Crazy Italians...

So I had another relaxing day poolside and there is not much to report. I did however join the water aerobics class again and I must say the most enthusiastic Italian older gentleman also took part in the daily exercise. He was in good shape, grey hair and a great euro tan...

This man was serious about his workout. He really seemed to give it his all, breathing hard, jumping extra high adding that extra oomph that all aerobics teachers love to see. It was most amusing when we all faced each other in a circle and had our hands on our hips and basically had to gyrate our hips. Now this man, serious faced of course was staring intently at each of the ladies in the class... he made sure to make eye contact with every one. Now I thought it was a funny coincidence that his 'workout face' seemed a little more bedroom like given the movement we were doing... however, the next exercise proved telling. We were to put our arms in front of us and simply lift them up in the air and always extended, down into the water. Now as I said before this guy gave it a little extra each time so he added jumping back and forth... so here is this man now grinning with a cheeky expression, every so often raising his eyebrows with pride, breathing hard, eye contact with the ladies, jumping back and forth with his arms going up and pulling down to his hips... he had a grin that simply said "hey ladies, this is what I am like in the sack!" It was by far the high light of my day... granted all I do is sit by the pool....but it was still worth a thousand laughs!

A crazy cat lady indeed

After a very long train journey from Genoa to Verona, then to a bus to get to the airport I was fortunate enough to have 5 hours in the Verona Airport. Let's change the fortunate to unfortunate. I had to leave so much time because trains in Italy are never dependable, mine was one hour late... but I was actually hoping for more!

The airport was small, loud and everything pretty much closed at 11 pm with my flight being at 1 am. None the less, after a very cramped flight (slept the entire way- even through the Zanzibar landing, fuel recharge and take-off) I made it to Kenya! What a wonderful arrival! Upon leaving the airport to find the African Safari representatives, they found me! He knew exactly who I was... I still wonder how?! It was quite refreshing because I had the nastiest flight attendant in the world... how can you be nasty to someone who slept the entire time? Like I was supposed to know I have to unbuckle my seat belt during re-fuel time... it's still a mystery to me, why on earth would you have to? If it is that dangerous deboard us!

Wow. Kenya gets a huge rating thus far on my travels. Perhaps a number two at this point but could soon jump ahead. I am staying at a 5 star hotel, remember this is a 3rd world country though... so think 3 1/2 stars by harsh US standards. The grounds are incredible and the place looks like a bigger version of my dads old hotel. I swear, when sitting pool side one would think they are the same. There are huge palm trees all over, thieving monkeys that come poolside and the friendliest staff. It is situated on Shanzu beach and I have been fortunate enough to receive a sea and pool (the pool is beautiful) view!

I should mention on the drive over to the hotel I saw a lot of the locals. They seem to be craftsmen in wooden furniture, it again reminds me so much of Costa Rica. There are women that actually balance sacks on their heads, dressed in beautiful traditional clothing and a lot of pineapple and sugar cane vendors.

The food is so-so at the place, but it is getting better. They have had amazing fish at every meal, fresh as could be... so I just stick to that. Against advisement I have been eating raw vegetables... but I have been fine. The bread pudding with custard sauce (I allowed myself one tasting) was top notch, not that I am an expert, but I love the stuff!

On day one I took a walk on the beach. I have been warned about the "beach boys", they basically try and sell you excursions and as my friend Chris suggested they want to get in your panties as well. I met a nice beach boy, a rasta man as he called himself and he invited himself on my walk. I actually didn't mind the company as he was extremely informative on the different creepy crawlies in the sea and about Kenya's liberation (it was in 1962 or 1963- he changed the date, I wonder how credible he is?!). We saw many sea urchins,which he has never tried... crazy! A sea worm which is the ugliest thing I have ever seen and some other common crustaceans.

Day 2- mostly poolside and a late wake up. My air con was broken and a nice maintenance man named James fixed it for me. He offered to take me to Lamu and to traditional villages... but I fear I have brought on a stalker... staying away from him and the beach boy. I promised Zia Silvana no falling in love with the pool boy and I think they both fall into this category!

Day 3- I managed to wake up in time for coffee, so I didn't have to pay an insane 2 euros for an espresso! I quickly went poolside and relaxed for a minute when I realized water aerobics was starting! I joined right in- it was a good laugh. I felt like Dirty Dancing... you know with all the goofy activities at the resort... now where is my Patrick Swazey, nah I want the one from Havana Nights ;)

The amazing thing about Kenya is the weather- or at least for this time of year. The sun is insanely hot, but the temperature is not scorching. Above all the constant breeze is spectacular! It has made sitting by the pool even easier... is that possible?! Also, the clouds drift by very quickly, one minute it looks like complete over cast and the next a clear blue sky!

As this is a resort, there are mostly couples here. I have spent the whole time by my lonesome and I am loving it! It is the first time this entire trip that I have spent more than 1 day alone- that is 10 months of constant attachment. I love it! I will say that I take an hour or more to get ready for dinner, and I dress to the nines! It has been really fun, putting myself together perfume and all, and enjoying my own company! I think people are a little curious about me as I have gotten some stares from different couples... but it makes the below even funnier...

As I was sitting outside the restaurant after dinner, enjoying the breeze a cat (there are tons of stray cats) sat next to me... then another came, and another. I was not only alone, now I am the crazy cat lady. Brent and P you get 'spinster' out of your heads this instant!

I have one more day here till I head out on safari... can't Wait to tell you all about it! Oh and I am taking malaria pills... Chris also scared the daylights out of me with his malaria warnings. But I am on daily ones which are not as strong as the weekly ones I was on before... so no crazy dreams so far!

A big skip...

I am skipping July and August so you can have up to date status! Promise to get to them eventually as they have been some of the best...jam packed with my family! Poland, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Italy to come... for now onto Africa!

Another painful day and enjoyable evening...

I suppose I went out a lot in Beijing making up for early nights in Shanghai.

Amy and I awoke, once again I felt like crap. We went to the Pizza place directly in front of Poacher's for some solids. Yummy- it was actually really good!

I ventured out of the main part of the city to Amy's house to hang out in air con and to watch a girly movie. We had a lazy day filled with more unknown Chinese food and laying around. She came back to my place so I could get ready. We had a date that evening with Nick Anson, a friend of Ben's that I met in NY, and his friend Caroline that was visiting from England.

Nick got the scoop from a co-worker on what was to be a really great restaurant. We all expected a really great Chinese place, but upon arrival we realized it was Russian establishment with a show!!! The place was smoke filled and had large rowdy parties awaiting the acts! We did not know what to expect as we looked around and saw the motel like paintings hanging on the walls with tasseled shades that hung low over every table. I once again found myself in a completely surreal situation; I never expected this in China!

As we ate our steaks, some dancers came out. We had a salsa number, a samba, some belly dancing, some god knows what and more god knows what... but rest assured each time a set of dancers came out they were wearing less and less clothes- I think the last had on thongs with a little tube top of sorts. Thanks Nick, no really thanks. It was wonderfully hysterical and only slightly awkward!

