Chengdu

When we reached Chengdu we immediatly ran into the Duestch girls we had parted ways with when we left for the Tigon grasslands. After a little catching up we decided to get to a hostel. The hostel we chose turned out to be a nightmare and due to heavy rain we were forced wait until the next day to change to a better one. It has now been 4 days in Chengdu and everything has been pretty laid back. I wasn't able to find a train ticket to Xian until the 2nd of August due to the national holiday of the founding of the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army). Overall, the most exitment in Chengdu has included finding the a sitdown toilet and a bank which would take my check card.

I feel done with China. I guess the thing that actually makes me feel ready to leave is people constantly trying to cheat me, or get money from me. Seeing a westerner seems to often send Chinese people in a frothing frenzy of monatary harrasment. Sadly the most common phrase I have used since I got to China is "no want" not "hello", or "thank you". I don't feel like my trip here has been negative, just having to be constantly on gaurd, or arguing with people has left me feeling a bit drained. Its good that I'm on my way to Mongolia. It will take a little bit to travel over the rest of China, but I should be in Ulaanbaatar by mid August.

I leave Tuesday for Xian. I think the train ride is under 14 hours, so its should be a cinch. Xian was China's first capital, predating Bejing by quite a lot. I don't plan to spend much time there, but it should be an interesting city to pass through.

Initial D

The minivan was a little bit of a mistake from Tigon to Kunding. The first problem was that we inadvertantly tied ourselves into using a specific van by giving the impression that we had made a decision about which, of the many minibuses, we were going to take to Kunding. When we decided that the bus that was willing to take us to Kunding was too expensive, we had a lot of trouble finding someone who would take us for a reasonable price, when just moments earlier the price had been dirt cheap. We later found out that there is a kind of minibus mafia which enforces some basic rules. If someone decides to take minibus A and then changes their mind and takes minibus B, minibus B is obligated to pay 50 yuan to minibus A. This drives up the price of every bus other than the one you decided to take in the beggining and allows minibus A to start jerking you around by raising their price. Supposidly minibus drivers are ruthlessly beaten or even killed over as little as 3 yuan (US .40) in this mafia, so it's pretty serious. In the end we found someone willing to pay minibus driver A 50yuan and still take us for a reasonable price, but only after hours of bargianing, and it was still more exspensive than we first thought we would be paying.

The road was rough and our driver made, what we thought at the time, were some jokes about someone else in the car driving to Kunding. Soon after we began to notice the driver of the minibus was leaning over the stearing wheel looking like he was trying to get some sleep on the curving moutain road. Eventually he just pulled the car over and said, "ok someone else has to drive now". Myself being the person with the most recent experience driving a stick said "why the hell not", and jumped into the drivers seat. The driver took my seat and immediatly began trying to get some sleep.

Being in a car in China has been nothing but horrifying. There truly is a lawlessness on the road unparralleled in anyplace I have ever been. The thought of driving in this chaos is either somekind of nightmare, or some kind of heaven depending on how you approach it. For me I beleive it was a little bit of both. The road was poor, steep, and curvy. The car was cheap, old, and falling apart. The seat slid foward everytime I hit the brakes and nuetral was undecernable from the 2nd and 4th gears. Because of the fact it is illegal for foriengers to drive in China, I found myself worrying about the random police checkpoints that seem to be littered across the country. The driver assured us that the only checkpoint (which we never hit) was run by family members of his and would be fine, so we pressed on.

After an hour and a half, we pulled into Kunding happy to be alive. Kunding was a little bit of a problem for me. The hostel the fellowship stayed in was poor at best, e-mail was blocked all over the city, I was out of money, and no bank in the city would accept my atm card or exchange my travellers checks, and everyone was trying to rip me off again. The town was also a big change with the population being mainly Han Chinese . The city was also the first city I have felt unconfortable in at night in a long, long, long time. Reaching Kunding reminded me of how kind Tibetans were in relation to people in other areas of China I had traveled through in recent months. The next day, early in the morning the fellowship left Kunding for Chengdu on one of the nicest buses I have riden in since I left for China.

