Brian Rogers' Birthday.

Well, this will probably be the last post before we peace out of this hizzouse as my flight leave tomorrow morning and everyone else leaves the day after. Nathan and I are sitting in the lounge enjoying espresso compliments of the J.W. Marriott. We haven't really done much the last few days as compared to the rest of the trip. It's been a lot of sitting around, going for short walks, doing a little shopping, watching some DVD's... we're all pretty beat and enjoying our newfound ability to not feel like we're constantly on the move. I'm sure we'll make a visit will be made to the hot tub this evening as well.

Oh yeah, we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans for supper... the countdown to cajun filet biscuits begins

Well it's been a few days since the last update but I'll catch you up. After we got back from the Tiger Leaping Gorge we were hanging out in Lijiang, the town kinda slows down at 11:30 when all the dance music cuts off. There were some guys in one of the discos setting up a guitar, microphone, and djembe; we asked them if we could play and they gave Layne the guitar and we (Glitter and Gold with drum accompanists) played "Where the Streets Have No Name" in front of a bunch of people. The DJ of the club and I had been chilling earlier in the night (he had let me mix a little while people were dancing), he loved the sounds of Glitter and Gold. While we were in Lijiang, Brian fell in love with the inn keeper. He spent the afternoon working on Chinese characters to ask her to go dancing with him and later gave her a rose (that a businessman had given Nathan). We took a bus from Lijiang to Kunming overnight. Much to my disappointment, the movie was once again not "Cool Runnings." This bus ride was a different than the last. We left at around 6 in the afternoon and were able to see the country side due to the day light. We sped around the edges. There apparently wasn't a "no-smoking" sign and our co-passengers took full advantage. Now back in Shanghai Mr. Madden commented that 1/3 of the world's tobacco is smoked here and 1/2 the population smokes, these numbers seem completely reasonable after being in the country. Anywho, everyone around us smoked the entire ride, and being in a bus there was nowhere for the smoke to go. I woke up at around 3 as we sat stagnant in a line to get gas. Graham was talking to Brian, unable to sleep. Layne pleaded, " Don't wake them up, they'll start smoking!" Graham got quiet immediately. We pulled into Kunming at around 4 in the morning. It was still dark outside but I'm sure our bus was bright to the outside as 30 lighters were lit in an instant, then settling to a dull glow. We caught a mini-bus for 40 yuans intending to go to a hostel. We wanted to try a different hostle than the one we had stayed in previously. We drove around for a while when finally our driver pulled into an alley, he was extremely diligent in looking for this exact alleyway. Still dark outside, we unloaded our stuff outside a gate. Our driver looked at us confused but we waved cheerfully as he drove off (how I wish I could have been in his head as he drove away, wondering what we were doing). We turned and rang the doorbell to the hostel for someone to come let us in. Nothing happened. We peered into the building, but it stood black. We surmised the hostel to be closed. The buses started running at around 6 am and we headed to the other hostel. We spent some time there, went and ate some meals through the day and retired last night. This morning we woke up to catch our plane at around 6:30. We flew to Wuhan and then on to Shanghai. To get back to the Marriott we caught the Maglev into the city. I've read about them before but I had never ridden one. Top speed was about 430 km/h. We got to the Marriott where Mr. Madden was waiting for us with Tuna salad, fritos and lay's. We're going to eat supper here in a bit. We're all in pretty cheery moods and we plan on heading to the hot tub later. We're home in a few days.