The four of us jumped in a cab and Nick directed us to a part of town with really nice bars that surround a lake. This is by far the nicest place in China. At the entrance of this lake/ bar area were hundreds of sober Chinese people line dancing. It was the oddest image I have ever seen. They were terrible, but seemed to be having fun despite none of them smiling.

The bars were all upscale and very posh. A lot had singers or cover bands playing and many had seating by the lake. We went to a couple but ended up staying in one bar most of the time playing a crazy dice game that obviously involved drinking. I did not do very well and could never explain the game to you, I quite frankly don't even think I understood it very well!

Nick and I wanted to go clubbing but both Amy and Caroline were tired so we called it a night. It was great catching up with Nick and I saw a part of Beijing I otherwise wouldn't have.

The next day the four of us met up again and went to the silk market. I love this place!!!!! It is a multi level in door market that sells everything your heart could desire. It is the mecca of knock offs. The only way to shop here is to negotiate the price. I had been warned to cut the price by 75%. Amy and I had the best system down... we got prices below what we had originally asked for at first request. We were killing them... or so it seemed, clearly if they sold it to us they were still making a profit... but I bought to pair of eye glass frames for 200 quay- the woman originally asked for 860. Woohoo! I wish they did this in the US. The key was to act totally disinterested like you don't even want anything.

The funniest part of the experience though is how these vendors try and get your attention and the entire interaction. Some of their phrases are unbelievable! As Amy and I were walking down one hallway, stall after stall of overcrowded merchandise and swarms of vendors... each one would try and grab you and scream out to you. My favorite line was "Hey sexy lady, sexy lady" I had an entire hallway screaming that to me.. sexy lady sexy lady... My face turned bright red as I tried to dodge each and every one of them. Another quotable line is when we would low ball a price and the lady would scream " we are friend, don't make me angry!" The place is quite an experience. Nick seemed like the man with three ladies on his side, but after a couple of hours Caroline was tired so they went home.

It was my last day in Beijing, Amy and I grabbed some coffee and a bite to eat and called it a day. Actually, it was my last day in China. I was ready to leave!

This needed an entry of its own...

Go back to yesterday... after my nap, before meeting up with Leon and Amy I was getting ready. Now this entails explaining the bathrooms. There is a bathroom for men and one for women. They had two stalls in the women's, one with a western toilet and the other a hole in the ground. The one sink was outside of the stalls, right near the door to the hallway that remained open, with a big mirror in front and terrible lighting, but the best in the place. There was a separate room down the hall for showering, but that's not important.
I was standing in front of the mirror, as I explained, basically in the entry for the bathroom. I was wearing a dress, had my make-up on and was doing my hair... when along came a spider! Well, not a creepy crawly spider more like a creep!
This old middle eastern looking, short, fat man stopped at the entry (not even half a meter from me). He had the cheekiest grin on his face that was anything but cute, as he stared at me through the mirror.
I finally turned and looked at him and politely said hello without being too friendly... it was more of a warning that I was aware of his staring at me. He asked me some ridiculous questions about where I was from and who I was there with (according to him I had a man waiting for me), but that didn't seem to faze him. I had my arms up because I was doing my hair and as I was pulling my hair tighter to my scalp, this man pokes my bare underarm as he, trying to use a cute voice, says: "You are naked under there!"
AAAHHHHH!!!!
What?! What?! I just looked at him, straight faced, but LORD did I want to laugh!!I kindly told him to never touch me again, I even said please. He tried to say the same line again, but I just looked at him and shook my head... he didn't get more than a syllable out. He looked down, sad and said have a good night and walked off... that was the last I saw of him. FREAK!
Why do these things happen to me?!

A great wall indeed

Leon and I set off very early for our ride to the Great Wall. Feeling like death, I slept the entire way there. As fun as it was, it was a big mistake going out the night before. We stopped to eat before climbing and got ripped off beyond belief. NEVER EVER eat at the Great Wall.

The Great Wall is one of my favorite tourist sites to date. I completely felt like I was in a time machine, being brought back to the 7th and 8th century when it was constructed. I walked a good deal of it, but I found it more enjoyable to sit on it and stare out into the mountains. The Wall is over 6700 kilometers long and truly seems never ending as it winds up and through the forest covered mountains. It is a complete wonder how they built it. Apparently the man power consisted of soldiers, prisoners and locals.

I found a nice spot on the wall, where I could lean back against it and face the length of it as it swirled up hill. Leon kept on walking, but I just sat there for over an hour picturing old warriors standing guard, protecting their land from nomadic tribes...it really brings you to another place. I was happy we spent the extra money to go to that area. I recommend anyone going to do the same, there were not many people and it aided in absorbing it's greatness and created a wonderful experience.

Having only a few hours sleep we were even more tired on the way back. I once again fell asleep, this time resting my head on Leon's lap and I had him rub my head the entire (couple of hours long) ride back. Thanks Leon!

After a long nap I met up with Leon and Amy again. We had dinner at the same Thai place and Amy and I decided to hit the strip afterward. After a few misses, I led her to Blu bar and we got there while it was still pretty empty. We followed the only cute guys in the place to the backroom... but they seemed only interested in playing pool. We sat on the couches pretty bored to be honest but glad to be rid of Leon... we wanted a girls night out! Somehow we struck up conversation with this Chinese girl that was visiting from another city. She was one of the sweetest people I have met, but Amy and I got the feeling she might like us in a different way than we liked her. Anyhow, we all danced the night away and I seemed to bounce from one nice guy to the next! I met many great guys that night as the place grew packed.

As we were talking to two eastern european guys, I turn around and there is Leon! It was a little creepy, but lets just say startling. Apparently he decided to come out after all. Amy and I continued to meet guys and dance, but decided to leave soon after the sighting. While Leon was a nice guy, he was just too much at times, this being one of them- you should see his reaction when he doesn't like the juice served to him, completely over dramatic and ridiculous, but it was one of the funniest and most embarrassing moments.

Amy and I made it to the street and noticed the 'strip' was packed with people. As we got closer to them we realized they were all young teenagers. We were quite confused about why they were still out and why they could drink, but more annoyed that we had to deal with them. It was time for home and Amy was going to be my overnight guest, but we stopped for water first at a street vendor. This warrants its own paragraph!

We stopped at this young guys cart- it looked like one of those ice cream freezers, but filled with drinks. He had some older men around him, sitting on the stoop by him. I think they got a kick out of all the young kids hanging about. As I was handing him the money, I noticed he was staring at my breasts. Now I have to chime in here and say that this was nothing new. In China people not only stared at my chest but some pointed and laughed and others would make exclamations, with big smiles and thumbs up. So this water vendor, picture a skinny inexperienced 18 year old.... is staring at my chest with the biggest grin on his face. His older buddies are definitely talking about them and making the kid giggle further and hesitates handing me the water. Now I was a little tipsy, perhaps I would have seen this coming if I weren't... but as his buddies are coaxing him or seem like it at least, he hands the waters to Amy, all the meanwhile still looking at my chest or turning back to his buddies... when suddenly, he grabs my boobs! I am not talking about a cheap quick feel... but a full on grab, squeeze and super glue clutch! Amy bursts out laughing, my jaw drops as laughter pours out and I grab the money I had given him and whatever gesture I made, made it clear that I would not be paying for the waters. In the end I think he got the better deal... I have never seen anyone so happy before- it clearly was a huge triumph for him.

