National Lampon's Camping Vacation

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What do you do when you have 2 Tents and 11 people. 1 chinese driver and a 3 hour wait for all the americans to show up. A bunch of branches, a lighter and no newspaper or lighterfluid. A fallen tree a hundred meters away and a teetering fire. 6 eager paying patrons wanting to go to explore an island and a boat that is partially flooded. What do you do when the smog, the dirt, the teaching of english beceomes to much.

You go camping....at least, I think that's what we did. It is one of those vacations were patience must be packed and any notiion of what might actually happen must be left behind. Because we thought we would leave at 1pm, but infact we left at 3pm. We thought were would be anywhere from 6-8 people, we had 11. We thought we would go to Nan Oa beach, but we ended up going to Xi Chong beach. We thought we would all sleep in tents, but in the morning found out that only 2 people made it into the tents, everyone else playing the role of martyr, not wanted to take the last tent spot. We were sure our stuff would be safe, with everyone sleeping under the stars, but infact it was not and mary's ipod was stolen and her bag's contents tossed in the bushes.

But maybe it's china, or maybe its the people you surround yourself with, but more and more i have come to realize that with each adventure what does happen is rarely what i think it will be, however what does happen is always good. Whether it's a darken sky awash with stars that you thought maybe not longer existed, midnight swims, or shared music playlists. Sometimes its amazing how imprefection can seem so perfect.

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Photos

Boyscouts and Girlscout training at work
It was touch and go for a little bit, but some bug spray and a touch of 400 RMB bijiou(strong liquour)seemed to be the trick

Our tour guides
Poor bella and her friend....how many times did we ask them to translate this, or ask someone this....I wonder when she will have had enough of us!

Is this China?
We couldn't stop asking, "are we still in china?"

And were off......
James, eli, megan, Hanna, Agnus, and Amanda jumped into the closest boat for a trip to the island. We only hoped they had enough chinese to get back.

karma is a bitch
We made our driver wait 2 hours for us to all get ready to go.... Guess who made us wait to get back?

ARt??
of just james' feet? A poetic self-portrait, no less.

snacktime
when will china not be weird?

Comments

[Kara]

traveling of my own
Hey M! Been traveling myself- Germany and France. I'll send pics later on this week. Glad you are recovered from the moto wreck.

[Mom]

Don't eat that snack!