to buy in order to find work and a guy at the hostel helped me change my cell from chinese to english.



Luding
Our bus trip out to Luding was only 5 hrs long instead of the anticipated 8hrs. The drive right out of Chengdu gave us views of steep farmland divided into small squares of vibrant green and darker greens. The next leg of the trip we found ourselves in a lush green jungle canyon. There were huge rock faces musky-orange in colour and fresh mountain water running down in small streams beneath us. Luding itself is very small just like all of the places we've been visiting lately. It reminds of me towns on the drive up to the interior of British-Colombia, like the trips that our family would take on the way to Quesnel. It's at the bottom of a valley, wedged in by mountains and beside a small river which reminds me of a smaller Fraser River.




Moxi
From Luding we went to Moxi, a small village that hosts China's biggest Glacier. Anna was really excited to see her first Glacier and after an hour hike through the Chinese forest, passing by small partially frozen creeks and slipping on the snow covered trail(being followed by men carrying chair like stretchers incase we decided that we were actually the Fat Westerners too lazy to carry our own body weight up the fairly easy hour hike that they thought we were) we reached the base of the Glacier. Anna, having never been on a Glacier before was very shy in her first attempts to climb up onto the jagged snow covered ice but, by the end of our few hours spent navigating this land of white mysteries she was sliding down and climbing up, exploring like a true pioneer expert. I've only been on one Glacier before, the comox Glacier, a little baby compared to this more complicated and massive piece of ancient ice. The old man that owned the hostel, Xin Fei in Moxi was incredibly kind and very enthusiastic in his game of communicative charades. Anna and I enjoyed looking in many of the jewelley stores and I took my time choosing some colourful jewellery(one of my weaknesses). We walked by a gathering and took a closer look, only to see that they were roasting two goats on rotating sticks. I like the way that the locals sing so freely, the music here is different than in the rest of China, it sounds almost arabic, indian. I really had to go pee, and so I walked down this dark alleyway following a store owner, then a dog started to bark echoing in the hallway and making me jump. Then he turned on the light, and to my surprise and maybe horror, there, where I had to squat down there were four HUge pig nostrils leaning in through a weakly barricated fence. When I was doing mything, the 2 PIgs disgusting noses were inches away from my right thigh. I ran out and grabbed Anna so tht she could experience the scariest toilet to this point of my trip.


Kanding
From Moxi we travelled West to Kanding. I was excited to be here because it is the first town that had Tibetan script, which looks like arabic writing. We had some butter tea, which tastes absolutely delicious and is made with goat milk. Our hostel had swinging seats which I thouroughly enjoyed. We walked around town, looking in shops as per usual. Anna's ankle was hurting and there was a wonderful hike up a steep mountain that passed by many temples and so we parted. There was an hour of daylight left and I figured I had time to go up and down as our hostess said it would take minimum 1 hr if hiked quickly. Unfortunately 1/4 of the way up I recalled what I had read in my Lonely PLanet Guide, which said that a German traveller had been killed on this hike. I was determined to finish the hike and so I picked up a sharp rock, and started sprinting up the mountain, sweating nervously, my head throbbing from the high altitude, on my toes ready for an attack. I though halfway through, 'Holly! You need to caml down!' , but it didn't stop me from looking around at every snap of a twig. I finally reached the top, there wasn't much of a view because then sun had set. I took a few victory pictures of my sweaty anxious face beside some of the Lions that were at the top and then left my weapon at the top and tried to calmly descend. This of course did not last long, and I found myself sprinting down the mountain, and then looking for Anna.


next post: Christmas in Litang, a true border town of Tibet.
... Here are some pictures from Litang. We spent an amazing Christmas together in a magical place. Christmas morning we watched a sky-burial...

Now bring us some figgy pudding...

I'm in Chengdu right now in the Sichuan Province. It is the gateway to Tibet. I want to come back here and work later in January so that I can save up for Tibet and Nepal in late March and April. Anna and I met a dude named Keith who's from New Zealand and he reminds me of Trevor O. and my friend Hourann who I met in Beijing. Really cool fella.

Anna and I are going to Luding today a small little place west of here. We're then going to Moxi where Anna wants to see her first Glacier. We'll spend Christmas in Litang which is a small border village with Tibet. We'll be on our way South after that heading to Lijiang in Yunnan province, Dali, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Kunming and then to Laos for the 3rd of January.

After Pingyao, we went to Xian. We saw the Terracotta soldiers there and stayed with some of Anna's friends that she met in Shanghai.Chelsea who's from Regina Sask., and Ryan who's from South Africa. We met Jo who's from New Zealand, another one of their friends and had a good time going out to restaurants and pubs together. Ryan is gay and can dance like no one's business. Anna and I were to tired when we were in Xian that we stayed in Ryan and Chelsea's flat watching as much of Queer as Folk as we possibly could. I love that show!!!

Anna and I have been getting a along really well. I can be completely open with her and I can be my bush woman self with her.

I was supposed to get off where? Oh no...

I have been on trains for the past few days. I slept through my stop on my third train which was from Beijing to Datong and ended up in Inner Mongolia again 200km west of Datong and in an entirely different Province. Some Chinese helped me to buy a ticket to Pingyao. I skipped Datong because I was pissed off. I have been taking hard-seater train trips which really suck and are uncomfortable and squished. 9-12 hours on a train seems like such a short trip to me now. Last train trip I caught myself leaning on a stanger's shoulder in my sleep and possibly drooling.

I'm in Pingyao now and it's Beautiful! It's a slow paced town that has ancient walls surrounding it. The streets are all cobble stone and the buildings' roofs have been put together by putting mud and shit on the top and then laying down tiles. I have been relaxing here and I met a girl named Anna from England. She's funny, the same
age as me and we're headed in the same direction and so we decided to travel together. Apparently the north east of China is not very popular with travellers and so I didn't meet anyone new in the past few days, or anyone at all. Tonight we're headed to Xi'an and we'll stay with one of her friends and then check out the Terracotta soldiers and move on. We'll spend Christmas together and head down to Laos eventually. I am sooo Happy to have some company for the long train trips, and we really hit it off. She's very independant, smart, outspoken and incredibly good with money and so she can help me not splurge and to be more of a budget mongler.