It was enough excitement for the evening, Amy and I went to bed... I may have been staying in a dump, but the two beds were really coming in handy!

Forgetful city...

I finally got a flight to Beijing and made it there with no problems. I had just finished reading a book, Mr. Nice, that I traded in at some hippy cafe in Lijiang. The book is an autobiography about one of the biggest hash smugglers in the world. It was an easy read and quite humorous, but I found him to be a little self indulgent and didn't quite believe the fact that he didn't blame the CIA agent who caught him in the end and busted his 'loads' numerous times- In the end I highly recommend this book. The reason why I tell you I read this book is because I became slightly paranoid about drug smuggling! Silly I know... but we all saw that Claire Danes movie where she got locked up in a Thai prison.
The Chinese girl that I met in the room, however nice she was, for some crazy reason I concocted the thought that she may have put something in my luggage as she had complete access to it (I don't use locks, is someone wants to steel something they can cut a back pack open). She had suggested a hostel for me to stay at in Beijing and for this reason, I did not.
I instead listened to Harry and Yuin- Poacher's Inn was to be my new home. Yuin warned me that it was not the nicest place, basic amenities with a shared bathroom, but right in the heart of the night life scene... seemed like a great option to me!
Poacher's in was in an interesting area. It did not seem like much in the day time- there was a new shopping center, not huge but a few stories tall. There were some really cool boutique's in there and had I not been on a budget, I could have done some damage! The stores along the street were all small locally owned convenient (or random)stores, some restaurants and tiny bars. There was a bigger building too and what I discovered the next night is that it had a lot of bars upstairs... it was random and hard to describe. It was a massive block of a building with barely any windows... there were two separate sets of tiny small staircases that lead to the bars each on it's own floor. Looking at the building you would never guess there were bars in it.
I found Poacher's Inn down an alley way. Across from it was a Pizzeria that looked quite nice. Poacher's Inn on the other hand, not so much. There were some Nigerian guys checking in, so I had to wait my turn. I of course had not booked ahead of time or checked on availability, but I had no problems as of yet. While I was waiting one of the Nigerians struck up a conversation. His name was Bobby and he lived in Beijing dealing with exporting clothing and was there checking in his co-workers, or so he said. I checked in and had to go to the third floor with my 26 kilo suitcase and no lift. Bobby to the rescue! Bobby was so very kind to not only bring up my bag to the third floor, walk me to my room, but also came into my room and suggested I stay at his two bedroom home instead. Bobby also made sure to give me his number in case I changed my mind.
The room was smelly, dirty, had no TV and was some of the worst accommodation I had yet. I walked around that evening but returned to bed pretty early. That evening in mid sleep the phone rang- yes it was Bobby. Apparently he took note to my room number too... I politely declined to meet him out.
I woke up early the next morning and had my free breakfast-no coffee, what's the point?! I walked to a very cute coffee place and sat at a table near not only westerners, but the only two other people in the place. I needed some new friends. One I recognized,we had said a few words to each other in the hostel- his name is Leon (from England). He had just met a girl that moved to Beijing days earlier and new no one- she is Amy and is from Columbus, Ohio. I somehow managed to start a conversation with them (that means eaves drop till you can contribute or laugh with them at something in their conversation, chime in with a witty line and after the banter ask them a question about sight seeing- works every time).
I was invited/ tagged along to the Forbidden city with them. I thought it was completely overrated. I was not impressed in the slightest. I far prefer the temples and Buddhas that were with the three pagoda's in Dali. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it was not that. Granted we did not do a tour, but I would have liked to have understood more about the life there. We saw a clock exhibit, they were some of the tackiest pieces I have ever seen. I also expected there to be more gardens on the grounds, but there weren't. Leon agreed, it was a disappointment- totally forgettable!
We decided to walk to around the area and find a place to eat. We heard there were local neighborhoods that had little whole in the wall eateries and we wanted to find the most famous of those neighborhoods. We walked for miles, passing up, in what my opinion, were really great local choices. We were exhausted, dehydrated (we all know how I feel about that) and starving so we went to the next place we saw. We somehow ordered, some dishes were good and some were not.
Amy went home as Leon and I returned to good old Poacher's. We both napped and met up for dinner. Before going to dinner we decided to coordinate a trip to the great wall for the following morning. We actually ended up going to the hostel that the Chinese girl in Beijing suggested. Man was I stupid! The place was really nice and had a lot of fun activities to do and programs coordinated. For ease we decided to get a private car and driver to take us to the less visited area of the Great Wall. It was to pick us up at 8am.
For dinner we went to a Thai place, shared a bottle of wine and had a fantastic meal. It was one of the best I had in weeks! We decided to venture out to a bar even though we had morning plans. We went to that strange building and found the Club Blu. We had another bottle of wine,danced a bit and called it a drunken night. For fear of not waking up, Leon stayed in my room... stop, I had two beds and you better believe we slept separately!

That's what the rice bombs were for!

That night I lay in bed reading and wondering what the next day would offer. I was actually suppose to leave for Beijing, but I had trouble confirming a ticket on the interned so I felt like I was stuck there for one more day. Before I dozed off I received a few texts from Wade explaining that the following morning was the Dragon Boat Festival- Oh.... that's why all the people were buying rice bombs in bulk! The festival as I was told, takes place about an hour and a half away from Shanghai.

I miraculously woke up early the next day with high hopes for the festival. I ran downstairs to the front desk to enquire about it. The employees seemed anything but enthusiastic about it and more curious about my enthusiasm to go. I also had them give me Harry and Yuin's room number to see if they wanted to go.

It was 9 am and I was knocking on a dorm room- I would have hated me! But it was no surprise that Yuin was also enthusiastic to go and Harry once again opted to sleep. Yuin and I once again pressed the front desk employees for help. We seemed to get the town name and the train station needed to get there. With Chinese characters on paper in hand, we hailed down a taxi and we were off! (please note how early this adventure started).

We got to the train station, it was old looking and packed with people. I think this further convinced us that we were on to something by going to the festival... surely all these people were going as well. We found the one and only English speaking counter as it was so labeled. We went up and asked for two tickets to Hangzhou. He said that it was leaving at 3pm. What?! We would completely miss the festival! We took a step back to talk about it, and before we knew the man was gone- he abandoned our only hopes of getting there. How could this be, that on a day of a yearly festival, there would only be one train in the afternoon?

We left the train station feeling totally defeated, but with serious doubt that this could be true. The more we thought about it, the stronger the feeling was that this couldn't be. Then we had a stroke of brilliance...

We found a close by Holiday Inn and decided to ask the concierge. The concierge was non existent so the front desk would have to do. After much charade action we finally conveyed to them where we wanted to go. Actually, they did not understand the festival aspect of it, but instead recognized Zhangzou. We were in awe that no one knew what we were talking about. Me an American and Yuin a Brit had heard of the Dragon boat festival and all it's fame... why were we having trouble finding it in China?!

