Happy thanksgiving

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Its amazing to me how out of the loop I am already...thankfully for Facebook (once I was out of China and allowed to go on it), I realized it was Thanksgiving. It seems every year I have more and more to be thankful for. Either that, or I am just more aware of how blessed I am. Even though my Thanksgiving dinner consisted of two airplane dinners, it was still not too bad!

So, backing up a bit, I left the beautiful city of Beijing to Shanghai via the super duper fast train (I'm sure that is the technically correct term:). It is pretty amazing being on a train that goes 300 km/hr. That whole experience of getting on the train was a tad stressful. Basically, traveling in a large group means that we were late, the line ups were insane (no shocker there), and we literally got on the train with 2 minutes to spare. Phew! A not so awesome observation is that 4 hours on that train, the entire countryside was hazy with pollution. How the heck is that even possible? I am obviously so used to blue sky, and clean air that all this talk of us destroying our planet didn't hit home till I hadn't seen blue sky for a week... and that wasn't because it was naturally cloudy or overcast.

Shanghai in in 3 words: HUGE, shopping, crazy. I have never been in a city that big before, and seen so many shopping malls and stores. Arrived and after getting lost for a hour, finally found our hostel. Which turned out to be on the 6th floor of a building. It already seems like a distant memory, but my highlight was going to the circus. SO AWESOME! Its like Cirque de Solei but with no safety nets or harnesses. Very well done, and some of their stunts blew my mind (either that or the fact they a couple of the people almost crashed made my adrenaline rush the entire show). Another one of the nights, we ended up in a restuarant and not a soul in there spoke english, so we just had to wing it with the ordering. Haah, it turned out pretty well, and I may or may not have eaten dog, but overall, it was quite the experience!

And now...sigh.. I am in a small, beautiful little town in the middle of Vietnam. At this very moment, a huge rain downpore (which i was lucky enough to be caught in on my bicycle...no need to shower after that. SOAKED!) just passed, and there is no honking, or yelling or hacking up snot or traffic. It is funny how this trip is already going, because this town is exactly what a person would need after 12 days in China during the national holiday. So far (of all the two days I've been here), I love this place. The people are so nice, and I can communicate with them, and the food... so fresh!

I was just sitting on the sidewalk today, and a little lady with her food cart came along, and a local was buying some food from her. He noticed me watching, and he motioned me over, and I asked what he was buying (still dont know, it was like a peanut medly mix in a bread dough ball) and he bought me one. That really was amazing to me, because here I am, the 'rich, white tourist' and yet he was so friendly and generous.

But on a side note, man oh man, if you want to spend some money, come to this town. All the shop owners are tailors they make you whatever you want, and it is so well made!

Anyway, I am getting eaten alive by bugs right now. I am going to stick around this town for a weekish, and then up to northern Vietnam. I am really unsure of my next move after that.. call me crazy but I kind of like that feeling of not knowing.

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