Next time, Chengdu, Sichuan's capital city.

Oh! the Yaks butter

The bus ride from Litang towards Kunding was horrible. The ride was about 8 hours and the bus was a reck. The seats were bolted down abritrarily, meaning that one row might have leg space, whereas the next row would have none. The seats were so narrow that I had to sit at an angle becasue there wasn't enough room for my shoulders. After 6 hours, the bus stopped and 4 of my friends (minus the Duestch girls) got off the bus to head towards the Tigon grass lands. On a whim?I joined them and set off towards a small one street town nestled in a river valley. Tigon had much of the feel of Litang but was much smaller. The views of the surrounding moutain ranges were amazing thanks to the lack of trees and flat open valleys, which might have otherwise blocked such vistas.

The first day in Tigon, the fellowship decided to climb a moutain and head towards a small tent village of yak hearders. The climb took at least two hours due to the altitude, and picnick along the way. At the top, we were given a fantastic view of the surrounding moutains, valleys, and town. Off to the south was a view of one of China's 5 tallest moutains towering above the clouds. Also at the top of the moutain we were on, was a signifigant heard of yaks. Down the otherside of the moutain we ran into some heardsmen/women who said they were going to get their yaks and would be back in a second to hang out with us. Shortly after this we reached the tent village and were invited into a tent. In the tent I sat down in what I later realized was weeks worth of baby yak dung and hung out with the family. Jesse was 16 and lived with his family hearding yaks. He spoke Mandarin well enough that the group I were able to communicate with him easily. He told us about his life among the yaks, and I how sometime bandits (specifically yak rustlers) raided the village with guns. Tigon does indeed live up to the description as the Tibetan wild west. Jesse was missing his left eye. I regret never asking him how he had lost it.

On our way back to Tigon, we stopped by an abandoned monastary in a small river valley. It was amazing, and I was happy to get some good pictures of it.

The next day, the fellowship and I set out for a traditional Tibetan breakfast which turned out to be a mistake. My advice to anyone reading this blog is: if anyone ever offers you dried yak butter buns, say "no". If your curiosity gets the best of you and you decide to try them, be prepared to chip your teeth on some of the richest tasting butter paste you will ever eat.

One of the fellowship (Wim from Belguim) turned 30 on the trip. We had a quiet noodle dinner to celebrate. The next day Wim and I had coats made for us in the traditional tibetan style. My coat, for winter in Russia cost 14 US dollars and is 100% wool. In the US, the same jacket, if hand made for me, would have cost upwards of 400 US dollars. When I have a picture of it, I will post it.

When we finally got ready to leave Tigon we started looking for a minibus (van) that we could hire to drive us to Kunding. We did this because hiring a minibus was the same price as the normal bus to Kunding, and our last bus experience had been so bad. This became a little bit of a nightmare, which, for the most part, worked out in the end. I will save our story of how we got to Kunding for later seeing it had an exiting conclusion for me.

Just a side note. Anyone who wants can leave a comment for this blog. Blogger makes it seem like you have to sign up to do it, but that is not the case. Also, my parents have been sending me the comments so I get to read them whenever you make them. Thanks for reading, and I hope you're all doing well.

Up the hill down the hill jiggity jig

I hiked up a hill with the fellowship. During this time rain was threatening just off to west. The hill was located on some amazing grass plains so we could see for miles and miles. With a little bit of luck, the rain never reached us during our trek. At the top of the moutain was an amazing view of Litang and the surrounding area and a GIANT phallic pillar of stacked shale. At the top of the moutain I decided to walk along a ridge through a heard of yaks alone. The views were amazing and the yaks plentiful. After I had finished site seeing on the moutain I decided to run back to town, which, at around 15000ft was as difficult as running up a hill at sea level. When I finished my run I found myself waiting near the wedding house for the rest of my friends. It was only a brief period of time before someone came out and pulled me back into the wedding. I was "forced" to do shots of beer (Thank god it wasn't Chinese rice wine) until I was able to escape. I returned to the mouth of the trail just in time to see my friends coming down the slope. Together we made our way back to the hotel.