I met an old man from Sweden who is really into photography and adventuring. His dream is to do photography for natural geographic and his work is amazing. When he was younger he did a lot of ice climbing and rock climbing, sports that I want to get into. It has been really inspirational meeting him, because when I was 15 I wanted to work for the national geographic as well, and he said that he started his photography when he was 18 and is basically self-taught. He's lead an interesting life and many of his friends from his early years are dead because they fell from rock climbing and ice climbing which is why he stopped. He said too many good people die from the sports.

NILS SJOSTROM
www.brilliantpic.spaces.live.com

At this point in my trip I really miss you, my friends and family from Canada. I miss our beautiful country as well. As Christmas nears, I wish that we could be together:(.

To Russia I shall go?

Haerbin, Heilongjiang Province

I've spent the past couple of days in Haerbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang the most Eastern Province in China. Most of the city is not much different than anywhere else in North Eastern China, somewhat nondescript.

I did get the chance however to visit a Siberian tiger reserve that was located about 15km out of town. I didn't realize that tigers were such big animals! Three times, I had tigers run at me but I was inside a bus the first time and the others i was in a caged walkway. The times in the walkway I think they were just playing but the time on the bus I think it was hungry. we had just seen a bigger tiger walk up and take away it's dead bird no dispute, it was his to take. I found a food stall at the bottom of Zhongyang Dajie(street) a beautiful pedestrian street that sold the best frozen fruit I've had in China. It's usual to see vendors selling cold fruit on a stick covered in sweet sauce, kind of like candy apples back home. At this particular stall there was a huge variety of different fruit (most of which is available only in China) And a plus, the fruit had sesame seeds on the outside. MM it was sooo good. Also, they sold other food which was cooked in a typical Chinese street vendor fashion. Pieces of tofu, meat balls, bunches of noodles, greens, and other things unrecognizable are put on sticks and boiled in spicy water. You are given a plate and then you pick the sticks of food that you want and there is ground sesame sauce(looks like juicy peanut butter) and hot sauce that you can put on your plate to dip your food into. There was also my favorite; pieces of beef (or possibly it was dog who will ever really know?) on sticks that they will BBQ over a box of coals on the spot along with a type of round spicy garlic bread which this particular vendor sprinkled sugar onto as well. MM it was a delicious and incredibly cheap with all of dinner costing 12 yuan in total = 12/7.5... Zhongyang Street is beautiful because of its' coble stones and the old Russian architecture. There used to be a big Russian community that lived here in Haerbin and so any of the buildings here are done in that style. I had some coffee at a charming Russian coffee house, that was decorated with all types of ornaments and black and white photos of old Russian Haerbin. I enjoyed the cafe but the coffee didn't agree with my system and everything went right through me. Right now I have some time to wait until I take a train to Manzhouli a border city with Russia in the Inner Mongolia province of China. I want to go to this city because my handy 'ol Lonely Planet book says that it has more of a Russian feel to it than anything, and I didn't apply for a Russian visa. I think that it will be about -30 here so I hope that I don't die. Going to this town is about 26 hours out of my way because there is no link to the West (where I'm put putting back to) except back to Haerbin but I really wanted to check it out so here we go! Plus, I haven't seen snow since I accidently went to Jilin city before Changchun. It's not fair that I'm across the world looking for snow and CR and VAn just had a dumpload!

A map of Haerbin

Cities are alive, constantly changing,
When I look at this map I see streets full of people,
Bumping into each other on their way,
Moving quickly to their destinations.
Half a dot on the map has 10 bikes,
2 buses, 30 cars, 1 truck and 4 vans.

China
The Fun,The Weird and The Ridiculous.
1. Spitting.
Everyone spits but you hear it before you see it. Men will make the most disgusting ' I've got mucous stuck in my nose and throat and probably my left toe, and have to get it out' sound then spit their globs anywhere they please. I've only seen a few women spit and they don't make the noise just spit.
2. Sports
The Chinese LOVE Basketball and soccer even though internationally they're not good at either. Ping Pong or table tenis and badminton are their national sports.
3. Foreigners
Most of the Chinese are very curious about foreigners and are friendly. When I get lost I ask for directions and yesterday I had 30 men surrounding me trying to see what was going on. You'd think they'd never heard a native english speaker before...well I think that this was the case.
4. Bait
Also, as a foreigner you're bait for the awaiting sales prey. Many, not all of the Chinese will take complete advantage of you if you let your guard down. Today, a stall located next to the toilet tried to charge me for going pee but when the Chinese went in they didn't charge them. I told them I wasn't paying. I used the toilet and left, but not before they yelled at me and even the people at the next stalls were involved. Yesterday I bought 2 AA batteries for 5 Yuan. When they died I went to buy more and a girl about my age tried to charge me 20Yuan for 2. I Said NO! I took the batteries gave her 8 Yuan and left, she had a sly look on her face but knew that it was fair. I had to be aggressive , but by now I am not afraid to be aggressive or rude.
5. Trains
I meet a lot of people on the trains because of being a foreigner. If I speak to anyone on the train for any length of time it's not long before a large number of people in my car come over to listen and see what's going on. It's pretty funny.
6. Vehicles
There are so many different types of vehicles here! None of which look much like anything used back in Canada except for the city buses and few expensive cars.
a)There are mini-cars that only have 3 wheels and I'm pretty sure that they run by burning coal.
b)mini-vans that many residents use. They're shaped like boxes.
c)Big trucks for carrying goods that are like semi-trucks except they don't have roofs, instead they have a huge tarp over the back, and so it seems like things will topple over at any moment.
d)carts pulled by donkeys. carts pulled by people both walking and on bikes.
e)bikes of all sorts. It's not unusual to look out the bus window and to see 2 pedalbikers beside you at anytime. Then there's so many varieties of motorbikes which sweep out of everywhere at once.
7. Wo/man Power
I carry around my big travel bag on my back. Many Chinese carry huge bags that look like they might have rice in them on their shoulders. It never ceases to amaze me the amount that they can carry, or tow. On their carts there can be up to 30 bags (of rice?) loaded on and maybe they're towing it or sometimes taking it with motorized bikes.

A week in Changchun, Jilin province

Learning
This past week I've been hanging out with Mark and some of his students who I befriended.
I've been learning from Mark how to become an English teacher, something which will be an asset once my funds get lower. ark let me stay at his place for a week which was really great, but his Chinese girlfriend was very jelous since she isn' allowed to stay at his house, and so last night I stayed in a hostel. Mark and I usually started our day out by watching a movie and then went shopping or else to school. After work we would watch another movie which I loved because I haven't had a chance to watch many films on the trip so far.

