http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/LiJiaYin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from LiJiaYin en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:44:52 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:44:52 +0000 I watched as she spotted the small black strand of hair camouflaging itself as a noodle shrugged her shoulders as she fished it out and continued to delicately manipulate another chopstick portion to her mouth. I wanted to dance but decided against it this bowl was hardearned. And this trip was for her. We set out from Xining on an overnight bus and I vacillated between uncontrollable giggles http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/blog-157536.html Glancing furtively around the restaurant and discovering I remained unobserved my hands shot to the curry dish on the table in front of me squelching a messy mass of rice and fish into a ball at once ravishing the freedom of juices dribbling down my chin and the explosion of spices and tang. No disapproving glances whispers frowns. This is acceptable I wondered but not for long as I embra http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-142688.html I had sworn the baozi in China couldnrsquot be topped. For 3 kuai and made in a street corner shack with steamy windows I had determined to remain their loyal patron to the end. But as we walked along the night market in Luang Prabang Sitt turned to me and challenged me to his claim that any I had before tasted would simply be inferior to those in Laos. Images of the chapcheeked Chinese pea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-141797.html It was like preKatrina New Orleans on an extra dose of speed. Replace bronze spraypainted pantomime streetcorner man with hunched over orange selling lady from the country tourist horsecarriage rides through the French Quarter with brochure hawkers advertising Halong Bay excursions the same amount of gawking tourists and you have it Hanoirsquos Old Quarter. I really felt quite at home an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-143561.html Looking back on 4 months here and gather together all the bits and pieces with the hopes of telling you something interesting isn't easy but here goes Christmas I almost managed to forget about Christmas altogether because other than at WalMart and a couple of hairdressing shops and clothes stores Santa Claus simply doesn't exist. Well obviously you say but I had observed the pull of o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Haidian-district/blog-119235.html I'm catching up for the past four months of not posting anything so back we go to SeptemberOctober when I was still with my first host family and when the weather was gloriously warm... Hou Lei took it upon herself to show me the Great Wall SHE thought was interesting not the one listed in travel books overrun by tourists. Therefore I don't know the real name of this portion just that the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Great-Wall-of-China/blog-119232.html New Year's Eve was the first fullfledged snow this winter and I woke up to Wendy and her 3 year daughter Qian Qian excitedly getting ready to go out and take pictures. So off the three of us trampled through the snow... here's the best of our miniphoto shoot. In the afternoon Salome and I decided to revist the Forbidden City with the hopes that during the offseason elbowing and brute force http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Haidian-district/blog-119177.html