The front desk people explained that we went to the wrong train station- thanks Captain's.. useless help! We had them write down the characters and we once again had high enthusiasm and excitement that we would make it to the Dragon Boat festival! Off we were on another 45 minute taxi ride to the new train station.

We arrived at the train station and this seemed more like it. It was a beautiful terminal made of glass and steel beems. It was comparable to all the newer airports. We got on line and managed to get two tickets on the Noon train. It was strange though that our ticket there cost less than our tickets back. We didn't give it much thought though because we felt accomplished and the ticket vendor seemded to understand our needs.

We had about 45 minutes till the train and decided to get something to eat. Seems like an easy task... but then again, we were in China! We followed the pictures of the knife and fork which literally took us all around the station. We made pointless turns, walked buy numerous stores and closed staircases until we made a u-turn and pretty much ended up in the same place we started and finally found the stairs leading up to the dining area. I was next in line for what seemed like the only option of food: a tray of rice, mystery meat and some other food neatly placed in it's boundaries on the plate. It looked like and was served like airplane food. Being next on line (or in line for you non NYers) seemed to not matter as I was completely ignored. Mind you I had made eye contact with the server and I had money in hand. Time and time again the person behind me was served until I finally had enough and grabbed a tray practically out of the hands of the person behind me. Success, but after all why had I wanted the meal to begin with?!

We boarded the train still excited and having a few laughs at our relentless attempts to get to this festival. As Wade had written in a text, it would be a once in a life time experience as the festival would be filled with crew like boats and thousands of on lookers cheering them on- A true Chinese experience of culture and history. We were unsure of how we would recognize where to get off, but figured many others would get off at the same place.

Let me interrupt by saying that we had also questioned the idea that the Dragon Boat festival was on this day as all of the people we had asked for help either looked at us clueless or seemed puzzled at our desire to go. We did however meet a couple with a child who had also enquired, but decided not to go and confirmed that this indeed was the day of the festival.

The train stopped at what seemed like our exit and an English speaking Chinese confirmed that it was. I had the feeling that we might should follow him in the case that we needed translation or help, but in fact this was the town where the Dragon Boat festival takes place, so why on earth would we need further assistance?! Even if we wanted it, we would not have been able to receive it- he seemed to speed off and disappear into in air. As we exited the station we found ourselves in what seemed like a whole other world. There were dirt roads, chickens and only one sign that we could understand... TOURIST INFO. Well if there were to be one sign useful that would surely be it. The only problem is that the sign led us to the parking lot.

We found ourselves standing in the middle of a half full parking lot-no more, no less. Clearly that would not be our lead to the festival, so we sought out new help. This story may seem to drag on and at this point let me tell you, it was! It seemed like we would never get there. At this point both Yuin and I were skeptical of not only our where abouts but how we would ever return to the safety of our hostel. We walked down the chaotic street and found nothing more than all Chinese signs and stores with nothing looking like any sort of tourist center. We walked the other way and found much of the same. We found a newspaper stand which had a woman in front with a map and some sort of ID around her neck- surely she would be able to help us, hopefully more so than the police office we had just tried ot ask.

She did not speak English and once again the assumption was made that Yuin spoke Chinese. As all of our frustrations grew, a crowd grew around us as well. Numerous people were begging for money, trying to sell us something or send us to the Lake. This city or town, wherever we were seemed to have a Lake. I was pretty sure the yearly festival takes place on a River- but ultimately I really didn't know much about it. Even though she nor the others could understand what we were looking for, she kept on insisting the lake was where we should go. I nervously tried to draw a Dragon, and thought to myself that I definitely should have paid more attention in Mr. Mayhew's drawing class because my sketch looked like anything but a dragon! Yuin and I tried to act the motions of rowing a boat and roaring like a dragon, but no, all looked on completely puzzled and I am sure wondered what the heck we foreigners were doing.

We walked off, with even smaller hopes of getting there. At this point we had grown rather angry. Once again we asked ourselves how they did not understand that we wanted to go to the famous festival that happens every year in the same place and attracts oodles of tourists. What else would we be doing there?! We found a store front that looked new, like something was about to open...perhaps a tourist center?! We walked in and asked if anyone spoke English and to our delight there was a woman willing to help.

You would think this would be the end to our crazy search for such a famous festival. No. I think we were in their for a half an hour and she too was convinced we wanted to go to the Lake. We would have believed them if they had understood what we were talking about- but no one seemed to have even heard of the Dragon Boat Festival. Finally the older Gentleman in the place explained that the festival was over. Could we really have missed it?! The girl then kept on insisting that she thought we needed to go down the block and get a map. Rather than just telling us she did not want to help us anymore she insistently suggested we get a map. Knowing what she was doing, it's called giving face, I was more persistent in asking more questions. We finally thought we explained we just wanted to go to the festival even if we had missed it- surely the ending ceremonies or post activities would still be worth this endless journey.

She shrugged her shoulders and implied no more. Yuin had a stroke of brilliance... to look at our train tickets. Why had the return been more expensive than getting there? We whipped out the tickets and realized the first tickets said Hangzhou(with something attached here) and the return simply said Hangzhou. We were in the wrong place. Doh! The girl looked at our tickets and shook her head explaining that we were not only in the wrong place, but very far as well. Yuin and I decided to take a taxi there no matter the cost. We were lost in China and desperate to feel safe again.

In the taxi we laughed at our misfortune and wild adventure. Once again, though exhausted, we had some hope of making it there. We now felt like we understood why no one knew what were talking about, we were in the wrong place. Why else would they not have immediately understood where we were trying to go?! We had no idea what to expect in terms of price and length of the taxi ride. To our surprise it was only 20 minutes away in the main part of the city. It was just the city center station.

Now we were really angry. All of the prior feelings of these people not understanding where we wanted to go set back in and stronger! We were angry at the train station ticket seller for sending us to the wrong station, upset with the front desk employees at each of the hotels for sending us all over the place, and angry with ourselves for not having the foresight to ask the hostel to write down DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL in Chinese characters. But who knew it would prove to be this difficult?! Surely not us.

We found a hotel in the back side of the new station and to our delight the front desk had a mural in back of it of an ancient dragon boat festival. Easy...point and say we want to go there. We did just that and once again received looks of complete cluelessness. Here we go again. I can go on to explain the many actions we did, the words we pleaded for them to understand and the pictures we tried to draw, but once again it was of no use- they had no idea what we were talking about. We had another brilliant idea; we could use the internet. We used their overcharged services and tried to hunt down this festival; we were still determined to go. Unfortunately all we found that it indeed was the day of the festival and it indeed was in this city. I am not sure if that made us feel better or worse. I have never hated people more in my life than I did at that moment.