Halfway there, a horde of children ran out of a house taking us completely by suprise. Before we new it they had grabbed our hands and clothes while making the sign for photo. The children were all between 3 and 5 years old and screamed giddily as we waded through them. As we emerged from the other side, and it was apparent we were not going to take their pictures a funny thing happend. The children, in unison, dropped their pants, flashing us and laughed as they yelled at us in Tibetan. Shaken by the incident but no worse for wear, we returned to our hotel and went to sleep.

I was planning to travel to Kunding straight from Litang, but when we reached a cross roads on our bus ride, I decided to break with the plan, and on a whim, accompany the Belgium Chinese couple and Canadian Couple to the Tigon Grasslands. The Deustch girls continued on to Kunding and so began my trip to Tigon, or as it is colorfully refered to, the Tibetan wild west.

Back in flavor country... I mean internet country... nevermind

Because so much has happend over the past week I will post my adventures over the next three days.

After my last blog entry I set out with my international friends, that I had made on the bus, to hike up, big suprise, a moutain. We were supposed to meet up with the rest of our party at the city's monastary at 12:30. We (the Canadians and I) arrived at the predetermined meeting place 30 minutes late, and only by chance ran into the two girls from Holland. We decided that before the hike we would try to find the Belgium/Chinese couple who we assumed were in the temple. The Holland girls set out searching while the Canadians, and myself, tried to find shelter from the high altitude sun. 5 minutes later, and a balloon hat, an older tibetan man approached us and made, as I understand it now, the sign for wedding, asking if we wanted to go check it out. He motioned us towards a house and then continued walking on up the hill. The Canadians and I exitedly walked down towards the house and stood in front of the open gate until someone gave us the signal to come in.

Immediatly we were offered cigerettes and candy. Then we were literally pulled into the main building, up some stairs, and into a large ornately worked room with some of the most amazingly dressed people I may ever seen in my life. We were introduced to the groom, bride, and family who poured us pepsi for a toast to the wedding. In true form I whipped up a balloon flower and gave it to the now married couple. We were encouraged to eat, drink butter tea (which I was starting to get really sick of at this point), and sing. Feeling slightly obligated I agreed to sing a song to the newlyweds. I chose a song by a Santa Cruz local musician named Oliver Brown called "I love the way winter ends". I have to admit I have never been so nervous singing in all my life. I was completely surrounded by upwards of 40 people, many of which were dressed like tibetan kings and queens. I felt as though I was performing for some ancient court. Of course we were entertainment for the wedding and so playing it up was part of the fun. After the singing we sat down and ate. Crisis was narrowly averted when I almost spilt pepsi all over the groom's robes, and one of the Canadians spilt butter tea on the Ginseng.

After 15 minutes of tibetan wedding fun, in walked the rest of the fellowship (Holland, Belgium, and China). Apparently one of the Duestch girls had glimpsed us as we enetered the wedding hall from the Temple. After running into the Belgium/Chinese couple, they wandered too close to the wedding and were also pulled in by a number of eager tibetan party goers.

30 minutes later, full of butter tea, pepsi, steamed ginseng, and dumplings, we finally "escaped" from the wedding and began our hike up the moutain.

Horse races start August 1st

Hello everyone. I have been either in Zhongdian or traveling the last couple of days. Returning to Zhongdian was amazing. There were 4 completely new 2 story buildings that hadn't been there when I left. I found out from some local tibetans that there had been a city wide mandate issued on september of last year that 365 days later every building in the old town would be rebuilt. This explains why there is an insane construction-rush to finish working on so many buildings in Zhongdian. The town is very eager to turn itself into a tourist trap.