Bright
Last night I went out to dinner with this cute boy named Bright or Helongfe which means flying dragon. I kind of asked him on a date, but was really surprised when at dinner he said that he was in his last year of high school,since I met him at an adult night school. Ahhhh. I asked a youngin out. He's very handsome though, tall and a square jaw type thing you know. Well, later on I learned that he's actually 20, but in China when you're born you are 1 and when you've lived for a year you're 2 years old and so he's 19. After dinner Bright, his best guy friend and I went roller skating at this indoor place. The skates were so tall and the boys were falling all over the place it was hilarious!! Bright helped me to find a hostel and I gave him a smooch on the cheek.

Snowboarding!
Today I went snowboarding! A few days ago I was hanging out with this Chinese girl named Echo and found a burton snowboard shop. The owner said that they have a group of people who go snowboarding on the weekends and invited me to come. It cost $20 CAd to go, which is pretty reasonable since I had to rent everything and he gave us a ride out there. It was Freeeeezing and I didn't have the proper clothes to wear but I had a great time. I spent the time with a girl named Crystal. She told me that most Chinese spend all their time studying but she has a problem with her liver...and so she had extra time to come and snowboard lol. Didn't make much sense to me. Also, she said that school hours are from 7AM until 8PM and then after school there is homework to do until 12AM, plus they go to school 6 days a week!!!! Monday-SAt.

Tonight, Bright and I are going to hang out again and I'm quite excited to see where things go. hehehe.

What to do?
I'm in the midst of trying to decide where to go next. I keep on changing my mind. I think that while I'm up north I may as well go through inner Mongolia on my way back West. I think that I want to spend my Christmas in Thailand or Laos and so I need to make my way West and South. I don't know if I want to go to Xian where the teracotta soldiers are because I heard it's not much of a city and the soldiers aren't all that. Well we'll see what happens. I think I'll stay in Changchun 1 or 2 more days. I had some business cards made up calling myself an 'English Consultant'. I think I want to set up either in Yunnan or Sichuan province and find myself some clientele after Christmas. Maybe tomorrow I'll make some Posters too.

The end of Soup Ass

Today was the end of Soup ass. Only me and Erica and maybe some rookie wrestlers who were at the restaurant after I weighed in at juniors understand what I mean. Soup ass is when my body can't differentiate between pee and poo and so it all just comes out as diarreah therefore giving me soup ass. On both occasions that I had soup ass there was also much puking involved.

Last night I took a train from Beijing to Jilin. I was happy to leave Beijing, if I hadn't of gotten sick i would have left sooner. It's a beautiful city in the night. When I was walking 2 nights ago and Tiannemen Square was lit up I felt quite peaceful. There were less people around than in the day and the crisp night air did us good. Yona, Shany(2girls from Israel) and I had spent the day at the Silk market bargaining with little aggressive chinese girls for presents. They weren't buying for Christmas as they're Jewish.

My last morning in Beijing Larissa (Swedish) and I woke up early and did Tai Chi in this Park behind The Forbidden City. I was surprised at how good of shape she was in. We ran quite a ways and more quickly than at a jogging pace. I think that Swedes are built strongly, that's my first impression of the girls for sure and that they really know how to appreciate nature. They are allowed to set up tents anywhere in their country, and to pick berries on anyones property as long as they don't cut down trees. I think that my next trip overseas may include Sweden it sounds lovely. We walked into the park and there was this group of maybe 80 women listening to chinese music on a boombox dancing around and doing arobics. It wasn't really tai chi but it was really fun and got our blood flowing.

Train Ticket Dillemas

So I bought my ticket it said that i left at 14:25 and arrived in Jilin at 7:30. I thought ok not bad, a 5 hour trip. OOPS. Nope, 21 hrs later I arrived in Jilin at 7:30 AM not PM silly me. I'm here to Visit Mark but I also realized while on the train that I had bought a ticket to Jilin City, Jilin Province not Changchun, Jilin province. So Today I'll hang out in Jilin City and then take a train later on to Changchun(2 hrs/10 yuan=2.5$CAD) and meet up with Mark.

While on the train I met a group of men and boys and asked them to teach me how to play chess. We had fun and could communicate with my english mandarin dictionnary with much effort. At 7:00 Am one of them woke me up and I felt like I was in a fairy tale. A Big and bright Fiery Orange sun was rising from behind a snowy mountain. Small half frozen streams were steaming and the snow covered trees looked spectacular. Here I am in the north, not too far from Mongolia, Russia and North Korea.

Today I think I'll see if I can rent some ice skates and skate on a frozen pond in a park.

Biking, Summer Palace, Night out, Sick

My first night at this hostel I met a few girls who took the trans-siberian train from Russia and they invited me to hang out with them. The next day we went biking 2hrs there to the Summer Palace and then 2 hrs back. It was ridiculous because on our tourist map it told us where all of the McDonalds were and so we used them as landmarks. At first biking in Beijing was frightening but the bikers have a whole huge lane to themselves and we learned that there is safety in numbers so we stuck with other bikers. Carrie is from England and she's 22, she already has her career underway pretty much. She is a sports event manager and so she works closely with Britains soccer teams and makes sure that the events run smoothly. Apparently Britain has a lot of issues with violence at soccer games. She pretty cool and strong minded. Then there's Johanna who is from sweden and is quite a tall gal. I didn't talk to her a whole lot but she seems pretty cool and has 2 older brothers so she's pretty sporty. Then there is Larissa who's the same age as me and she likes hiking and the outdoors and is also from Sweden. Larissa also likes salsa dancing which is pretty sweet and has like 3 other siblings.

In the evening I went out partying with this randomn crew of ppl from my hostel. I really liked some of them. There was this chick named Fiona who is from Scotland and has red hair. Her personality is quite fiery like one might expect from a Scotswoman. We ended up down some back alley with our multitude of nationalities including, Japanese, Brasilian, New Zealand, Norweigian, British, Scottish, Canadian and then we met some Nigerians and hung out with them. Some of the boys we were with were buying some weed from the Nigerians. THey were pretty nice. THen Bob Marley came on and we danced the night away. I was surprised that the Japanese boy could dance.