"Why did the butterfly go to the counter? He wanted some butter." -Brian

Well it's been a while since the last update but needless to say we've been busy. We've spent the last couple days at Tiger Leaping Gorge. It was the 3 of the top 5 days we've had in China thus far. I'll recount the trip to the best of my ability. We left Lijiang around 10 am on sunday and took a mini bus 2 hrs through the mountains. The bus seated 6 plus the driver so we were crammed in with our luggage but the trip was fun. We wound through the mountains dodging the cars in the opposite lane while we played The Bends (Radiohead) through the speakers (nathan purchased a copy here for something like 15 yuans). We arrived at one end of the gorge and at lunch and left a lot of our things (for a small fee) at Jane's Guest House. To be quite honest, Jane's true gender was in great debate over the course of Sunday. Most of us agreed that she was in fact a he, dressing and acting like a woman. So we headed out from Jane's and headed up the trail. The trip was a lot more than we expected in many ways. 1) It was far more beautiful than we expected. 2) It was far more difficult than we expected. I will touch on the latter first. The first day involved us climbing something like 1000 m (this is me guessing at this point). To make the trip more difficult at the top of the mountain we climbed we came to realize that we were something like 12,000 feet above sea level (different maps were saying different things, different websites have said different things so we're just putting it together as best as we can). It was difficult to catch your breath at points. The beginning of the trail was highlighted by heavy rain and lightning (thunder which fantastically echoed through the gorge) and a section called "The 28 Bends." When we reached the top we looked across the river to the other side and gazed at humongous snow capped mountains. It wasn't like anything we have on the east coast and I don't know if there's anything (that I've seen) on the west coast that stand as tall. We descended down the other side and spent the night at a place called Tea-Horse Trade Guest House. Layne got sick on Sunday night (he suspects something Jane(Jon) cooked at lunch). The next day Graham, Brian, Nathan and I decided to hike down to the road and then we made our way down to the river that carved the gorge. To the river we're guessing we climbed 800 m. This is another example of where words can't do the image justice. The gorge is monstrous in size. You would look down at the water and believe yourself to be almost there and then be astounded at how much further you had left to descend. In all it took us about 4 or so hours on Monday. Tuesday (today) Layne was feeling better but not up for finishing the hike so he and Katie descended down to the road to catch a cab where they would meet us back at Jane's (Jon's). The rest of us hiked on to the end of the gorge which ended up taking between 3.5 and 4 hrs. It was another amazing day of hiking. We passed through huge waterfalls, breezed by goats feeding on the side of cliffs, all the while with the gorge to our right. We caught a mini bus from Tina's back to Jane's (Jon's) where we met up with Katie and Layne. The ride back to Lijiang was fun as Jane (Jon) offered us 2 buses for the price of one because she had too many drivers at her house and they needed to go back. So we split up (Brian and Nathan with me) and we headed back Lijiang. It was a great trip. We got the same driver with whom we had driven up. I rode shotgun and we played Beatles and then a little Dylan (which he seemed to enjoy). We picked up a woman with fruit along the way and we suspect it to have been his wife. She gave us plums, which we peeled before we ate. We're back in Lijiang now at a Youth Hostel. We have our overnight bus tickets from here to Kunming for Thursday night. We arrive in Kunming Friday at 4:30 am so as you're gettin off work think of us as we're getting up the next day after an 8 hour drive. Saturday morning we're flying from Kunming to Shanghai. Then back to the U.S.A. And oh yes, Layne is doing better now and is pretty much back at 100% as it appears to have been a combination of quick altitude change and perhaps something Jane (Jon) cooked him.

Happy Birthday Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen from the Chinese Colonial Williamsburg

The guys on the trip agree that today might have been the best day of the journey thus far (it's only rival being the day we saw the Great Wall). Katie stayed back for a relaxing day around the city while the guys rented bikes and headed out past the city. Once we got out into the country the landscape was beautiful. Fields in every direction, set against the backdrop of a mountain that would tower anything we have in the Appalachians (called Windy Mountain, we do believe). I write this blog now because the day was so exhausting that we don't have the energy for much else. While we were biking (possibly a little under an hour into our bike) we ran into a Chinese couple. The proceeded to show us to Windy Mountain Lake. The water was extremely tranquil. We separated ways with our friends and kept biking. We found our way to a village. At first we just stopped for a bit of water. To our right was a full basketball court and the guy at the store threw us a basketball. We were shooting around when people started walking up. We started out playing 3 on 3 with a gentleman (perhaps in his 40's or 50's). Quickly word spread in the village of the westerners who were there playing basketball. People started to show up (probably 25- 30 in all). A bunch of men in the village came out wearing matching jerseys (the man we were playing with would eventually go back to get his). Before we knew it we were playing a 5 on 5 full court game against the village team. We were kinda just playing around but one of the guys went and got a whistle and started reffing. We ended up playing something like 4 20-30 minute quarters and played for something like 2-3 hrs in total. It was absolutely amazing. We loved that their team came out in uniform to play us. Sadly we didn't demolish them or even beat them. We left the village in the afternoon and began to make our way back Lijiang. We were worn out from the basketball and we struggled a good bit (cutting through open fields). When we were finally back in the city most of us were pretty dehydrated (most of us were dizzy with headaches). Nathan and I hadn't really eaten all day and it had been something like 8 hrs since the others had eaten. Nathan made his way back to the hostel to lay down while the rest of us grabbed some KFC. We all agreed that it's been a while since we were this tired and the trip to the gorge tomorrow will probably be moved back. Still, one of the best days here so far. We took pictures with the villagers and we're going to print off copies of them to take as gifts for their hospitality and friendliness.