We went to the lake. With stupid hope and secret dreams we expected to find the festival at the lake. Instead, we found a lake. At this point we had traveled FIVE hours to get to a lake. We were staving, dehydrated and exhausted. My famous quote when traveling: "Crankiness is the first sign of dehydration!". You can imagine our moods. After we walked the long length of the lake and up the very pretty streets, which we were in no shape to appreciate yet, we tried to find a local spot to eat. We finally settled on Starbucks as our blood sugar level had dropped and no proper decisions could be made. A little rest, food and caffeine did the trick; we were not quite fully restored, but we were in much better shape to explore our where abouts.

After finding some brochures on the lake, it seemed like it offered plenty for us to do and worth the trip in the end. The surrounding area was the prettiest part of China I have seen. It was lined with designer shops and clean facilities, clearly a place for the rich tourists to relax and travel with class. We wandered around the lake and it really was a beautiful view. It had mountain backdrops with single pagoda's and temples popping out of the tree lined tops. We once again walked the length of the Lake trying to enjoy it to the fullest. This place also had the trolley for lazy tourists to adore the scenery. We talked about wishing they had peddle boats to rent as it would be nice to get a little exercise and fully enjoy all that the lake had to offer. No sooner than speaking these words, we found just that at the far end of the massive lake. We rented one for a half hour, put our life vests on, and off we went.

Another laugh.. they weren't peddle boats but motorized imitations. I could crawl faster than this thing went! For further laughs there was a roped off section as to where we were permitted to go on this thing- which was basically a small circle. We noticed that all the other boats contained couples enjoying the small area we were allowed in. What a bore and a waist! We laughed so hard. I think the laughter was not only about the boat but our sheer bad luck to the entire day... all of the events came flooding back in mind as we once again found ourselves in a ridiculous setting. We returned the boat within 15 minutes and the staff was completely in awe that we returned early, why on earth would we do that?!

At this point it was time to get back to the train station, the new one that is. Given our past luck we decided to leave enough time for more mishaps and it was a good thing we did... there is not a funny story here just that it took forever to get a taxi with having to cross many streets and chase after them. We found no humor in this, but finally found success. The taxi took us to the train station with relative ease but having to stop at one particular and telling traffic light. As we were stopped there I happened to look down the street and there it was... red balloons compiled together to make and arch, a river and massive crowds. It was the dragon boat festival one measly block from the new train station.

I apologize for how awful this sounds, but I hated all Chinese and China at this point. All we could do was laugh; that is all we could handle at this point. We made it back to Captain's and decided to end the night on a positive note. Completely exhausted and filled with many other feeling, we returned to our Canadian friend for a good meal and more laughs than you could possibly ever imagine!

I can't believe that we never made it to the Dragon Boat Festival and more over that we had been one block away from it. It was with out a doubt a once in a lifetime experience! Wade, you don't even know the truth in your words!

A Candian in China

Yuin and I went for dinner that night. We walked through the sort of Times Square or Broadway of Shanghai-it is a big street (no cars down a certain portion of it to allow pedestrian ease) filled with bright lights and lots of shopping. Oddly they had little train trolleys, you know the little ones in little kid theme parks?! They had them to shuttle tourists down this block which isn't very long. Chinese are lazy!

We wandered down a few dark streets and ended up seeing a restaurant with this Chinese guy (early 20's) in front of it. We asked for a menu in English and to our delight he was a native English speaker! He was from Toronto, it was his grandfathers restaurant and he moved there to work with him. How could we not eat here?

We had one of the best meals I have had in China. They guy, who's name I unfortunately have forgotten, was most helpful and gave us the best customer service! I think he was just as excited to see us as we were to him! The meal included jelly fish, suckling pig, Chinese vegetables and other yummy stuff. The nice guy even sent over desert to us. It was a coconut and bean custard that was out of this world delicious!

We tried to tell him to go to all the hostels and advertise or have the front desk people talk up the restaurant as an authentic Shanghais place with native English speakers... but he explained it would drive the local customers away! This place has been opened for over 20 years and is a Shanghai institution. I am so glad we stumbled upon it!

Venice in China

As Harry decided to sleep the day away, Yuin and I went to what is described as the "Venice of China". Much to our surprise it was just that. We took a taxi ride about an hour out of the city to a town called Zhouzhuang.

We once again found ourselves a little confused about what to go see. We were at the entrance where tickets had to be purchased for entry. They had different levels of tickets which included different attractions and once again the attraction names were not accompanied by explanations. We went for the one that seemed to include the sights we would be interested in.

This town is basically like Venice. It's streets are water and small houses are on each side of the water with little paths along side. There was a plethora of little stores which all a seemed to be selling rice bombs (big bags worth to each native customer). Have I explained rice bombs? (I named them that). They are balls of extremely sticky rice mixed with either peanuts or meat, wrapped in leaves and steamed. Apparently they are the traditional food of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Anyhow there were a lot of cute stores selling homemade taffy, cookies, rice bombs and of course many touristy junk stores. The town itself was in its original form and from ancient China. Unfortunately a lot of the towns people were kicked out to allow tourism... but Yuin and I got lost and ended up away from all of the touristy stores and such. We were amongst old homes with pretty gardens in closed by gates or wall barriers all along the off shoots of the Yangtze river (which were the streets of water). It was really nice to wander around this part of the town which seemed to be extremely authentic and untouched. It was calm, pretty and a simple way of like.

The way we found this area was trying to follow the map we were given with the postings of the sights we had paid for. I feel redundant in saying this... but here is another great example of how the Chinese just get tourism WRONG. One sight was called something like: "Tour of Rice and Patty fields"... sounds cool, right?! It turned out to be a room which had people made of straw (yes think scare crows) to represent the field workers. They also had these same straw people sitting around a table in a replica kitchen depicting people eating rice. Yuin and I took many photos to accompany our many laughs and wonderment of what the hell they were thinking doing this crazy instillation.

We also went to the Jade and ancient pottery museum. No. They had some old clay pots with zero to none explanation and the Jade pieces were just little charms on string.

The other sights are not even worth mentioning. The charm of Zhouzhuang is just walking around. We avoided the over priced gondolas and just walked around as we built up an appetite. We tried to buy some Rice Bombs as there seemed to plenty around. For some strange reason no one would sell us any... we would soon find out why.

We got a taxi home and it was truly an enjoyable day. What was just as enjoyable as our walk through the less touristy area was the fact that we made it there and back. Yuin and I both don't speak Chinese and it felt amazing to venture out of the city and actually end up successfully where we wanted to go.

A funny mention about Yuin. As you may have guessed he is of Asian decent. He however is British to the fullest. He knows not a lick of Chinese, but by looks you would think he does... even the Chinese think so. Aggravating for Yuin, everyone tried to speak Chinese to him. It seemed to be most frustrating when we would try to get directions... seeing Yuin's repeatedly annoyed reactions were priceless.

The Circus!

The expensive day was salvaged! We made it to the circus and it was pure delight. Now please don't picture lions, clowns and cotton candy, there was nothing of the sort. The Shanghai circus is magic and mind mending acrobatics.

It really was one of the most impressive shows I have ever been to. These performers can bend their bodies better than any hippy doing yoga... I can't even begin to describe it. Now let's not think about how they were probably trained from childhood and sold into it from infancy and even suffered most of they day during the intense physical training aspect of it all... but we'll just think about how successful their training was!