Last night, the day after going out I was quite sick. My stomach did not agree with anything that was in it and refused to keep anything in it. I always hate puking because I cry too, it's a nasty feeling. Well this girl Jana from Israel that I had met earlier in the day totally took care of me. She has 8 siblings back home and she's the second oldest and so she knew what to do. She brought me water and tea, an extra blanket and some pills. I was so grateful because the worst feeling ever is needing help but not having anyone who you can ask.

Today I'm taking it easy, seeing what my stomach will take and then maybe tonight I'll go to the Silk Market to buy some Christmas presents and a sweater since I lost one a few nights ago. Carrie, Larissa and Johanna are going out tonight so maybe I will too, though we'll see how I feel.

Clubbing

Last night Linus, Amy (Hourann's Aussie friend), Hourann and I went out to the famous Sanlitun bar street. Linus and I climbed a tree and then had a few wrestling matches because he'd trained in jujitsu. He was pretty good, and since we were wrestling on cement I got a bit of a bang on my forehead and scratches on my face. Ridiculous! ...ly fun. I really started to like Linus, but I didn't think he liked me as much. I definately got the impression that he was somewhat interested but we're both going separate ways and have our own lives to develop. School etc. But yeah... WE found this really fun dance place and it reminded me of a place that me and Erica went to in Mehico. It was much fun and there was a lot of people there and a lot of salsa as well as western music.

Today me and Hourann switched hostels, we started out as three Linus was with us but then he decided that it was too much effort because we kept on getting lost and he went back to the old hostel to hang out with some other Swedes. I was pretty sad to see him go, that's when I realized how much I actually liked him. I almost cried and we didn't even kiss. It's sad but hey, that's the way that traveling is.

The hostel that we're at now has a much better atmosphere, more like home. The ohter hostel was more like a hotel. We went to a Kung Fu show tonight and it was really artistic. I like it here better but i'll miss Linus.

The Forbidden City

I explored the Forbidden City with Lioness. We had a really nice day, the sky was bright the sun was out and the city was grand. We rented an audio set and it only had one ear phone and so we sometimes ended up standing too close than we had to and I enjoyed every minute of it. I really have taken a liking to Lioness but then ended up missing dinner with Annie who had invited me and felt really horrible about it. Yesterday she insisted that I should stay at the hostel until 2pm but I didn't want to go to dinner and didn't want to stay in the hostel all day but she insisted and there is a slight language barrier between us and so it was unclear. I told her that I would call her today but when I called her at 2 from Lioness's cell phone she wouldn't answer. In the end we didn't have dinner and I feel really guilty for not doing what she said, but I wanted to explore today and I felt like spending my time with Lioness as we'll both be going our separate ways soon enough. Tonight Lioness and I might go out clubbing, it should be fun. He's really interesting and thinks a lot different than me. He's quite rational and logical haha. He get's mad when the Chinese overcharge us for breakfast or lunch. He's studying energy engineering which is pretty cool and really enjoys nature.

Enlightenment at the Great Wall

The golden Chinese sun was setting across the crisp autumn air, I could see my breath and feel the ancient cold stone wall beneath my fingers. The solidity of the snow covered walkway high up on this desolate mountain ridge lit up by the last moment of the setting sun rays offered me strength. Something in the depths of my soul felt at immediate peace and everything seemed to be in place, as it should be.

I knew that mom was with me in that single moment and always will be.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rains fall soft upon your fields

Until we meet again, we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Conned by the artists.

Today I tried to sleep in but to no avail. I met lionel and Haaron though which is great. Lionel is quite attractive and is from Sweden, he's not very tall but has funky, sexy I just rolled out of bed and have awesome brown hair going on. His style is pretty good and he seems like a really nice guy. Haaron and I spent the day together as Lionel had an upset stomach, and it turned out to be quite interesting.

We went to this pedestrians only shopping lane in Beijing which was quite pricy in Chinese Renminibi but reasonable in Canadian dollars. I tried on a few toques but most of them were a pricy $200-250 renminibi or $30 Canadian. Some were pretty funky though. I ended up buying an unstylish toque and pair of gloves for $80 renminibi though which worked out to $6 Can a piece, not bad.

We ate lunch at this small little hole in the wall where there happened to be judo on the TV. I was so excited because I thought it was wrestling, but they're quite similar and I could understand everything that was going on anyways. I taught Haaron some of the tactics and he was pretty surprised. Haaron is quite tall and slim with brown horrible hair and glasses. I think that he's been studying quite hard in school most of his life he's 23, and didn't have much of a chance for a social life outside of it. He's quite kind, easy going and has a strange, unexpected laugh that kind of grows on you.

We walked through a beautiful and peaceful garden with one of those really steep chinese bridges in it, my first one! But let's skip to the end of our time together today.

I was taking pictures of Mao Zedong's Picture on the opening gate to the Forbidden City, when I turned around and Haaron was talking to three cute Chinese girls. I came back to join in on the fun and see what was going on. The girls seemed genuinely excited and really wanted to hang out with us. They suggested seeing the gate together and then going for some hot chocolate or tea afterwards. After seeing the gate for a bit, we walked arm in arm to a small tea shop. The girls ordered for us since we had no idea what type of tea to order. The next thing we knew some tea came and a few plates of food. I was a bit suspicious of these girls though, they were very friendly in a fake kind of way and I didn't trust them. The whole time that we were at the tea house I had my arm on my wallet pouch, and they noticed too. I felt that they were trying to pick pocket me maybe. They made conversation that was actually quite rude I thought. When the bill came 45 mins later I was quite relieved. I couldn't wait to leave their company. But when I looked at the bill it was 1460 RNB which worked out to about $40 Can for each person and there were 5 of us so about a $200 tea. I couldn't believe it but just payed so that we could leave that place. When we were walking away Haaron and I realized that we had just been conned. The whole teahouse was in on it!!! Maybe 5 people were involved in it!! There are more details to the story, but I learned to go with my instincts. I had a weird feeling about them from the start I just couldn't quite put it all together in time. Oh well, next time I'll know better.

Lionel is feeling better tonight and we might go to the Great Wall tomorrow. He's quite cute and so I hope that it will be romantic...hahhaha He's talking about maybe trying to find the wall ourselves an hour bus ride or so out of town. Oh...afterthought...that sounds dangerous...but I'm starting to trust my gut instinct more and more, and I get a good vibe from him.

