Xichang International Hotel

... So the boys walked me back to the hotel and I told them to go out without me. I did my business, drank some sprite, took pepto (thanks Dad for making me bring that to China) and was in and out of sleep. The boys stopped in with some food (which I did not could not eat...I think I had a bite and wanted to vomit) and a few of our friends who were in Xichang as well (because they were on their way to the ...

... their habitats to tourists, the younger generation like Erqing and Duoji have begun to waver between history and modernity, struggling to hold fast to their identity and their rare matriarchal traditions. With their wood-frame houses scattered around the 60-sq-km LuguLake separating Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, the Mosuo ethnic minority has a population of about 40,000. Unlike the majority of China's ethnic groups who follow a strong ...

... before...then some get their cameras out and want a pic of you...we feel like celebraties! As we were walking back this dude came up to us...his name was Mark (only 18) and wanted to practice his english...we ended up at his house as he invited us for dinner...mmmm was very good...he then proceeded to show us loads and loads of pics on his computer of places in China he had been, very sweet and very keen to learn... Today we hopped on a bus ...

... a chinese family home.................as we left his mum stuffed sweets and nuts into our hands.......like we were 12years old again!! Then Again today, this lunch time ..........we plonked ourselves down in the middle of a real busy outdoor eating area.............managed to grab something (of what everyone else was eating) when a couple of young lads approached us and asked if they could sit down .................one of the lads ....ordered some more food and drinks for ...

... are all around. Anyway, on to the next day. After we woke up (to fireworks of course!) we had a traditional Chinese New Year breakfast (in Sichuan province so I was told per train ride) of Tang Yuan. These are pretty much little round balls of dough that look similar to eggs and filled with something akin to peanut butter or black sugar. The peanut butter flavor is probably bean paste, but I prefer to think of it as peanut butter. After we had finished ...

... and I were in different cars (a fact which turned out to be a blessing) so after they gave me my plastic ticket, I went to find her. Right after leaving me she had met a young man from Chengdu heading home for the holiday who spoke english. We spent a majority of the time talking with him and another man who spoke english in her cabin. They both told us about different Chinese New Year traditions as we rode past many families shooting off fireworks of their own. A ...

... told by the sister to take my luggage to the room. The next day, it was the same lady who directed her younger brother and a nephew to row me in a dugout wooden canoe across the clear blue lake. On the way back, the pair confirmed that grandma is the one who collects the money earned by each member of the family from the various farms and tourist work available. She is also the one who holds the purse strings and doles out pocket money when needed. As for the 'walking ...

... to 28. Another 362 were injured with three missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said, citing figures from the civil affairs departments of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. The three were missing in Huili, which falls under the jurisdiction of Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Liangshan, a neighbor of Panzhihua City, the epicenter of the quake, according to Huili County Headquarters of Quake Control and Relief. No details were available about the three dead ...

... fish head soup, fried pig intestines on a skewer, baked pig liver, chicken gizzards, and rice. All my favorites! Actually, it taste a lot better than it sounds.....believe it or not. From there we followed Hippo to his friend's bar where they played Queen and the backstreet boys when I requested some American rock and roll. The next day I tried to arrange a train ticket (no seats) or a bus ticket (no buses going that way). The key to my ...

... hutongs (vs the modern city) makes me question the Chinese opinion of the increase in material wealth-- the back streets and family-run businesses are always cheaper alternatives to the large shopping complexes and Western-style districts. I've gotten huge bowls of delicious noodles for 3 kwai (40 cents) in hutongs, and paid 44 kwai (5.20ish) for a meal in a Western restaurant that were pitifully lacking in deliciousness. So, while it's clear that there is a market for ...