We were like children during the performance, oohing and aahing through out the entire show. They stood on top of each other as they bent in all directions being held up by what seemed like one persons finger. This is a must see in China. I have to say that the finally was a bit of a let down. They had a big sphere center stage as motorcycles entered it. They did various stunts in it which was most impressive, but the finale was all 9 cyclists in there. It was cool that they had that many riding around in their, but we found much of the other stunts more impressive.

This event is really hard to describe, I look forward to showing you the pictures, but I just remembered no cameras were allowed. Oh well, I'll have to hold on to this mental picture. Sorry.

Yes, yes! Another Aquarium...

I first want to say Yuin is a perfect travel mate as he was just as enthusiastic and easy going as I was. He was a lot of fun to travel with and was always up for an adventure and stayed positive when things weren't always positive. I think China was a bit much for Harry as this was his last day of travel with us- he opted to stay in the hostel the next couple of days.

The three of us set out fairly early in the morning to get a full day of sights in! Our first stop was getting to the other side of the river. Now that may not seem like such a sight... but some genius (or not so) created this crazy tunnel to get you over to Pu Dong. I will describe the tunnel in a second, but first we had to buy the tickets to get on.

Complete confusion, it's China of course it was. Apparently you can get tickets which include different sights, but there was no explanation of the sights nor an English speaker to help sort it out. The risk was either missing out on something cool or paying for crap. The sights listed were: the tunnel (yes), the aquarium (yes), a sex exhibit (sounds intriguing) and a sea exhibit (maybe unnecessary with the aquarium). What the heck, we went for it all with smiles on our faces.

The tunnel:
Well, it is a sort of cable car but on tracks. You and your party get put in a single bubble of a train and off you go. The attraction apparently, is the light show created. Different lights and laser beams make patterns and designs along the walls of the tunnel (think old school Willy Wonka). You are completely surrounded by cool visuals. The only problem is that the music doesn't go with the lights, the train doesn't go fast enough and the visuals were not that cool. This was almost a really great experience- if done correctly it would have been, but it fell short. This had nothing on the light shows at Twilo (though some other factors helped that). This experience was really funny though as we once again found ourselves laughing at China's tourism. It seemed like this was created back in the early 80's. With our current technology this could have been great.... such a good idea, but such poor execution!

We wandered out and confusion set in as the signage for the next attractions were non existent. We somehow managed to find the Sea Exhibit. The Sea Exhibit was turtle tanks and some other completely forgettable inclusions. What did we just pay for?!

With the sea exhibit being what it was, I knew the sex exhibit would be a funny one. We managed to find it and oh my, just utter ridiculousness. Firstly, they had some explanations that were divided into 9 segments and stencilled on the walls. As I was trying to read them, I had to stop mid way on each because some bowl or sculpture was placed in front of the script, blocking all of the words! The exhibit was basically different sculptures, some modern some ancient of penis's, vagina's and people having sex. I have photo's... it was really funny, pointless and worth every penny! My personal favorite was a wooden sculpture of a cartoonish looking man with an over sized 3 foot long, 1 foot thick erection. He was chained up, all but the penis and it was titled something like: "This part of the body can't be chained down" or something crazy like that. The same artist also had a big wooden high-healed shoe with an equally large penis in it... not really sure where the artist was going with it... but it's art and not to be questioned!

We next made it to the aquarium!!!! I had high hopes as there were a lot of tourists running about. I am not sure how to begin, so I will just dive right in by saying one of the first rooms we see was filled with some fish tanks and average looking gold fish. The sign next to the tanks accurately read "Chinese Suckers". Yup, that was us. Do yourselves a favor, if you ever go to Shanghai skip everything in this entry! The aquarium may not have been worth it,but it was worth many laughs! The aquarium tank itself was tiny and waste high. It had a duck chillin in it. A duck in an aquarium, come on!!! There was another tank as you walk by the escalators... it had a plastic crocodile in it. It was PLASTIC!!!! There is no point in going on about this aquarium, while it is still better than the one in DC, all you could do is laugh at it.

Once again we had high hopes for our next tourist endeavour: The Pearl tower and lunch at the revolving restaurant in it. We bought the most expensive tickets, allowing us to go to all look out points and included lunch. Lunch, a disgusting buffet. We all know how I feel about them, so no need to continue on about the nastiness that is mass produced for tourists that don't know better and that sits out hours on end waiting to be consumed. We also went during the day, I have to say if you are going to do this, go at night and at least see the Bund, brightly lit in the nights sky. The other look out points were a disappointment as well, it was a foggy day and not much is visible. En route from one floor to another we passed through the space exhibit. Since when does China have enough space exploration experience to justify a space exhibit? The exhibit was a few life sized ET figures (no joke, ET was there), a space ride which was closed, a life sized man in a moon suit and a roller coaster. I skipped the roller coaster because I hate them, but Harry and Yuin went on it. It lasted all of 1 minute- enough said.

It was a bust of a day to say the very least. We spent a FORTUNE on the day alone and not one thing seemed worth it. However it was one of my most fun and memorable days on the trip and I have to say that Harry and Yuin were great sports about the whole thing too!

To try and salvage our day we decided to splurge on one more attraction. We got the info from our hotel and we were off to an unknown neighborhood, with just some Chinese characters in hand to give to the taxi driver that would bring us to the Shanghai circus!!!

A bit of Europe in China

I made it to Shanghai with a first strange experience, but this being China... nothing is really all that strange. I found the taxi line outside the airport (no more crazy tourist help ladies for me!) and properly lined up. I got in my taxi and showed him the address to my hostel that Wade and lonely planet suggested. We drove off and before exiting the airport he belled someone, spoke some nonsense and we veered off to pick up a lady friend of his. I was convinced I was either being robbed or we would need to stop at an hourly rate place for them as I wait in the car. Thankfully neither of the two happened... but they did try to rip me off. Curiously she accompanied us on our ride to Captain's hostel- whatever, you just have to go with the flow in China.

Captain's was a hotel and a hostel in one. The entry was beautiful, filled with white marble, white cotton covered furniture and English speaking employees! The hostel itself was not very cheap, but after all I was in Shanghai now. I got to my room which had beds for 9. The room was a freshly painted white, with wooden built in bunk beds and cut out circular openings in the wall to create a cute nautical theme. Most importantly it had air con and clean linens! I met a really nice woman from Beijing who was in Shanghai for the film festival. I appreciated meeting her as she gave me some insight into that world and some great tips for Beijing.

Captain's is conveniently located around the corner from the Bund. The Bund is the promenade along the river on the PuXi side that faces the new structures of Shanghai or the PuDong area. Here you can see the Pearl tower and other modern buildings. Along the bund, are older buildings which look like they have been transported from Europe. At this stage of my trip, it was a welcomed change! They have been described as Gothic, Romanesque, Classicism, Baroque and Renaissance styles- I don't know enough about architecture to say so, but I'll steel the description and say it was beautiful! I walked along the water front in the afternoon before returning to Captain's.

