Jing Teng Li Wan Hotel Zunyi City

... if we could get that far.

At present, our itinerary starts in Chongqing, China, a short distance north from Zunyi. On the 18th, my mother and father and Dan's mother and step-father will join us for a trip down the Yangtze River. We'll see the Three Gorges, the grand dam and a few other attractions along the way. After the boat, Dan's family will fly back to Australia, to meet up with us in Bali in October. My parents will stay on, and we'll go exploring a little more here ...

... Foshan.

We have internalized some of the mannerisms and habits of the culture--a secret horror at people eating with their hands, the compulsion to accept gifts with both hands, a need to change our shoes at the door for slippers. What once seemed awkward (picking up flat, slippery rice noodles with chopsticks, meeting people without being able to ask their names) now we do as a matter of course.

We've learned so much ...

"I'm having a fun day," I thought as I watched seven normally quiet young adults struggle with brown construction paper and not enough tape.

I was turning my English class into a little science experiment. Our goal: To create a projection device so we could track the solar eclipse arcing across China without burning our retinas. Some cities north of us would experience a total eclipse, while we would see a partial one at ...

... special candle. Nick also explained some of the many deities to me, especially Guan Yin, who you call out to for protection when you're in need. You can see from the photos here just how stunning it all was. (those more educated in Buddhism will probably quickly figure out these are photos from several different temples in the same city...) After the temples, he took me to eat some ...

... at me like I am an alien -I have no view at my APT! (changing soon) -The only choice of Western food is KFC! hahaha -The Weather gets cold and warm! I wanted cold only. hehe -Almost missing my China flight! -I MISS YOU ALL! -I miss RU! The GOOD! -Awesome coworkers -I enjoy living alone -I am actually learning to cook food -I get to travel allover China -I enjoy teaching -I am moving into a new APT. next week with HUGE windows ...

"Excuse me," a soft-voiced girl in the crowd says. I barely hear her through the din. In Chinese then, "Stop a minute, stop!" I do, and a teenage girl with a determined look on her face carefully peels a sticker from a plastic sheet and fixes it squarely to my bare arm. Mission accomplished, she flashes me the biggest grin on the street and skips away. I've been stickered. And I'm not the only one. Around me, hundreds of people are sporting stickers. Some, like my new one, are ...

It's 7 a.m. on May 20 when I get the text message. The number is unknown but it's from a student in my high school class. I need to wake up anyway, but I think in annoyance that I had given those students explicit instructions not to contact me in the morning or late at night. His message is strange, and it's not his English that is the problem. "My phone isn't work. Last night was exciting!" I get up, take a shower. Later, as Dan and I are leaving ...

This may be the first time in my life I'm happy to be sunburned. It means that, somewhere out there, there's sun! After months of China's white-sky days I have given up on my usual precautions of sunscreen and hats. But today, as we whizzed along in a local bus, we could see occasional bursts of sunshine brightening the fields. This is why we moved to Guizhou province, Dan and I told each other, passing a village of traditional stone buildings with white ...

We seem under siege. Blasts from all quarters rip colors into the chilly night sky. Flames shoot from upstairs windows and the ground is blood-red. Shop fronts and restaurants are deserted, the shutters pulled, the doors padlocked. The water is shut off, inexplicably, mysteriously. The town's train station, bus station, are crowded with throngs of people bundled up and huffing steam, wanting ...

The Wind and Rain Bridge was built in 1916 and without a single nail. Looking at the bridge from our hostel a few metres away it promoted a sense of peace and calm. The bridge connected two villages and so was a place where people could meet. I met some of the locals here - about 9 old woman as they swarmed around me (being one of very few tourists at this time of year) and offered their wares. A few handicraft items later I ...