China's North Capital

Bei= North
Jing=Capital

The train trip was about 21 hrs long. My first train trip that I really remember and it was not tedious at all. I met 2 women who helped me learn all the names of the pieces in the Chinese Chess game I had bought. I want to learn how to play it before I leave China. I met a man from Nigeria and asked him if he knew Daniel Igali but he didn't. for the most of the time I slept though. It was a much needed sleep too. I could see farmers and villagers working in their fields, cows grazing and small villages passed by.

WHen I got to the Beijing trainstation Ling Annie Shen's assistant met me. The two girls on the train helped me to find Ling and then we were on our way. Ling had prepared me breakfast as I arrived at 7am this morning. She even fried an egg and salted it just for me. There was much too much salt on the egg but it was obvious she had made it just for me and so I ate it with a very pleased looking face, which I was. Ling lives with her aunt and her younger cousin, and her house is not as rich and glamorous as Christina's in Guangzhou. In Canada, Ling's house might be described as justttttt livable. After breakfast we had a nap and then we went to meet Annie at her office. Annie is a lawyer and has a 5 year old son and a husband. She is quite beautiful, with short wavy hair, rosy cheeks and a big smile. She calls me her baby, which might normally be considered condescending but for me it's just comforting. In Hong Kong when I would wear my pink pyjamas outside she said 'like a baby' hahaha. I just thought it was funny. Ling is 24 and has just finished 4 years of Law school and after her 3 months of internship working with Annie will go back to school for 1-2 more years. Ling looks very chinese and I think is also very beautiful. She has long wavy-curly hair that's more manageable than mine, is quite tall and slim but not a toothpick.

Annie Shen called up Sun Xiao, (her last name Sun then her first name Xiao in the true chinese way, Annie's name is an english name so that I can pronounce it) another girl that I met at the hostel in Hong Kong who lives in Beijing and we met up for lunch. The restaurant was incredibly ornate even more so than the one that I went to with Christina's family. We ordered many dishes, and the peking duck that Beijing is famous for was cooked whole then cut on a cart right in front of our table. The food here in Beijing, the North capital is much more tasty than in Guangzhou in the South. I enjoyed the Beijing food, much more fully as the taste practically explodes in your mouth. We had these big beans half the size of your thumb covered in sweet sauce, these weird mushrooms that look like seaweed that tasted almost pickled with small slices of onions, thick noodles with the sauce that came in a dish on the side that you mixed in when it came, then the duck pieces that we wrapped with cucumber, chives and thick soya sauce in these little thin circle breads and also the duck soup that they said had been broiling for 3 days and so was very high in nutrience. Duck soup tastes quite different than chicken soup surprisingly, less salty. Sun Xiao's english is even more limited than Annie Shen's and so it was quite difficult for us to communicate. Annie Shen treated us to lunch which was very kind! I'm learning a lot from being in China, mostly about how to treat foreigners haha. It seems that they go out of their way for me.

Ling helped me to find my hostel and took a bus 45mins out of her way. I think that Annie asked her to help me but I still really appreciate it. Ling also gave me a butterfly ring and a pretty mirror covered in red on the outsides and which folds up like a change purse. She said to call her for dinner if I didn't like the restaurant's food. I think I'll call her on the weekend maybe to see a movie and to treat her to dinner.

Now I am at my hostel called the Jade Beijing youth hostel or something but as my lonely planet travellor guide of China said, the atmosphere is like a rich hotel. There are 8 ppl in a room, but the floors are tile, the beds are made of light wood and it is quite new looking inside. There is a travellor's bar, restaurant and internet cafe attached which is where I am at the moment. English music is playing and it's nice to recognize some music. Tomorrow I don't know excactly what I'll do, but on my way here I passed Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden Palace which are quite near to me. I also need to buy some more clothes, it is a little chilly here, maybe 0 degrees celcius as compared with 22-25 in Guangzhou. The weather reminds me of back home which I am starting to appreciate more and more as I explore more of China. Well there are plenty of foreigners here and so maybe I'll meet someone to hang out with tomorrow.

The past week: Concert, Vanessa, Majong, Serenaded...

A few nights ago Estelle and I went to see a Finnish A cappello group. They were quite amazing and very entertaining. Their sound effects were so neat. Making percussion and instruments like trumpets, trombones, electric guitars with just their voices.

So I met this chick named VAnessa at my hostel and she's a pretty sweet gal from Australia. She's going to study mandarin in Shanghai for 6 weeks, and we spent a day together. at the park we got serenaded by this middle aged fella who loved to sing. He sang to us a brasilian folk song about a man who falls in love sung in mandarin. Me and him sang a few english songs together that he had been practicing and he invited us both to his son's wedding next year. Vanessa is going to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in a bit and so we might try to meet up.

In the evening we went to Christina's house for dinner and a game of Majong. Her mom works as a doctor in the military and she was wearing a dope ass military outfit, looked quite sharp. Her house was gorgeous and I felt really cool being in such a traditional looking chinese house. There was chinese furnature and paintings inside. WE ate frog and snake for dinner along with my favorite mushrooms in soup. It was quite delicious and the snake didn't have any bones in it unlike when Estelle and I ate it for dinner that one night.

It's said of the CAntonese that they eat everything.
"They eat anything that fly's except planes, anything that swims except boats and anything with four legs except chairs and tables..."

I'm quickly coming to learn that this is true with the help of my two cantonese friends.

Today I've justbeen resting b/c I was feeling a bit down after the accident last night. Also I have a damn cold and I think that it might be because I order juice in restaurants and eat from food stalls, so maybe my system is mad at me.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Beijing by train and Annie's assistant Ling is going to pick me up at the train station. She said that I can come to her office and rest as I'm arriving at 6AM. I'm also going to call up Sun Xiao who I met at my first hostel as well in Hong Kong. They all want to practice their english and so they said they'd show me around. I contacted Mark too in Jilin and he said I could stay at his place and to some of his english classes so that I can learn how to teach.

I can't believe how nice everyone has been to me here in Guangzhou! I wrote my relative Wen Li a letter a few days ago and I know that she recieved it b/c she signed for it. I was hoping that she would write me and e-mail and contact me, but even though she didn't yet I've had the opportunity to live a few days as if I were a local here in Guangzhou. I've enjoyed my stay here but am so ready to move onto Beijing.

contemplating what means the most in life

Today was a strange day. I've had a wonderful few days but I'll write about today.