The first few days in Lijiang

We're in Lijiang. We got here by bus from Kunming Thursday morning. It was a sleeper bus that got us here. Right before we had gotten on we got a bit of a bad review of it from some British people we met in a restaurant in Kunming. The trip turned out not to be all that bad. At times one had to hold on as we sped through the mountains, gripping the rails on your bed. Much to my dissappointment the movie on the bus was not "Cool Runnings." This town is intestesting. There are far more Chinese tourists here than foreign tourists. The people that are in the town are called the Naxi people. There are two sections of the town the new and old town. I haven't really been to the new town that much, it seems to be another city for the most part. The old town is where we're staying. The streets are all stone and all transportation is walking. Canals flow round the streets and are filled with goldfish. Bridges arch over the canals, both stone and wooden planks. It makes for a very peaceful setting. Graham and Brian bought a DVD player yesterday and have been working their way through the fourth season of the Lost series. Layne and Katie went for a bike ride yesterday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle). I think Nathan, Graham, Brian and I are going to do the same today. We're planning on hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge tomorrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Leaping_Gorge). It should take us about 2 days but who knows. We're hoping that we can leave some of our stuff at the first hostel along the path.

They didn't even see us Kunming (it had to be done)

A really quick blog because I've paid for 30 minutes and I have 10 minutes left. We're in Kunming and we leave for Lijiang tonight at 9 on an overnight sleeper bus. We're not planning on getting a lot of sleep on it as it winds through the mountains but we saved 50 yuans by not taking the day one (plus a night at the hostel). We ate at a kind of Western coffee shop called Salvador's yesterday for lunch that was really good. I had a burrito, others had quesidilla, burger, chicken sandwich, etc. It was good. We went to a nearby park and played some basketball. The others then went and played cards while I played Badmitton with some locals. Graham and Nathan payed the small price of 50 yuans for what might have been the best massage of their lives. Last night we ate at restaurant called Mamafu's which was awesome. Turns out there's two and the original is in Lijiang.

-Austin, I was thinking about you yesterday and was thinking about how I'm not going to be able to see you guys for a full year, which is miserable. I thought I'd be back out there by now but my plans have changed. James could fill you in but i'll talk to you when I get back.

The Couple of the trip suffers a humiliating blow to their ego

We spent the day in Chongqing. The city is built in the mountains so everywhere you go is up and down stairs. This place is known as the hot pot(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot) capital so we went off looking for the best. What we found was really good but Layne, Graham, Nathan and I agreed it was the hottest thing we had ever sat and ate an entire meal of (it was too hot for Brian and Katie). Come to find out, Nathan, Layne and I agreed it was just as fiery coming out as it was going in... I'll leave it at that. We walked around the city a bit. Katie lost to Brian in speed (card game) one day after he had learned the game and after she had talked about how good she was. Tonight we were all wanting a meal that we felt would fill us up so Graham and Brian went to Pizza Hut (which is a sit down restaurant here). Nathan, Katie and I went to McDonald's, which by the way has a Hostess in China. Layne came prancing into the restaurant with a bowl of noodles he had bought on the street talking about how he had seen everyone else in the street eating it, as he looked down on us and our McDonald's. 15 mins later Layne was up getting a double cheese burger because he said the noodles were too hot for him. Nathan and I made fun of him as Katie picked up the noodles and went to throw them away, telling him it was okay cause he was still cute; Layne hung his head in shame. Now we're at John's Cozy Nest, the hostel at which we're staying is this guy's apartment. There's about 3 rooms here and his entire family lives in here (about 15 of us here in total). We were just happy not to find John's Cozy Nest to be a prison.