Over the last couple of days I have traveled from Zhongdian to Durong to Xiangcheng and finally to Litang where I am now. Included is a link to a map that shows where I have been. Mei Li Snow Moutain near Deqin is where Yubong was. The moutain actually borders Tibet, so there were times during my trip to Yubong that I was only a couple of Kilometers from Tibet.

http://www.chinabackpacker.com/destinations/yunnan/map/yunan.jpg

The road between Xiangcheng and Litang (Just north of where the map ends) was very beautiful. I hope that sometime in the future I can travel back there to spend some days backpacking, rock climbing, and flyfishing. The altitude was over 5000m, so well over 15000ft. I have also been told that my hike to Yubong was in fact at an altitude of 11000ft which makes more sense seeing that I started hallucinating from lack of oxygen.

I have reduced my bags once more. I am now carrying next to nothing: a shoulder bag and a very small black bag about 6x4 inches. It feels really good to not have to lug around a whole bunch of things I don't really use.

I have become part of a congealed group of traveling westerners. We all met on the bus to Xiangcheng, and have stuck together. The group includes a french couple, a belgium/chinese couple, two people from Holland, a Canadian/Malaysian Canadian couple, and me.

Besides the fact everyday is an adventure, there hasn't been any experience worth writing about. I will stay in Litang for the next couple days, and then it is off towards Chengdu.

Yubong so long... I make rhyme!

If any place in China deserves to be called Shangri La it is Yubong and the surrounding wilderness. The best way to describe it is small villages nestled in the valley of a moutain range very similair to the Sierras in California. The big difference is that the forests are more like those you would find in Santa Cruz. Yubong is located in an alpine Chinese redwood/pine forest with more fairytale like scenery than you can imagine. From Yubong you can hike to a waterfall that has signifigance as a Bhuddist holy spot, and a glacial lake in a small secluded valley.

The scenery was beautiful but the really amazing thing was spedning the morning hiking through bamboo forests to a small valley and knowing that I was the only person there. I explored everyday I was there and realized that a month wouldn't be enough to really experience the magnitude of the area. Everyday I would find a new area and things like the remains of a log cabin, or a water powered lumber mill. I stumbled across the base camp set up by the Japanese team that tried to climb Mei Li Moutain and Bhuddist temples tucked away in the thickest parts of the forest.

While I was hiking I only saw locals, and even that was rare. There were very few Chinese tourists/bhuddist pilgrims, and only one Westerner in the village who I never saw. Truly, if I ever imagined a paradise in my mind it was this place.

It was in Yubong that I found what I think I was looking for in my travels. I hadn't realized it, but I needed to go somewhere as far away from western culture as possible. A place where all of the messed up ideals, and socials ills I've lived around didn't exsist. Its easy to get away from your job for the weekend, but its hard to escape the reach of the culture I have lived in my whole life. I'm usually one to think that you go looking for the things that turn out to have been at home all along, but this was not the case here. I see I've needed a vacation from American culture.

I spent my time with a family who owned a guest house. The boss was a tough as nails Tibetan woman who was an excellent cook. I especially grew to enjoy the steamed savory buns which were essentially glorified paste, but good breakfast material.

I also realized that I want to see the world. China is amazing and I could spend my entire trip here, but there will be so many other amazing places to see that moving on was the best choice, so Saturday morning I packed up my stuff and joined a Tibetan guide for company to hike back to Deqin.

In Deqin I ran into some friends I had met in Dali and enjoyed a good day of watching them shop. It was more amusing than I think I can convey in words. It tends to become a spectator event for the locals when westeners try on traditional tibetan cloths.

Today I am back in Zhongdian ("Shangri La"). I will rest one day and then it's off to the Sechuan Province's Tibetan Moutain range (Litang) and then to Chengdu.

I will post media of Yubong before I leave Zhongdian.

