Feeling the warmth of sun gave me more than enough energy to continue forward! Although I hesitated to take my headphones off, I decided it was required for me to enjoy the mountain...so I took them off. On the path to West Peak, I saw several ancient trees, one more than 1,000 years old, and took a few pics. I knew their age cause I could the read the signs (even without using a flashlight, ha). I passed a closed tourist attraction called Swordsman Crevice/Cave before reaching West Peak where I took a much needed poo! Out of the unbelievable kindness [View Full Entry]

---

---

(Huashan Hike Continued) Instead of waiting at the actual peak, I followed along a more precarious path to a more isolated location. I picked out a spot and then searched for some shelter, it was sooo cold. There was a hotel about 15 minutes walk away where I saw a group of girls huddled together in a hallway, haha, but I decided to bear it outside right at my spot to get the full experience (and not accidentally fall asleep) and not miss the sunrise. I enjoyed the night view over the villages, valleys, and few lights that I could see [View Full Entry]

---

---

The entire time I was on the bus, I kept running different scenarios through my head and finally decided that to make the best amount of my time in Xi'an I could and would hike up Huashan that night! With Sam's help, I found the right bus and while they checked out the city wall, I packed my bags and got on the bus. I was the only white person on the bus, ha. But a Chinese girl about my age, 21, could actually speak some English and practiced with me, while she tried to show me how to write characters [View Full Entry]

---

---

The train took 14 hours, putting our arrival right at noon. Sam and Parker knew where the hotel was according to a few maps and after asking a few random people and walking through an interesting park, we found it. The park was a shortcut to our hotel, but was also a tourist site in itself! There were several randomly placed carnival/fair style roller coasters that looked as old as the City Wall, but a bit more unsafe, ha. And the best part was, they were actually still in use as we found out yesterday. In the morning and around late [View Full Entry]

---

---

I had not started researching about Xi'an until the day before we left, due to tests and homework, and I ended up deciding to leave for the train station 30 minutes after everyone else - Parker, Sam, Ethan, Joey, and Brendan. Actually ended up leaving the dorm with only 38 minutes (7:22pm) before the train left...Scott sarcastically remarked "Well, since you aren't going to make it, where do you want to eat dinner?" I rushed to the metro, accidentally took the subway one stop in the wrong direction (damn you Parker!) and then switched trains and chatted with a middle-aged English [View Full Entry]

---

---

8am was almost too early today, so sore from working out yesterday...but that's when we all hopped on the bus for our scheduled and free field trip to Zhujiajiao, a canal town known as the Tiny "Venice of the East" and one of the four ancient towns technically in the Qingpu District of Shanghai, but really right outside (1 hour drive). Zhujiajiao is an ancient water town well-known throughout China more than 1700 years old. With an area of 47 square kilometers, the little fan-shaped town contains the intersections of various rivers and 26 lanes (acted as a large distribution hub [View Full Entry]

---

---

At the main entrance, we had to pay an entrance fee of 115Y (student discount) while Cherry and Se Young also had to pay 80Y more for a cable car ticket. They didn't like the idea of hiking all the way up the western (front) path with their back packs. The other two girls Se Won and Helen decided to take the cable car after 5 minutes of hiking up stairs. Joey led us for a while at a decent pace, each of us sporting 2.5 Liters of water and all of our other extra weight! It was going to be [View Full Entry]

---

---

This weekend we decided to go to Huangshan - Yellow Mountain - a very famous scenic/cultural location for a majority of Chinese people and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We would leave Friday, stay in Tunxi (an hour from Huangshan) for the night, then hike up Huangshan, stay at a hotel on the mountain, and then hike down. We had 4 guys and 4 girls (more inclined to use the cable-car). Groups of four make transportation and accommodations, SO much easier! Oh and as you'll notice in the pictures, I got my first haircut in China, they tried to charge me [View Full Entry]

---

---

For a colorful introduction to this entry, I had to pay 150 yuan today for new bedding for the hotel! I fell asleep with my highlighter and it made a nice pink spot. They tried to charge me right away after their failure of handwashing it out (handwashing! what the hell is that gonna do to a stain...). So I told the maid to "chill" and I took it to the laundry mat, washed it for 20 yuan and only the outline of the stain was left. However, they still wouldn't accept it, so I unhappily paid and that was that. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Finally found some time to hit up the Caster Studio again. I practiced some powermove transitions and freezes - only had 50 minutes there. While I was there, I saw another bboy in the larger room and didn't feel like really talking to him since I only had a few minutes until he started pulling out some airflares to flares to mills transitions, ha! He had decent style too...only problem was that he spoke very very little English, like my Chinese, ha. So we just exchanged names and then I kept solo training....I really need to learn how speak Chinese better [View Full Entry]

---

---