In Chongqing

We're in Chongqing. The train ride last night was about 15 hours of unairconditioned ecstasy. Someone came along in the middle of the night and closed all the windows as well and shut off the fan we had blowing. It wasn't an express train so we stopped every 30 or 45 minutes. At points it seemed like we sat a stops as long as we were actually moving (time wise). We met some people on the train who spoke english. The girl was a student in Xi'an at Northwest and the guy was a big NBA fan, his favorite team: you guessed it, the Rockets. Chongqing is a city of about 5 million. Second to Shanghai thus far in the amount of smog; someone said they read it was smoking something like 30 cigarettes a day. The Yangtze River runs through it, which we can see from the balcony of the mini-hostel where we're staying. We're only spending one night here. We leave tomorrow at around 1:30 pm (while y'all sleep soundly) to head down to Kumming. It's an express train so it should be a bit smoother ride. Paper Rock Scissors update: Drew 29 Brian 19. Sorry there haven't been more pictures, we'll put some up when we get the chance, but trust me, we've been taking them. We just haven't had an ability to put them up yet.

New on the list of things to do when I get back: watch "Who Am I?" It's been far too long since I've seen that movie.

As the old saying goes: "Don't marry a bald woman"

Still in Xi'an. We leave for Chongqing tomorrow around 4 pm. Last night Graham and I went to a club near our hostel so I feel up to describing the chinese club. It honestly is like you would imagine it. The music is centered around a steady thumping beat. Above it is mostly remixed song in english.; The thumpingwill stop every few minutes for a few seconds for an effect when it starts back. There were a lot of lights going. This particular club had a screen that was displaying various weird images. Three DJ's were on a platform, their heads boucing with the beat. Once or twice when the beat would stop, bubbles would fall from the ceiling. Every so often dancers would emerge on the stage behind the DJ's; one dance was a guy and a girl dressed like angels moving slowly. The basic dance step everyone did was a smooth twist with their upper bodies. I tried to cut loose when I got there and got weird looks. Dancing with girls was more difficult than I thought it would be. When I would ask girls to dance they looked at me funny then would shake their heads. I figured out the way it had to be done was just dancing on the floor and slowly establishing eye contact. I ran into some trouble at one point when I was dancing with four girls and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to meet a short chinese guy and his posse. "This isn't english, he said (I didn't point out the irony in his statement). "This is China," he continued as he pushed me. His body language and the girls' seemed to indicate that he wasn't one of their boyfriend. I turned back around to find another behind me (fourn in total). I felt it best not to escalate the situation and walked off. Nathan was out last night with some guys from the hostel and saw two chinese guys smashing beer bottles over each other's head. Today we took a bus to see the Terra cotta warriors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army). They were interesting. There are thousands of those guys. WE jolked about the emperor pitching the idea to the guys who were to build them. The bus ride back was crazy as the bus driver straddled the broken line and honked his horn at everyone we passed. Brian's had McDonald's the last 3 meals. The buy guy loves the chicken nuggets. We are currently having a Paper Rock Scissors battle. Each match is best out of 3. I'm beating Brian 21-12 and Graham 8-5. Brian is beating Graham 8-6. Brian and I are going for the first to 100. A note from an earlier blog, Milton is at this hostel now.

Said I loved you but I lied... cause this is more than love I feel inside

This is a couple of day slate but here's the run down of The Great Wall. We woke up and caught the tour bus at around 6 am. It was a 3. 5 hour treck to the mountains. When we arrived we were all a little cold and we looked around to see everyone else had worn pants and/or jackets while we all had on shorts and tee shirts. The hike in total was 10 km. We walked up a path to the Great Wall. I'd try to describe the wall but I think it'd be pointless. In short though, the mountains are pretty steep at some parts and really steep in others. I couldn't imagine being responsible for carrying the stones to the top of the mountain to construct the wall. The wall sits along the ridge and goes up and down the mountains with the peaks. If you look off in the distance you can see the wall gliding over the mountain tops. It was fantastic. There were people on the wall who wanted to try and be our tour guides. They would walk with us and try and help our walk. We had to just ignore them. My guy, it turned out, grew baby corn. I wanted to ask him how he ate it but it was too much of a language barrier. When Graham (or Johnny G as we have come to call him) went up a tower, his "tour guide" turned his back and Graham ran by him to lose him. For most, the walk was a great stroll/hike. For me it was confrontation with my greates foe, heights. We have pictures of me on all fours scaling the stairs. Graham said I was the first person he'd met who had a true fear of heights. In my defense there were points where we were at the peaks of mountains walking stair cases 5 feet wide with no walls. I don't see how everyone did it. James, I was a warrior; you would have been proud. I thought of you several times, thinking if you were there I would have someone with I could turn around. There were several points where I had to look at the floor and keep moving If I had stopped or looked out, I don't know that I would have been able to continue. It was a great walk in all though. Graham took good pictures and they do the hike greater justice. At the end of the walk there was a lake. To get to the end we could zip line to the other side. The zip line was between 150 and 200 feet above the water. Graham lost his hat when he went down (he's now temporarily wearing a Beijing 2008 hat). Layne video taped as he went down. Even I went down. I guess I could do it because I knew it'd only take on step. I did however scream o nthe way down. Everyone went down the zip line. I was sick but that night the other 5 went with the British friends to a chinese dance club complete with bubbles, lights and a floor that moved to the beat. We're in Xi'an now. We took an overnight train last night to get here. We're here til saturday. Layne, Katie and I are having trouble gettin gmoney out of the bank, so we're about to go to the counter of Bank of China. After this is Chingqing then Kumming then Lijian thn Shanghai then back home. Most of our time is go;ing to be spent in Lijian where we're planning on hiking. The south of China is known for the countryside.