Deciding I needed to make some friends, I grabbed some brochures and sat in the lobby area. I met a nice guy named Harry, who then introduced me to his traveling mate, Yuin. They were well informed on the to do's of the city and graciously invited me aboard their days in Shanghai. These were to be my new traveling buddies...

We went to the French quarter for dinner. It is a very clean and posh part of town which is filled with western eateries, bars, art galleries and all of the shopping one could want. After we walked around the beautifully lit part of town, we stopped for dinner at a delicious Thai place. After dinner we stopped for an ice cream at Haagen-Daaz which I must mention is not just a place to get a scoop. Here in China, Haagen Daaz is a waitress served parlor. You can sit outside and order the most decadent of ice-cream delights. I just opted for a cone of Dulce de Leche. I love not being lactose intolerant (what is the US doing to it's dairy that wont allow me to enjoy it?!).

We ventured back, in a cab, to the Bund. We overpaid for a night cruise along the river. As it was late, we thankfully caught the last tour. We were not sure what was in store for us. Rather than getting on a boat right there, they took us (as they instructed us by yelling at us in Chinese) to a bus, which drove some 20 minutes to a dark dock in the middle of no where. I had a strange feeling we would return there with no way back to the bund.

The cruise was very nice. We got a chance to see the skyline again, all lit up in it's glory. While I think the cruise is not all that necessary, it is a nice experience and you do get to see both sides of the river which greatly contrast each other. Unfortunately a few boats tours go at the same time and we were stuck to the side of a boat which killed our view a bit. Once again a perfect example of China almost getting things right but doing something to hinders ones experience... why couldn't our boat just go behind this boat?! As we paid for a longer tour, it took us beyond the tips of the skylines to a very dark and residential area, which then turned into an industrial area. I suppose it was somewhat interesting, but completely unnecessary as it grew colder with the nights air!

As guessed, the boat brought us back to our strange and deserted starting point. There was no direction as to what to do and definitely no bus in sight. There were however a good twenty cabs ready and willing to overcharge our return ride. We opted to walk and easily found our way back. Strangely though on one bridge that we had to cross, there were food vendors. They were all selling the same thing- a huge sheet cake of what looked like fruit cake. It was really odd and seemed completely out of place.

This busy day called for an early night. I was exhausted and excited for an even busier next day with Harry and Yuin.

One more notable mention...

At the entrance to the old town of Lijiang are a lot of beggars, vendors and pick pocketers. You know the kind, it really is a global industry within itself. You have people selling useless items, people performing lame acts or stunts and the people with the basic bump and take maneuver.

One particular act was truly depressing. A little girl had a short and small tripod like apparatus on the floor. The top of it was a spinning chin rest where she would do just that... she rested her chin on it, did a head stand of sorts (clearly resting on her chin rather than top of her head) and bent her body fully backwards. I am not sure if I am describing this well enough for you all to understand, but it was quite a crazy site. Resting on her chin, she was completely arched over backward and with her feet, she touched the ground and gave herself a spin as she balanced on her chin.

We also bought something from one of the extremely persistent vendors. They were a pair of flip sunglasses. The first set of lenses were yellow, the kind that block out all of the 'bad' light, and the top lenses were regular sunglasses. Wade tried them on as a joke, especially being that he had bought and wore his new old-school calculator watch (for the intense negotiating shopping trips). All I can say is that Wade looked like the coolest dork I have ever seen! The man would not leave us alone after that. We ended up buying to pairs of them, but before we had the chance to sport them about town, the man accosted us and tried to sell us two more pairs. Why on earth would we need more or even 1 set to begin with?! I thought Wade was going to flip, they were practically yelling at each other. We managed to dodge the guy and laughed at the poor tourist he next bombarded. It was a funny afternoon, full of giggles as we walked around in our new shades!

A tearful departure...

Not really,no tears. But it was sad leaving Wade. I NEVER would have had the amazing experiences in China if it weren't for Wade. Not only was he a lot of fun, at times bitchy, and a great planner (except when hungover, then he's useless) but his Chinese linguistic skills paved the way for a much easier and rich time in China.

I was off to Kunming, yes again, to get my stuff and prepare for Shangai. I booked myself into the same hotel and knew better when they tried to rip me off and have me pay more. I successfully got my rate from before! I was only staying one night as I was anxious to see Shangai!

I was especially ready to leave when I randomly bumped into Chris, Lorraine (but I did have a delightful lunch with her thai side kick translater) and the Swiss guy all within a few hours... once again this place was too small for my taste and I was off!

How could I forget?

Way back when I was writing about our hike to the bulong villages I somehow forgot to mention that at 4am or so on the second day I woke up to the house shaking. Everything was shaking. I was in a daze and wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not, so I went back to sleep. Minutes later, I woke again to the same movement and again I quickly fell back asleep. The next morning I asked everyone about it and no one had felt it. I was convinced I was dreaming or maybe some large pigs paraded under the house. When Wade and I returned to Jinghong we learned on the news that there was a major earthquake. It was 80km (that's under 50 miles... less than an hour away!)from where we were, 180 thousand people had to be evacuated, at least 3 people died with another 300 being injured. My heart goes out to all those affected.

It was my first earthquake and every one but me slept though it!

Yikes!

Liajiang was described as such a place like Dali. We had high expectations. Wade found what was supposed to be a charming Guest house for us in original form, the guide book giving it rave reviews. It was my time of the month and all of you that know me well, know that I am usually bed ridden for the first day. Here we had to navigate our way in the unmarked streets of the old town. Mind you all the streets looked the same and they were filled with the annoyingly chaotic Chinese tourists, mega phones and all. We found our accommodations and man was it a dump! It wasn't the worst place I have I stayed, but by no means was it comfortable. It was a similar set up to the last place. Rooms surrounded a very pretty courtyard. Our room had two twin beds and that's about it. The beds were awful. The place had communal bathrooms. The girls bathroom was a dump, filled with dump! Again, waist high barriers between holes in the ground to do your business. There were no flushes, just buckets of water to pour down. I didn't have a chance to see the showers, I would rather not shower than use them!

We walked about town, dodging the hundreds of people that lined the streets. It was a crazy place, beautiful but completely overrun. The stores were all tourist crap and the prices were outrageous! This place was a cross between colonial Williamsburg, Bleeker street and Dali. At the entrance of the old town stood a replica of a windmill... no wait... a wheel in water. What are those called? Anyway Chinese tourists stood in front of it and took many non smiling pictures. People were dressed up in silly clothing. It was basically the Hon Chinese trying to make a market out of minority culture.

We went to a music concert that night. It was traditional music with some of the oldest characters I have seen. It was a very special performance that I truly enjoyed.

We walked around town and found the craziest store or restaurant. It was called FAT SISTERS YAK MEAT. Did they really think this was going to drive people in? What a great photo though! We also found the bars. It was on a street that had a stream flowing down the middle, bars lined it on each side, one after the other. We found this street by the immense amount of noise coming from it. Apparently it is a Chinese tradition to battle each other in chant. From one bar to the next, groups of Chinese battled each other by singing a chant at each other from across the way. Westerners looked on with disbelief and this continued for hours!

