Making progress

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I've been away from the computer for quite a few days, but now I'm in Chengdu for a bit, realxing and planning the next part of my trip.

After a brief stop in Wuhan, I went on a three gorges boat tour, with Sarah who I had met in Guilin. It was really beautiful, but also probably the most intense china experience I've had so far, as we were the only two foreigners on the boat and thus got a lot of attention. I tried as much as possible to be calm and openminded about it, but after three days of people taking my picture without asking or shouting "hello" in my face or saying something in Chinese and then running away and laughing with friends (these all from everyone, young adults through middle aged men) it got a bit grating, and we ended up spending a lot of the time hiding from the crowds. ( this isn't to say everyone was like that-there were enough really friendly people and genuine attempts at conversation that I didn't pack up my bags immediately for Vietnam.) I also had my first sunny day dice I arrived, so of course I got a sunburn within 20 minutes, though now I've learned my lesson.

We spent a nice, if somewhat chaotic day in chogqing (and failed to eat hotpot, which was one of my main goals) and then took a bulltet train (200 km/ hr) to Chengdu. My hostel here is once of the nicest I've been at and it's so nice to have so many fellow travelers and laowai that I've spent more time talking to people than actually doing things. But today I went to a giant buddah ( with fingernails the size of an average human), tomorrow I'm going to go see the pandas (well touristy, but worth it, I think), and then I am going to head to western Sichuan, which is ethnicalu Tibetan and apparently stunning with two israelis I've met here.

I do miss all of you, though I'm realizing the 8 weeks I have is barely enough time to see everything I want. And my thoughts are with my amazing grandmother, who I hope is having a smooth recovery, and without whose influence I don't know if I would have ended up I china in the first place.

I'll try to update again before I leave for the wilds of sichuan, but if I don't get to, I'll see you all in Yunnan.


I do miss all of you, though I don't think I could do

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Comments

[Mommy]

Thanks!
Great to hear from you. Grandma will be so pleased that you are following in her footsteps. I am on my way to CA for a week. Elena is making a "dactyl" for Renfair. Love you....