Steamed Savory Buns:
2 parts flour
1 part water
some baking poweder, some salt, add some chopped green onions or just keep it plain and eat it with jam or honey.
knead the dough for about 5 minutes then roll out until there is a long strip 2 inches in diameter. Slice this snake like piece of dough every 2 inches.
Steam the peices for ten minutes, or until the buns aren't sticky.

Tibetans and grains of salt

Tibetan translation notes pertaining to minority groups along the northern Yunnan, Tibetan border.

Shortcut(downhill)- Yeah, just head down this hill, its much faster than following the road. Sure, there are no trails, most of the it is a sheer cliff, the hillside is made up of loose gravel and prone to rock slides, the goats will try to gore you if the yaks don't, you will have to cling to rock faces as you traverse along the side of the mountain dangling over deep valleys/intense rapids, but hey, my three year old son/daughter can do it blindfolded so you shouldn't have any problems.

Shortcut(uphill)- This way is much quicker. Its straight uphill and
you will face many downhill conditions but my grandmother hikes it 5 times a day with 80 pounds of firewood on her back so you should be fine.

This hike will take 3 hours- This hike will take me 3 hours. Its up hill and at an elevation well over 9000ft, but I'm a 65 year old chain smoker, and I don't break a sweat when I do it, so you shouldn't have any problem.

My trip began when I headed for the town of Deqin 68km east of Tibet. I spent very little time there and immediatly made my way to Felia Si. Felia Si is a small town built around a temple and an amazing view of Mei Li snow Moutain. I spent the night in a small guesthouse overlooking... you guessed it, Mei Li snow Moutain. That night I heard the story about how about 20 years ago a team of 13 Japanese Moutaineers died trying to climb Mei Li which translates to goddess (and prostitute). I was told that it was a good moutain becasue it obviously hated Japanese by my friends at the guesthouse.

My destination was a small town called Yubong at the base of Mei Li, which I knew very little about. I was told that it would cost well over 100 yuan to get to the Xidong hot springs where the trail to Yubong began so I decided to walk along the road. I was told it was a three hour walk (this was not true at all) and so at 8am I set out for Yubong.

After about an hour of walking along the road I ran into a tibetan whose truck had a flat tire. He was "nice" enough to inform me that it wasn't worth walking the road and that it would be much faster to take a shortcut down the hill to the small village of Xidang. Convinced I headed off ready for a little treking through rough terrian.

Two hours after I set off down the hill I reached the bottom happy to be alive. The small foot bridge that gave access to xidong was completely covered in Yaks. Litteraly there were 10 Yaks standing, doing absolutly nothing except blocking my way across the river. After a good 20 minutes I was able convince enough of the Yaks to move that I was able to enter Xidong. Already tired and aching I decided to stop for lunch in Xidong. Three balloon hats, a bowl of rice, and 5 glasses of warm Yaks milk tea later, I set off towards the Xidang hot springs taking a shortcut uphill the villagers had been "nice" enough to inform me of.

Just as I was about to reach the hots springs I became violently ill (too much Yaks milk tea) making the last 200 meters to the hot springs a death march of sorts. After getting medicated and having a short break at the springs I decided I had traveled too far (20-27km) to give up on Yubong now. So with a kind invitation from an old man with a mule train for company I set off for Yubang, which was straight uphill. The old man, who I didn't catch his name, was for all intensive puposes my personal trainer up the moutain pushing me harder with phrases like "almost there", and "just around the bend". Trying to keep up with this man turned out to be a huge mistake seeing that his estimate for climbing the moutain was three hours and I was in no condition to make the hike in that amount of time, even when I was rested and not sick. Half-way up the moutain we parted ways seeing that my back was starting to spasm, and there was a rare level area for me to rest. Not knowing that I was only halfway up the moutain, and feeling somewhat rested, I set out again with renewed vigor. Still feeling sick from lunch each step became more and more difficult as I found new physical to limits to push.

