China Pictures 3

Some more...

- Allison and Brian at The Great Wall...yep we climbed it!
- Tian'anmen Square and the entrance to The Forbidden City at night.
- Steven, Daly, and Jimmy watching the Hygiene Trainees teach local villagers what they have learned.
- Men playing Mah Jong in a plaza in Wenshan.

China Pictures 2

Here are more!

- A man and his cart move through the fields in the "lake" village outside Wenshan.
- Todd poses with a bunch of kids in the Wenshan market.
- Big Bear/Temecula team with the hygiene trainees after they taught their newly learned skills to local villagers.
- A young Chinese boy in the village outside Wenshan.
More soon...

China Pictures

Finally, I'm able to post some pictures from home. These are just a few.

This picture is of the school in Wenshan where the English Team worked for two days. The students are doing their morning exercises in the yard.

Here is the Hygiene Team teaching villagers from outside Wenshan strategies to reduce the threat of disease in their villages.

Here is Team Big Bear/Temecula. Our basketball team played against the High School Team at the school in Wenshan. They lost 56-50, but at one point the score was tied 44-44 when Art hit a jump shot!

Here are Scott and Fred (from LifeWater) in the "lake" village where we surveyed the area for solutions to their water program.

More later...

July 5, 2006

Last day in China. Slept in a bit then breakfast. We did "English Corner" again this morning. Visited the factory and foster home again for pictures. A team from Brazil arrived today. They play soccer and do Brazilian dance. It was pretty odd to meet up with people from Brazil in the middle a small village outside of Beijing, China!

After lunch we settled up our account for our stay and met with Daniel for about an hour. We were able to talk with him about what they have going on here at the compound and how we might be involved later with them. Realy cool stuff. Again, we can tell you more later.

We had a chance to say good bye to the student and staff while they were all working together in the dining hall.

Our driver picked us up at 4:00 PM and took us to the airport, about an hour away. We had lunch there and spent down our Chinese money by buying MMs!

Check in went smoothly. The AC on the plane didn't work for a while, but finally came on after about an hour. Phew! The thought of 12 hours with warm stagnant air wasn't too fun. But all is well.

We arrived at LAX a few minutes early, breezed through customs and met Walter, Maryon, and Andrea at the exit. Josh and Andrea left and Shane and I drove home with Shane's parents. We stopped in Covina area for In-and-Out. Yum, Yum, Yum. Got home to Big Bear about 9:30. Talked with Helen and Spencer until about 2:00 AM. The to MY bed.

July 4, 2006

Hey, Happy belated Fourth!!

I'm sending this from Big Bear, updating our last days in Beijing. By now you have seen many of us in town. I'll see most of you at church on Sunday where we will do a short report. We are planning a longer presetation for later.

Today, while here at the compound we helped out with "English Corner" for the students a couple of times, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. We took a trip with Shane's friend Dave around and through the countryside. We picked up some supplies Dave needed for some ropes games he was playing with the students later that afternoon.

For dinner we had a 4th of July BBQ with the compound staff and families. Hamburgers, hotdogs, pasta salads, chips, soda. No pickles or cheese for the burgers though. Lots of fun. Volleyball, croquet, repelling off the school building. Then when it got darker, they set of a bunch of fireworks. Rockets into the sky, but only about 50 feet above our heads. Pretty exciting!

That evening a bunch of staff and family and the Musketeers played a bunch of goofy games at our house, we'll teach the to you sometime!

Tomorrow is the last day in China!

Blog Response Note

For some reason, yet to be determined, I have no problem posting, but I can't read the blog as you see it. I just figured out how to receive other people's postings as emails.

So, if you have sent responses to the blog, I apologize for not posting another response. BUT, now, if you post a response, I receive it as an email.

So...respond away.

Brian

July 3, 2006

Happy Birthday from China, Dad!!!!

Today we left the hotel and went around the city. We went to the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. At the Temple of Heaven we saw not only the beautiful buildings and gardens, but there were a bunch of people using the park for many different activities. There were groups doing Tai Chi, there were musicians, dancers, singers. We stopped and listened to a group of singers (not an organized group, but just people singing traditional songs). Some had books of music. I stood next to a man singing with a book. He showed me how to read the Chinese music notation, I learned how to read it by "translating" the symbols (numbers, etc.) into western notation. I bought one of the books of music. Get ready for some translation, Walter!