I went to Christina's in the morning and we went to visit her extended family an hour and a half out of town. Her dad was driving and driving in China is so hectic! Christina's dad honked at ppl all the time and I thought that, I'm a good driver in Canada but in China I wouldn't get anywhere because there are buses, cars, bikes, motor bikes and pedestrians that come out of no where in no particular order. Street lights are somewhat optional, yellow road lines mean even less.

When we got to Christina's aunts house, I met her relatives, tons of them! her aunt, uncle and two cousins were celebrating moving into a new house. It was on the 12th floor of this tall building in a brand new community. Her little cousin named Si Si who was 11 years old, took quite a liking to me and me to her and she felt like a little sister( I miss Erica ).

Si Si showed me some of her written homework that was done in Ancient Chinese and a few sentences really aught my attention. They said that 'all people die and that all plants lives come to an end...that things do not last forever' I said to Christina that that was a good thing for young people to learn. But I wondered if the 11 year olds (grade 6) actually grasped the concepts they were writting out or if they just copied out the words.

We ate a huge lunch at christina's auntie's house and it was absolutely delicious, the food all cooked cantonese style. Whole fish, fish balls, shrimp, mushroom dishes, squid, soup, vegetables, buns...Then we went shopping and I bought a coat for in Beijing where I'm going on tuesday. Anyways, then we went to dinner that was more like a feast at a beautiful restaurant. There must have been 60 relatives there and I couldn't help thinking about our big family dinners in Quesnel. They were similar to this one in that Christina didn't even know all of her relatives there.

Christina's dad got a bit into the drink. Christina said that 'He is impatient even with his drink'.

I met Christina's grandma and we got along great! she didn't speak anything but cantonese but she gave me some food to take back after dinner and we took a picture together. She only has 2 teeth left and She's somewhere in her mid 80's. I think she looked a lot older. I was so happy to meet her though and to be able to share this special celebration with Christina and her family. It touched me deeply that they were so kind. I think that mom and grandma would have been really happy for me and also gracious to these people.

The next part of my night was not good.

Christina's dad was driving too fast and we hit a woman and her toddler child. I ran out of the car to the accident scene and the woman was laying on the ground moaning and her child was crying. This was the second accident scene I had been to in the past 3 months. I remembered some training from lifeguarding and knew excactly waht to do. I checked the woman for blood and the child as well. then Christina translated while I told her mom to stabalize the woman's head and spine. The woman was not bleeding profusely from anywhere, nor the child but she started to shake a lot. I told Christina that we needed to keep the woman and her child warm because they were going into shock and gave them the coat i had just bought and my sweater. We tried to comfort the woman and I wish that I could speak her language, but I told Christina to tell her that her baby was okay, that she was okay and that the ambulance was on it's way. Just anything to make her less scared. We were in the middle of the street and cars were still going by. I can't believe how dangerous the roads are in China for pedestrians!! Anyways...then the ambulance finally arrived and me christina and her boyfriend went to the hospital with the woman while her mother and father stayed with the police officer to deal with that side of it.

When the ambulance finally arrived I was APPALLED! they didn't stabalize the womans head or spine when putting her onto the stretcher. When we were driving along the bumpy road christina was trying to stabalize the woman's head and shoulders but didn't know how. I didn't say anything because there were 5 ppl dressed in white who apparently were there to help...the nurses or whatever but they completely ignored the woman! her head was bouncing around in the ambulance and the attendants were indifferent. I asked Coffin and Christina what the attendants were talking about and apparently one girl was complaining that she didn't have a seat and the others were talking about where they got their name tags!!!!!! I was so sincerely upset, angry and just disappointed. I felt like I knew more than them, and I was much more empathetic for sure which is understandable since they do this all the time...but What the FUCK! they did absolutely nothing for her. when we got to the hospital it was only me and christina and Coffin who were looking after the woman. The woman's bf was there but he wouldn't hold her hand. Christina did the whole time and she said that the woman complained that she was scared and in pain.

So my thoughts are that life is not finite and that some people take it for granted. I had intense emotions today in being invited to spend quality time with Christina's family, it meant so much to me. Plus, if family means so much to me it's those people that I should tell that I love everyday because you never know what will happen. I feel like calling home tonight just to tell Erica and Dad that I love them.

Also, on the other spectrum I think that This proves that patience is a true virtue. If Christina's father had been a little more patient these people would not be hurt. This woman and baby could have died. This accident was completely his fault. People are so dumb sometimes, they think that it won't happen to them. I actually thought this tonight as well, nah it won't happen to me what are the chances and poof there i was in an accident. But it's important to try to learn from others and not just our own experiences. Everyone can't wait for an accident to happen to them to slow down and pay more attention.

I think that tonight was very important. I have this feeling that it means more than nothing. It feels like an epiphany. I still think that there is so much more to think about but, I'm getting kicked out of the lounge room.

Love Holly

Clubbing in Guangzhou

Last night Estelle invited me to come out and party at this club with some of her colleagues from her internship. I had a really great time! It was only Estelle's 2nd time to a Club and i think she only went because she knew that I liked partying. I can't get over how nice she is. Today she helped me exchange my travellor's cheques at the Bank of China and buy a train ticket for Beijing. The club is known for it's shows and it was really entertaining. There was a guy swalling a sword and a metal ball, lots of dancers in sparkly cabaret clothes, a kung fu performance, a monk who wrote a big sign in calligraphy... I learned a new chinese drinking game with dice. There were lasers, smoke and lots of glowsticks. The dance floor bounced and we all got pretty drunk and had a good time. After the club we went to get some early morning breaky at 3 AM and had some chinese food and drove speeding around Guangzhou in one of the guys cars. There was a sunroof and we made good use of it down the highway. All of Etelle's friends spoke madarin and no english but I don't think that language is always a barrier. The club was so loud and even if we all spoke the same language we wouldn't hear each other. They dropped me off this morning and I gave them all a kiss on the cheek. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries, but It was a really great night.