At 5pm I reached the top of the moutain and thats when I began hallucinating. Up until this point I had beleived that a former trip through the Diablo hills was the hardest I had ever pushed myself, but as I made my way into the valley towards Yubong, I realized just how hard I had tested my limits that day as little lights and blurs danced around my vision.

At 6pm, having hiked 40-47km through some of the most intense terrian I have ever seen, I reached Yubong. Shaking I checked into a small inn, ate dinner, and went straight to bed.

I will post the rest of what happend to me to in the next two days with pictures of Yubong village.

A maniac, maniac on the floor...

Last night was fascinating. I danced in the town sqaure with ~500 Tibetans for a good hour. Every evening around 7pm, a signifigant portion of the town turns out to dance together in a big cirlce. Really, it was tibetan sqaure dancing and involved four different choreographed seqeunces which you figure out by following a woman on the inner egde of the cirlce. I had a lot of fun and at 8pm the crouds dispersed and I headed back to the inn with my friends.

Later, I ended up in a bar in the basment of a very old tibetan house. It was actually a very amazing place becasue I feel it is the beggining of a youth culture in Zhongdian. It felt kind of like I was seeing some underground music scene before it became commercialized and fed to the masses through some giant record label. It will probably be short lived though. I think I've just hit the crest of the tourism wave as it washes through China. Yangshoe, Lijaing, Dali, were all cities that at one time were like Zhongdian as it is now, old, real, and a little ugly. Even Zhongdian is in the throws of selling its soul for an old style mall endorsed by coca cola. This is most evident in the name change from Zhongdian to Shangrala and the amazing amount of renovation that is happening all across the old town. Every third building is having signifigant construction done on it and I beleive that the town's hostorical look, culture, and feel, may have 1 year left at the most. Even now its obscured by new tourist oriented shops opening up all throughout the old town. I feel lucky to have caught the Zhongdian before it changed completely.

I will be heading for Deqin tommarow morning, and after that I will be in villages that are only connected by small foot trails. For this reason, internet access may go from difficult to find to non-exsistent. That could last up to a week unless I decide to turn around and head back to Zhongdian.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I left Mama Naxi's with a couple of questions. Why did she own a brand knew dirt bike? and why did Papa Naxi own numchucks？My imagination can only begin to wrap itself around those questions.

I'm in Zangdian, which officially changed its name to Shangrila two years ago. The town is at an elevation of about 12000ft and is a Tibetan community. There are Lama temples everywhere and the old town is actually an old town. I'm staying in a 130year old building that used to be the largest building in town, but is now on the smaller side. I've been lucky enough to make friends with a girl from Chengdu who speaks excellent english. She has been showing me around and I has convinced me its worth spending a couple of extra days here. The scenery is amazing and I'm enjoying a city off the tourist tract.

I extended my visa by a month, and may not be traveling to Laos. Laos sounds great, but I'm starting to wonder if I want to go for the right reasons. Really, I'm reminded each day how many places there are and how impossible it would be to see all of them.

I will publish pictures of the hotel I'm staying at when I have the chance.

Plans? What plans?

I've decided to extend my visa another month. Then I will spend more time hiking from village to village outside of Deqin before I travel to the city of Chengdu. Then from Chengdu I will probably head to Laos. I beleive I will leave tommarow for Zongdian.

Surogate parents?

I've stayed for the last two days in Lijang. The first night back from Tiger Leaping Gorge I woke up to a drill bit bursting through the wall of my dorminitory room. I immediatly put on some shoes and went downstairs to find out why construction had started on the building at 7am. I was told, very matter of factly, that without warning it's geusts, the hostel would be upgrading the buildings electrical system from 7am-midnight for the rest of the week. I was also informed that the hostel was raising it prices for beds. This was enough to send me packing.

In an earlier random set of events, I ended up with the card to Youth Hostel on edge of Lijang old town Called Mama Naxi's. In the maze of old town, it took a bit to find the right place, but after asking for directions a number of times, I eventually walked down a small alley and into a courtyard. There I met Mama Naxi who without pausing after greeting me offered me food. When I politely said no, she dissapeared and then reapeared with a Bannnana which I realized would be rude not to take.