We only planned on staying in this tourist trap for one day, but I woke up the next day sick! I had the loose poops! There was no way I was staying in that sorry excuse for a hotel. We quickly found a four star place and moved in for another two days! I had to treat myself as I was in bad shape. Poor Wade was stuck in Lijiang. While I was bed ridden, not being able to eat crackers or even drink water (I couldn't keep anything in my system) Wade went to the mountains for the day! He had an adventure of his own, hitch hiking as he didn't bring enough money with him to get back. his pictures were amazing though; I totally missed out... thanks Lauren, she must have been the one to get me sick! I was now on antibiotics for another 10 days.

I did get to try bamboo worms though. They were fried and tasted much like crickets, a perfect beer snack.

There is not much else to say on Lijiang other than to miss it.

A delight in China

Does it exist: A small relaxed town in China, chaos free and no herds of Chinese tourism? YES, it's called Dali! Still in the Yunnan province a delightful town filled with beautiful architecture, a huge lake and grand mountains surrounding the town. We planned to stay for 1 night, but ended up staying for a few days. Like most small towns though it proved to be very small and we pretty much fled on day 4 with out saying goodbye to our new and old friends.

Wade had another college friend (who was so nice but I can't remember his name and its totally bugging me)here who graciously exposed us to the life and culture in Dali. I call it a town, but it really is a city. We stayed in Guest House number 6; which has some crazy, easily forgotten Chinese name. It was beautiful, the rooms surrounded a little courtyard. Our room had antique and some antique replica furniture. Chinese are definitely not good decorators, but this place was done with a lot of class. We had a TV and a bathtub!!! The city's architecture was created to resemble ancient China. The buildings were no more that two stories and made of stone. The streets were all cobble stone and cars were only allowed in the surrounding streets, not in the center. Restaurants and stores lined the streets. Even though this city was created for tourism, it has not yet caught on to crazy Chinese tourism. There are a lot of (a handful) westerners that have set up shop in Dali. It barely felt like China because of the calm and relaxed atmosphere.

Wade and I went to the three pagoda's that are outside of town. We got there a little late, but it was nice because it was virtually empty. The Pagoda's were really old- sorry for the lame details but I can't remember the specifics about them... I guess that's what I get for taking so long to update my blog! In addition to the Pagoda's were hundreds of Buddha's in different brightly painted buildings. We walked the entire thing and climbed many steps. When we got to the top, we saw the most beautiful rainbow. The view was spectacular. The lake and mountain back drop was visible as well as the three pagoda's and the rainbow. We had it all to ourselves as we didn't realize it at the time, but the tourist sight had closed. We were exhausted by the end and were ready to leave. We walked down and saw an employee by the entrance. He didn't say anything to us as we walked towards the exit sign which led us to a 10 minute walk. As I explained we were very tired! When we got to the exit it was locked! Thanks guy, thanks for not letting us know! When we walked back to him he pointed to the entrance and that we could exit that way... arg! A perfect example of how unhelpful the Chinese could be!!!


We had dinner one night at an Indian place, owned by Carl, a really nice Irish guy (his mom Lorraine was visiting- one of the coolest women I have met). Actually before dinner we bumped into a girl named Lauren, I had met her in Hong Kong and almost went traveling with her. She came with us. She mentioned that she had been sick the last few days and was starting to feel better, this will be mentioned again! The food was great and it was even better eating something other than oily Chinese food!

A whole crew of us went out afterwards. There is a bar right next door to the Indian place called Vodka Bar. They have infused vodkas. They have no idea how to infuse vodka. They were disgusting. They had such flavors as jelly bean, skittles, pineapple, toffee (my fave), hot pepper, weed and beef and onion. They basically put such ingredients, crushed, in a bottle of extremely cheap vodka. It just didn't work... but it was fun! They had a roulette wheel with the different shots assigned to numbers... so a spin gives you a mystery shot! Gross,I didn't play. The two bartenders were hysterical Kiki and Jennie. Kiki made the worst drinks and Jennie loved to yell at her (in a loving Chinese sort of way). At one point Kiki was fixing a drink for someone and Jennie yelled "Kiki NO MOH ICE" as she hit her. Kiki replied with "Oh... I am ah too drunk and ah stoned". This place was crazy.

Let me interrupt here and explain a little more about Dali. You see, the above statements are very uncommon for the Chinese, especially women. Woman are not really free enough to act in such a way. Also the very strict laws in China do not permit such activity (smoking weed) with very harsh consequences. But here in Dali, a mystery to us, the police seem to turn a blind eye to such activities. For this, a strong Chinese hippie culture (dreds and all) has cultivated in Dali.

We all went dancing afterwards. Poor Wade was attacked by smelly Chinese girls looking for a little western love. Firstly, let me say they are worse dancers than Italians and secondly, they throw their hair all over the place (in your face) and would just hang on Wade like dead weight. It was one of the funniest things I have seen. Our crew was fun: two french guys (one was Stefan and I can't remember the other), A Swiss guy, an English guy, Carl the Irishman, two girls from Israel, Kiki and Jennie and the three of us Americans. I had a lot of fun dancing with the Swiss guy, but I then turned my attention to Stefan as Wade decided he was cuter. It was a late night and caused the following day to be a very lazy one and it was wasted in bed. Dali was definitely missing our wonderful pool from Jinghong!

The next day we went to the Monday market with Lauren. It was an interesting bus ride away. The market was a local market, not really meant for tourists. It was fantastic. I bought some batik linens and a crazy pair of knit slippers. I thought the slippers were interesting and I wanted to try them on. Before I knew it I had about 10 old ladies around me staring at me as if I were an alien. I think I bought half the items because of the intense pressure they put on you to buy things. There were a lot of women selling produce in their traditional clothing... it was really interesting to see. As we veered off a bit we saw the craziest thing. Some people I guess intending to sell them had tight wooden cages packed, I mean packed, with live chickens! As avian bird flu was back I was not so keen on this sight... but I had to get photos... it was completely unhygienic, inhumane and absolutely insane.

On the ride back we got off at another town which was supposed to be really interesting to see. It was a local minority village. We got there and ended up in some tourist trap where we were ripped off. I don't even know what we saw, but it was not worth it by any means. We had lunch in a local square, some street noodle soup. They sat in an inch of oil and were completely bland. As their was nothing to see in this town, we left.

We went to a restaurant for a drink. The owner turned out to be this crazy guy named Billy. He was Chinese but had lived in NY. We ordered ridiculously expensive and silly drinks, decorated with umbrella's and goofy stirrers. Billy was a crazy character, quite the jokester in a very unwitty, corny sort of way. But he's the kind of guy that you can't help but love, but after one hour of him, you've had all you can handle!

That night as we were having dinner at the Indian place again, the monkey king (Andrew) and Jeremy came running in. As big as China is, we bumped into each other again! We all went next door to the vodka bar for a few hours- the same people showed up, but Wade and I wandered home at a reasonable hour.

Realizing how small this place was Wade and I left the next day for Lijiang.