Huangjia Grand Hotel Chongqing

... days until she flies back to the U.S. on Oct 18. We’re headed to Juizhaigou (a famous national park in China, known for its different colored pools of water, waterfalls, and cascades) for a few days. I sure am going to miss traveling with my mom. The kids will miss her too.

She took good care of us, getting us around, and keeping us well fed. Now we will have to rely on my lousy Chinese to get us by. Ah well.

... on floor seven of one of the blocks, inside the teachers' apartment, however, reality re-established itself, and we sat on the comfy sofas, discussing China... it was interesting to hear of these guys' experiences in the different parts of the country they have lived in, and to pick their brains about their students' lives and thoughts. I spent an afternoon sitting in on the Spanish-Chinese language exchange that Xiang holds with a local ...

... is the only way to
fulfill your life ”, as if anyone with common sense will immediately
sneer at the one who sticks on heliocentric theory. Disciplines
and regulations are made by human beings and complied for numerous
generations. Ironically, mediocre have already put away the reason that
ancestors made those rules. Who did ever say that ghosts are scaring;
and why are scaring? It is really difficult to find the ...

... what
dad does for a living. The smell in this second building was even
stronger than the first and it turns out you’re allowed to smoke in
Chinese hospitals. It was going to take an hour to get the film back so
we escaped to Starbucks (partly just to spite the smug ‘cultured’
people on our tour who’d been bashing it for the last 2 days) while we
waited. Poor Alex was in so much pain having been poked ...

... secretly held. No mass media intruded the funeral as
it used to; all bewailed the great loss of human being. The
paparazzi gave up their materials of funeral, due to veneration to
Yoshito Usui. In fact, Nowara Shnnosuke plays a part of a clown who
entertains us by sneering at adult world from the perspective of a
5-year-old boy. Nowara Shnnosuke, Doreamon and cartoons of Disney are
my childhood. Walt Disney died before I was born; Fujio Fujiko left us ...

... thirty seconds had passed before another person ran over the rail and posed with peace symbols on both hands and smile across his face. The people standing around cheered and laughed, then clapped at his audacity. The Chinese love a rule breaker. For awhile this morning (6:30) I was able to stick my head out the window to listen to the birds and smell sweet, fresh air. It makes me think there is hope in this world to hear nature sounds. I can still hear the birds ...

China's mightiest - and the world's third longest river after the Nile and Amazon. The Yangzi is 6300km long and starts it life as the snow melts in the south west china before it spills into Tibet, swelling though 7 Chinese provinces, sucking in water from hundreds if tributaries and powerfully rolling into East China Sea just North of Shanghai. Mainly just as my preferred and a good alternative from trains and buses, I choose to spend 4 days on this river ...

... vibrant. Room ok but not very secure but place feels safe. Went for walk Back to hostel to go to our room when we were asked by the staff if we fancied a trip to the natural hot springs tomorrow. Hels talking to a Belgian guy Yurgen who said he and his wife Josephine were going so we said yes. No hot water for shower ....so to bed to dream of hot springs...and hope that neither of us wet the bed!

... China and Hotpot is especially spicy. Many people are surprised us foreigners can stand the spice. A typical Hotpot meal consists of a pot in the center of the table that has an open flame underneath it. Water and oil is poured into the pot along with red and green peppers and onions. Then one would order the type of food they want to cook such as beef, pork, dumplings, potato's, pigeon eggs, bamboo, and then if you are feeling ...

... the rusty banks of the Yangtz Riv**, uncannily resembles a lawless early-century port-of-call of maritime m**chants, hardened dock labor**s and wat**front brothels. An ov**night stay in a small hotel on the outskirts of China's largest, and hottest, city, turned into a midnight brawl aft** a polite request on my part to ask three obviously drunk men loit**ing in the hallway to settle down, was met with a hostile response. A push on their part led to a not ...