End of Chapter 2

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well my friends, the expected has finally happened. Amanda and i have left china and are now on phase 2 of our trip in South East Asia. I got here two days ago, and already we are leaving to get another stamp in the passport as we head to Cambodia tomorrow. But first the update 😊

When i last left you were were heading to Yangshuo on our 25hour train trip. This is in the south of the China only about 10hours trip from the border to hong kong. We had such an amazing time. While the trip before then consisted a lot of meeting new people, reading, relaxing, playing our newly loved Mah Jong (I can tell you right now, Manda and i will officially be the little old ladies playing mahjong and spending our life savings on it... can't wait), and of course we had the manditory temple view (did you know there are more than one in Asia? i had no idea). Yangshuo instead was full of good old fashion Indianna Jones adventure... or something like that. We went bamboo rafting down the river, found a lake of mud at the bottom of a cave, went biking and was jiggled into fitness (don't worry, it didn't work... i'm still lazy :P), we went swimming in the river, we went to a cooking class (which i hear Indianna Jones did a lot... little known fact, Indianna's real name is Feenie... glad i could enlighten you), AND!! we rented scooters!! Hooray!! Now, as i'm sure you can expect, it was hot the entire time we were there. So after about four days of sweating under my mass of hair i was biking through a rice field, and had the Yangshuo Special right there. A couple snips later, i now have hair that is just a few millimeters below my ears. and the back of my neck is forever greatful.

From there, we hustled up to Hangzhou which is just a few hours away from Shanghai. Heree we did a lot of walking around a lake that was a beautiful imposter (got to love a good old fashioned man made lake), and got fed by a women who wanted us to buy her expensive legendary tea. Don't worry. Tea isn't code word for anything. The area really is well known for this dragon well tea that tastes a lot like green tea. weird. While we were there, we also started to get our western on by having DQ ice cream twice.

Shanghai was the next stop, where we rocked out on the bund, strolled through the french concession, and saw my first live soccer match. It was fantastic! I really recommend anyone if possible to go as soon as you can. We were at the Opening ceremonies which were awesome in their own right, but then it was followed by a game between Argentina and Germany. Turns out that there is a huge German population in Shanghai and they were all there to support their team. It was a night filled with chanted and cheers and flags and german people. i decided to cheer for Argentina just so that i can cheer for the underdog, but they sucked so bad, that i was quickly converted (Argentina lost 11-0... i think the goalie just gave up after the 6th or 7th score)

Ok, so four days later we were on our way to Hong Kong. I had all the best intentions of updating this there, but i was surrounded by coffee houses, English newspapers, bagels, and general western-ness, so i decided that after the manditory tourism i read my book and was engulfed in the coffee shop culture that i miss about Vancouver. OH! and what were some of the amazing things i saw as a tourist there? of course there was SOHO, Victoria Peak, Central, Causeway bay, Temple Street Market, Stanley Market, Kowloon... and... DISNEY LAND! hahahaha! so it turns out that a trip to disney land was really cheap, so we spent the whole day rocking out with mickey and seeing Every single ride, live show, 3D thing that they had to offer. hilarious. On the 15th Manda left to bangkok a little early to see Greg, and i finished my book and went around Kowloon with a new German friend that had just come from Shanghai.

Two nights ago, i arrived in Bangkok where we have seen all that we could bare including another temple (they have them here too, unbelievable!), and patpong market, and kohsan rd. It is now a threesome tha i am traveling in since Greg will be with us until the end of OCtober. I'm really excited. Someone else to pick on amanda with me 😊. the people that we've met so far here though are really different from those in china...this is a new breed of traveler. we've gone from people that have come for the sights, to the people that have come for the drugs. i'm really hoping that Cambodia will be a bit different than that!...

Alright folks... over and out... but exciting new addition to this months post... that would be pics!! hooray! you can thank amanda. I love you!! tooddles!!

Jenn

China Photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5565&l=3825a&id=305200016

Disney Photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6186&l=05beb&id=305200016

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