Heading out

I don't have a great deal of time to post right now but I'll just say that we went to the Great Wall today. It was awesome but it deserves more time than I have. I'll write it up and post it when I get the chance. We head out for Xi'an tomorrow at around 9 pm. We're going out tonight for Layne's birthday with our British friends.

Canadians and British

Last night we stayed up late hanging out at the hostel. The other 5 played card games while I sat and read a book. Our British friends Andrew and Sarah joined us and we sat around chatting for a while. There was a Canadian couple at a table near by that chimed into the conversation. The man was in his early 30's and she was about 28. James, you would have loved the conversation that followed. The Canadian ocuple had been traveling for about 5 months. We started out talking about politics but it moved more into a conversation about culture of sorts. The Canadian woman commented on how she found it, for lack of a better word, curious how the chinese women would be dresed so prim and propper and then go into a bathroom and crap in a trough. The canadian man talked for a while how his patience with certain things done here had slowly worn, like the spitting. He also said that half of the world's smokers liv in China (regardless of the fact that one sixth of the world lives here, that's still a lot, and believable from walking around). When things about America came up one could tell the other two couples tjip toes around saying what they thought on certain subjects. They obviously did not have a high opinion of President Bush. The couldn't understand our gun laws and why people felt they had a right to a gun It was interesting and sad to see what they thought of us. The conversation was much longer, touching on Vietnam and rasicm. Today I spent the day walking around Beijing by myself. Since I committed to Honduras for the next year I"ve been more aware of where I'm spending my money, or atleast trying to be. The others went to see the Olympic Stadium and possibly the Summer Palace. I walked the streets of Beijing. I was very careful to write the landmarks down so I didn't get lost. So many here drive scooters; I found you can buy one for 2,980 yuans. I went in this indoor marketplace. It was amazing how full of stuff it was. We think in America they are producing stuff for us here, one goes into markets like that and sees how much these 1.3 billion people are buying, that thought is put to rest. I went into a 3 story jewlery store that was probably the largest I've ever seen. I walked on a single road for hours and there was never any end in sight; this city is unbelievably large. On a said note, it's nice that I can say "the nice chinese man in the blue shirt" everyday to describe the guy who runs the hostel, as he never changes his shirt.

Nathan's Broken Ankles

Out hostel is at a central location for many of the things to see in the city. We decided to go to the Forbidden City today. Inside the first courtyard there was a fenced off area where a commie was shooting hoops on a grass terf court. Nathan was watching him and the soldier motioned for him to come in. Nathan proceeded to get his ass whooped in a game of 1 on 1. To be fair the guy was 6'2" atleast, but Nathan still embarrassed our country. There was a crowd of atleast 200 watching the event. We made our way into the city (which was the emperor's palace). The city was huge. It was just one courtyard after the next. On exhibit was of broken bowls; it sucked. But the city was fantastic. We made our way up a hill to a Vairochana Buddha temple that provides a panoramic view of the whole city of Beijing. While we were up there Brian and I convinced a commie to take a picture with us, acting like he was arresting us. Everyone else was too afraid to ask but he was really timid about it. Here are some thoughts we've had since we've been here:-There are so many people here it seems there's people sitting around doing pointless jobs. Today we saw guys making marks in stairs with a hammer.-Everything is extremely commercialized. In the Buddha temple they were selling merchandise.- We decided the moat around the Forbidden City probably had seaweed, as the greatest defense against attackers was and is 'icky toes'. We've started taking on old people hours. Awake at 7, supper at 5, in bed by 9:30 or 10. We love you guys.