That day I was told that the dinners at the hostel were fantastic and an unbeatable price, so at 6:30 that night I arrived ready to eat some Naxi food. Mama, as she prefers to be called, is crazy, but in the way I imagine many mothers can be. Also, the way in which Mama's personality is most pronounced, is feeding people. In this quest to treat every hostel guest as her malnourished child, she seems to find the most joy in feeding young skinny men. I now know that when I walked into the Hostel for the first time, Mama nearly jumped up and down with joy at the thought of getting to feed me.

Mama's pension for feeding people has made dinner time an experience like no other. Both nights I've eaten at the hostel, I have been chased around the courtyard being scolded by Mama as I tryed to cover my empty bowl, and Mama chased me with rice in one hand, and deep fried pork in the other. Both nights I have ended up fleeing the hostel gorged on excellent food and actually running as fast as I could out the door.
---------------------------------------
I just parted ways with four really fantastic people. I hope that the rest of their trips go well.

I'm still waiting for a package from the states, and ready to leave Lijaing.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/nationality/naxi/

Gorged tigers leap

I just got back from Tiger Leaping Gorge. No note worthy adventures but some of the most spectacular scenery I've seen in a while. Everything you see on the trail is so consistantly grand that eventually you just become numb to it, but in a good way. I ended up doing a little trail blazing to an auqaduct and then hiked along that until I hit a small village. I made a good number of friends on the hike and overall had a great time. I've included a picture of what I saw on the trail. Also, I ate really good food at the some of the villages along the way.

I'm thinking that maybe in two weeks I might head for Thailand and Laos. I'll try to get in trouble so I have something to write about.

I am a really crappy bargainer

The title of this entry pretty much says it all. This has become somewhat problematic when attempting to purchase things in China. It is very common for prices to be tripled when a westerner walks into a shop. Even if your not a westerner, prices are generally higher than they should be and you, as the customer, are expected to bargain. What makes most situations worse is the fact that my ears cannot discern numbers well, so I often don't know what price to counter with and loose a bit of credibility by needing everything written down. The upside is, that even when I fail miserably at bargaining, I'm still only paying half what I would pay in America (Meigou).

The balloon hats have continued to save my ass repeatedly... or just provide loads of entertainment. I was walking through the woods on the mountain overlooking Dali when I ran across a family of Tibetans cooking lunch under a small granite overhang. I passed by them with the usual cross cultural tension I've come to expect from these situations, but then decided to circle back and make them a baloon creation. I can only imagine that it was a strange/surreal experience for them as I, without a word, inflated three balloons and twisted them into a crude flower. When I handed them the finished "product" there was a pause, and then a roar of laughter and joyful yelling. I got a thank you and went on my way. The path immediatly curved into a small valley and then back around to another point on the moutain. After a couple minutes of walking I could look across the small ravine and see the general area where the family was happily eating their mid-day meal. Just as I was about to go around a large bend, I heard from across the valley a pop, and then a lot of commotion and, maybe, an old tibetan woman cursing my name. The running joke has become a story of the foriegn devil and his evil exploding gifts.

Everything is fantastic. I'm on my way to tiger leaping gorge tommarow, so who knows when I'll be able to update again. I'm loving the reduced weight of my pack.

Wait for it... waaaiiiitttt ffforr iittt...

Today I took half of the things I brought to China, packed them up, and sent them home. I have reduced everything to two bags that fit around my waist.

I am pretty badly sunburned. It has been years since I got too much sun. I was on a bike ride yesterday and ended up using a friends sunscreen. I applied it multiple times during the day, and still got burned.

In 5 minutes I head for Lijiang, and then tommarow to Tiger Leaping Gorge. No adventures, just resting after being sick. Thanks everyone for your comments.