Nov. 5th

Estelle and I went out to dinner before meeting up with Christina and Henry at the mall. We ate Snake cooked in tasty peanut butter bean sauce and also fish head. Christina gave me the honour of eating the fish eyeball and brains. I was scared to eat it at first but I knew it'd be alright. It exploded in my mouth like a grape and the lens felt a bit like a pumpkin seed. It tasted of fresh seafood. In the night Henry and I went to a club across the pearl River from out Hostel. I had a great time and the latino or Philipino girl who was singing was really energetic and fun. We sang a song together and she got everyone up dancing. The next day Henry and I hung out all day. I was hungover though and he got on my nerves. I'm so happy that he had to leave. He got all creepy saying things like 'I like sitting here so that I can see your pretty smile' and also was really chauvinistic. He said to me 'be a good obediant girl and I'll buy you dinner'. I was so mad at him I didn't even know what to do with myself. But, I'll never see him again and if I did I wouldn't hang out with him. Funny thing is that when I was with him in Hong Kong the very first day we hung out, I got a vibe from him that I thought maybe he was annoying. I wish I had gone with my initial gut feeling.

Guangzhou

Different than Canada:

1. Oldies=Troopers
When I was in HK I saw this old man in a store and he looked like a living skeleton, but hey, he was at work not laying in bed. I see old people taking the bus, wandering around town and just doing their own business and all I can think is 'Wow these ppl are really tough!'

2. I feel tall.
I can actually see over people's heads and sometimes have to duck down to get into places!:)

3. HK/Mainland China
In HK they handed all of the money and business cards to you with two hands out of respect. In Mainland China people throw money back at you indiferrently. In HK all of the signs have english underneath them. In Guangzhou it's much harder. I can't read bus stop signs or anything really.

4. Hacky Sack.
It's not for the young hippies like in Canada. Most people who hackey sack(in the evening) are middle aged women and men.

5. Mornings. (8 AM)
You can see people doing Tai Chi and also dancing around with flags or swords. Old women and Men, middle aged people but not very many young people. I guess they're at university or sleeping.

I met a girl named Estelle at my first hostel in HK. I called her up yesterday because she lives in Guangzhou and she took me on a cruise on the Pearl River last night. She translated all of the explanations for me and we had dinner included in the VIp section. I didn't realize how nice it is to have someone show you around. I was frustrated yesterday after trying in vain to find a payphone and then to use it properly with my chinese phone card and chinese prompts. The cruise was just beautiful and Estelle and I talked about how her grandpa and mom used to swim in the river (before all of the pollution) and how my great grandparents must have sailed down the river when they emmigrated from Canton(Guangzhou) for Canada. Estelle made up her name because she studied french in university. Her chinese name is hard for english people to pronounce and most chinese make up an english name for foreigners. Estelle wants to come to Canada or the US to study next year. If she comes to Canada I would show her around for sure. Tomorrow we're going to hang out and meet up with Christina, another girl that I met at the hostel and one of Estelle's childhood friends. We might go and visit both of their universities and hit up some bars later on in the night. There is a classical music concert hall as well that would be nice to check out.

Tai-O, Buddha, Cute boys:)

Yesterday I went to Lantau island to see the biggest Buddha in the world! IT was spectacular. I took so many pictures that I went through 6 batteries yesterday...I think that my camera isn't the best.



Then I went to this village called Tai-O, my favorite part of HK. It's nicknamed HK's Venice but is probably one of the poorest parts of HK. It's incredible! I took some videos and LOTS of pictures. I'll post them when I get the chance.



When I was on my way back to the hostel I met a couple of German boys. They were totally cute and around my age. This one guy named Grishka has been travelling for 2 years and has 1 more to go as is tradition with carpenters in his country. He has to wear the traditional pants and shirt practically the whole time and only carries with him a small bag of things. He's showing around his friend philippe (i think that was his name) in HK who is also a carpenter but for furniture.

TODAY
I am travelling to Guangzhou, the area where my great grandfather and grandmother emmigrated from. I haven't contacted my relative WEn Li yet. Maybe I will send her a letter before I leave China though. I know 3 ppl in Guangzhou, Henry, Christina and Estelle and so I'll give them a call and they said they'd show me around. Woot. Anyways, HK is too expensive so I'm excited to get to Mainland China and see the real deal.

Muah -Holly

Aberdeen, Stanley and the Bank.

Today I went to the South side of Hong Kong island. I slept in quite late b/c i've been feeling pretty crappy the past couple of days. I got lost on my way to Stanley Market and ended up in this residential area called Aberdeen.

In Aberdeen, I happened to stumble upon this magical temple that wasn't much from the outside but was so pristine on the inside. There were these huge coiled incense burning on the inside and hanging down from the roof. Rich and colourful fabrics mostly in Gold and Red were draped over these Buddha shrines and fruit and Lai see were offered to the God. It was smoky inside and smelled of incense and although there was noise from the busy streets just outside the doors, I felt peaceful, relaxed and was so happy and excited to be in my first Chinese Temple. There were doors (circle holes in the wall) on each side of me and these areas had no roof and so it was bright looking through the smoke into the rooms that they lead into.

on the way to Stanley I took a 15 passenger 'light bus' I saw a Chinese cemetery. It was so incredible! There must have been a thousand buried in it lined up right next to each other and kind of stacked like a logo castle. The only reason I could see it was because it was on the other side of a very steep valley wall. I didn't get a picture but it surprised me to say the least.

Stanley market was alright, a bit too touristy kind of reminded me of Disneyland. I bought some earrings that are made of two Mah-Jong blocks. I'm quite happy with them:). they remind me of playing the Chinese game with Grandma and mom.

I've been practicing my Cantonese but it is so hard! It's a tonal language and so not only are the words new and foreign but they have a special way that you have to say them. It's very much like music. Some words go up and some go down, some start high then go lower then go high again. J's are pronounced Ch but not really more of an S with an Sh...anyways, the waitresses all get a kick out of me and my Cantonese phrases book. It takes me like 10 mins to plan out what I'm going to try to say. And using the right tone takes a hell of a lot of guts because I feel absolutely ridiculous!

