As my mom woke me up, I heard the voices of my grandparents talking on the phone. Today is the day I go to China by myself. I got dressed quickly and ran downstairs to eat breakfast. I would carry three bags to China. Two would get checked in and a small suitcase will come with me onto the plane. My plane leaves at 12:00 at Washington D.C. National Airport. It took three hours to drive there, so I brought a book to read on the car. I go by myself onto a plane that leaves to Beijing at 12:00. [View Full Entry]

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I got a good amount of sleep last night, but the night before I only slept 2 hours and then some 1.5 hours of interrupted sleep on the train. I felt fine yesterday, but it's really slugged me today! Yesterday we went to our office to get picked up and meet our charges. The CFO of GreenTree, Angel, left her two kids in our hands for traveling around these 10 days. Their names are Lewis and Carol (or Mickey and Minnie, as their mom calls them sometimes) and they are 12 and 10 years old. At first, the idea of a [View Full Entry]

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22 hours on the train and a few instant noodle-pots later ("Have instant noodles, will travel" as Karen called it) I arrived in Kunming. I also managed to loose another hat on the train, the 4th one since I set off for this trip, perfect Ben. On the plus side, the Lonely Planet had said the trip from Guilin to Kunming was 26 hours, so I was positively surprised when the train pulled into Kunming station after only 22h. What is strange about these night trains is that all the Chinese travellers sleep fully dressed. In Russia and Mongolia, people would [View Full Entry]

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I was woken up this morning by Chloe, the dog we're dogsitting, and she wanted OUT of the room. I guessed the Ayi had come. Sure enough, she's back from vacation in Canada and coming here every Monday and Thursday for the next couple of weeks until the owner comes back from vacay along the Trans-Siberian railway. I gave Ayi the receipts from the AC/electricity saga and tried to explain the best I could what had happened. She appears to be a very capable late middle aged Chinese woman who immediately started making phone calls to see what had gone on [View Full Entry]

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Beijing has been invaded. It began at the start of the traditional tourist season at the end of May. A couple of hopelessly lost Koreans here, a few scattered Westerners speaking Mandarin with horribly mangled tones there, and a smattering of hopelessly lost elderly Japanese. As the summer arrived and the weather heated up, along with Beijing's interminable humidity, the trickle became a stream, which turned into an all-out flood. Foreigners are descending upon Beijing in droves, reminiscent of a locust swarm. These lecherous parasites have infiltrated the poshest hotels, are hesitantly venturing down Beijing's most upscale shopping avenues and, to [View Full Entry]

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Here are some pictures of my wonderful Chinese students! [View Full Entry]

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Pictures at our hotel and of our own private dining room! [View Full Entry]

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Today we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors, and the site of the Qin Dynasty's Emperor's Tomb. It is truly an 8th wonder of the world -- both physically and in its impact. This was the first emperor of China. He was so arrogant of his power and sure of his eternal glory (not to mention murderous to his people) that he employed 3/4 million people (slaves) for nearly 40 years to guard him in the afterlife so he could be ruler there forever. Instead he ruled on Earth for less than 40 years, and the warriors and his construction were destroyed [View Full Entry]

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Last night, I had a full sleep ( finally ): 9 1/2 hours. We visited the Terra Cotta Soldier Museum and this time I wasn't sleepy, so I was ready to see the Soilders! All of the Soldiers were taller than my grandpa, and they looked pretty nice considering they were underground for a LONG time. The Soldiers were there to protect the Emperor's tomb. We watched a Cinemax movie after. It explained about how the Emperor made the Soldiers and the tomb. After that museum, we went to another museum that was built around a prehistoric village. The village was [View Full Entry]

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We began our morning at the silk factory seeing first hand how silk is made. We got a chance to see the different stages of development of the silk worm and how the threads are unraveled from the cocoons. As we toured the factory, we learned how the silk is threaded, dyed, and then put to use. We watched oriental rugs being made and silk bedding being stretched. It was amazing. In the afternoon, we went for a walk along the riverside to see the city skyline before going to see the Yu gardens. It was a busy afternoon of shopping [View Full Entry]

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