Around 7:30 I was back in Central HK. The buildings were all lit up and the architecture here is so different than in Vancouver. I took my time( I have to here anyways b/c i get lost so much) and took a lot of pictures of these massive neon buildings. While I was taking pictures this hobbling cripple guy who was really nice, gave me tips about HK. He gave me directions without me asking him then told me about how all of the buildings light up at 8 and there is a light show! He was so helpful and friendly. A few minutes later this EAst Indian guy asked me if I wanted to go up in the bank he worked in for a drink. I agreed b/c I thought it would be really cool to go into this HUGe building i couldn't even count how many stories. Well he was really pushy, insisting that we had a lot in common and wanting to travel with me. He even suggested me going to India with him in a couple weeks. He wanted me to drink a lot too and said that he lived nearby. The light show started and I missed it because he wanted to sit there and drink. Anyways, I got creeped out and left politely afterwards.

Oct. 31st

This morning some girls in my dorm woke me up at 6AM to take a picture with them because they were leaving the Hostel that day. Last night we all stayed up late and they all welcomed me to stay at their houses in Guangzhou and in Beijing. It was fun because they taught me some mandarin pronounciations and I taught them some English:). Man is Chinese hard!

I went and wandered around today to nowhere in particular in and saw a lot cooler things than yesterday. I think I just felt more free to wander aimlessly b/c i was by myself and also not really aiming to go anywhere. I went in this Elegent pompous dress shop with 2000$ CAD dresses! I've never seen or touched any dresses that nice in my whole life.

I saw weird weird food that street vendors had. fried chicken feet, small whole octopuses on a stick, and something that looked like fish or i don't know whale intestines on a stick.

I bought a Southern Chinese newspaper and read it. I felt like a local. lol. except it was written in English. I saw a posting for a pre-school teacher in English and saw that there are really cheap tickets to Bangkok and Vietnam:)....hmmm. interesting who knows eh?

I took a star Ferry from HK Central to Kowloon later in the night. It was nice to have the ocean breeze on my face and to be on the light blue-grey water of the South China Sea. While in Kowloon I got lost and found a music store. I went in and played a YAMAHA stand up piano and then asked this guy to play me a song on the violin. He played a CAntonese song and it was Breathtakingly beautiful. In the midst of this Hectic side of HK (even more busy than HK island) I found something that really was precious to me:).

In Kowloon I bought a camera for HKD $1038 which is about $133. It came with a tripod, 2 sets of batteries, a case, a 2GB memory card and a memory Key thing. not bad. This area is notorious for all of its' new technology. It wasn't hard to run between a few stores to compare prices b/c there were so many so close by.

It was Halloween but I didn't celebrate b/c I want to try to integrate into this culture. Out of the million People that I must have seen tonight there were probably only 10 people dressed up for Halloween. It was strange, but I'm excited for Chinese New Year on Feb. 7th.-9th:).

Then I came home and had a quarter hot shower before the hostel ran out of hot water. lol.

First day in HK

SOoooooo I am quite delerious at the moment. I flew From Vancouver on a Sunday and arrived in HK and it was a Tuesday today! WHERE DID MONDAY GO???

Well, my first impression of ppl in HK is that they are really friendly and helpful. I slept in the airport last night, then took the metro system and a bus to my hostel at 5 am. Mount Davis Jockey club my hostel happens to be on the top of this small mountain. I thought, oh yeah a few minutes of hiking, but no! 30 mins later after some intense altitude climbing with my huge travellor bag stuffed with 5 months of my life...I got to the top. There were a bunch of ppl doing Tai Chi and it's jungle like atmosphere on the mountain and in HK too( where the buildings aren't there anyways...).

I haven't decided if I hate HK or like it yet. It's mysterious and busy, but there is way too much space dedicated to POwer shopping. It makes me sick. Actually i am feeling quite sick at the moment, I just caught the bus back up the mountain after a days worth of walking around with my new friend Henry who's from Malaysia and I definetely need to take it a little slower tomorrow.

I also met a girl named Sabina from Holland, Annie from Beijing, Anthony from Guangzhou and there are some Germans sitting across from me right now that I'm sure I'll talk to tomorrow. This place is full of travelers of all ages and from all places of the world.

Today me and Henry ate Dim Sung for Brunch, then we went to see a monument that China gave to HK after it was decolonized, then we went to a Buddhist inspired art gallery, went to the zoo and watched grey cranes, very small monkeys jump and play and laughed at a Fat gorilla/ape that was eating too much at once and dropping it all over. WE went up Mt. Victoria on a trolley ride, really steep. Then I ate a big disgusting hot dog, and then we went to dinner and Anthony joined us.

The sidewalks are so weird here because they're not even on the ground half the time. There are walkways everywhere connecting into buildings and on the sides of them at the 2nd and 3rd stories because they're so damn tall. The skyscrapers redeem their names here, as compared to the ones in VAncouver and tonight I went to a market on the street and bought groceries (all fruit) for breakfast tomorrow morning.

The streets are so lit up it's amazing. Too bad I was feeling queezy. It Is expensive here though. More so than in Vancouver I think. I want to give HK a chance though, and so I'll stay here a week and check out the outdoor sights too. shopping shlopping who cares? Well, tomorrow if it's nice i might go to Lantau island with Henry and if not, all of the Museums in the province are free on Wednesdays ! WOOT! Ciao for now.

bar fight...

I told dad that I wouldn't get in any fights in CHina so I guess I kept my promise. Last night at the pub crawl in Vancouver this chick was all up in Gabrielle and her friend Erins face like yelling at them and going to fight them because she got pushed. So I told her to back off and this chick went crazy. I grabbed her to keep her away from the other girls and she f-ing threw me off the stage! I was not concentrating on my stance or anything, she just went crazy out of the blue!! I can't fight girls b/c I'm never mad enough to start a fight, and then I don't want to hurt the other girl. well needless to say I have a huge bruise on my butt, but at least she never touched my friends....

Alexandra

I had a really nice dinner with my neighbour Maja. We had good conversation as usual, and I found out where Alex(her daughter) was adopted from in China. It's called Yiyang City in the Hunan province which is just above Guangzhou. Maja picked her up from Changcha as it's the capital of the province. I want to find the city and spend some time volunteering in the orphanage she was from. It'd be hard though since they probably don't speak any English.

6 days till la Chine!!

I have no idea what to pack. Its a hard job. its 35 degrees celcius in HK right now, but in northern China where Mark lives there is probably 2 feet of snow. I dont really have a plan after my first 6 days in HK staying at a hostel. Thailand is so close and i dont need a visa...Yunnan province in China will be just sitting there waiting for me as well, with its magical scenery and its mountain hikes...hmm. well i guess we ll just have to wait and see what happens eh. haha.