We then went to the Summer Palace. It is where the emperors and emperesses stayed during the summer months. It is by a lake. There are dozens of pavillions and buildings. There are boats out on the lake. It was beautiful, but VERY smoggy and humid.

We then picked up Shane's handmade shirts and drove out to the compound. More details about that when we get home. It is a pretty amazing place. Shane was here for a few months about two years ago. We are staying in the guest housing and spending time with Shane's friends and the students here for Summer Classes.

Tomorrow we will spend the day here at the compound helping out with the students and having a Fourth of July BBQ in the afternoon.

Can hardly wait to get back to home to see you all and share in detail about the trip.

Love you all.

Brian and the other two musketeers.

July 2, 2006

We got up and went back to Tiananmen Square with the intention of seeing Mao Tse Dong's body in his HUGE mausoleum, but the queue (line) was too long. Back on the subway to go to a club service only for international people. It was huge, about 1200 people. All internationals, no Chinese nationals allowed. There was a "w" team, a "p" who talked about feeding people. Then we had a "juice and bread ceremony." We met up with friends of Shane and went to lunch at TGIFridays. We will see them tomorrow when we go out to the compound where they work.

Josh and I went to the Silk Market after lunch. It's a place that carries all sorts of stuff (clothes, jewelery, electronics, gifts) at great prices. Did you see the word "jewelry," Helen?! I finished up my shopping. Afterward, Josh and I went to Pizza Hut! It tasted exactly the same as in the US! Mmmm...good.

The Musketeers spent time at the end of the evening with Kim, her husband Duane, and Grace. It would be the last time we see them for a while. They are great people. Kim was on the Hygiene Group for our team.

Tomorrow we move to the place where Shane spent a few months a couple of years ago.

July 1, 2006

The entire team met for a debrief session this morning. It lasted four and a half hours. Very good time. The Musketeers (Shane, Josh, and I) and the rest of the team packed up quickly to check out by 2:00 PM.

The team wasn't leaving until around 5:00, but the Musketeers went with Kim to check-in to the hotel where she and her husband are staying as they visit her foreign exchange student Grace. The hotel was great. Grace's Chinese family has connetions and she got us a great rate.

We stayed and rested at the hotel for a few hours after having McDonald's with Kim, Duane, and Grace. We got some snacks at the local grocery. (They have bean curd flavored Pringles, yum!)

We then took the subway back to Tiananmen Square that night. It is all light up and beautiful. Filled with people. We met a man who is a free-lance photographer traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railway. He started in St. Petersburg, Russia went across Russia, through Mongolia, Beijing, and he's on his way to Shanghai. He is photographing the whole trip and hopes to publish a coffee table book.

We took some great pictures and sat and talked. A really nice evening.

Back to the hotel and rest.

June 30, 2006

Today was quite full, tiring, fun, and exciting.

We all jumped on a bus and headed to the Great Wall. It was about an hour drive northeast of Beijing. We got in our groups, paid the 30 RMB (quai, $3.60) to get to the Wall, and climbed to the top of a rather long section. Pretty steep and hard, but definately worth it. There are hundreds of people trying to sell you souvenirs from stalls at several stopping points. The views and picture spots were amazing. Some rode a "coaster-tram" back down to the starting point after making their ascent. SOME hot shots went further than most and skipped the tram down. I wasn't one of them!

We then drove back into the city and stopped at the McDonald's across from Tian'anmen Square. The Square is where there was the student uprising and subsequent killing of many people. Remember that amazing video of the student standing in front of the advancing tank, blocking it's path. Well this is where it happened. The Square is the largest such place in the world. It is flanked by the Hall of the People (like a congress building), a huge museum, and the Forbidden City. In the middle is Mao TseDong's mausoleum. It wasn't open, Shane, Josh, and I hope to go back next week to see Mao. (PS, he's dead).

Then we split into our groups depending on what we wanted to do. Several hit the stores and some went to the Forbidden City. This is where the Chinese emperors spent their time. It is huge, full of hundreds of halls, gates, buildings, temples, gardens, and plazas. Much of it is currently undergoing renovatoin for the upcoming Olympics. It was cool to see the unrestored buildings and compare them to the restored ones. The detail is so beautful. The gardens at the north end were my favorite part.

After that we all met up at a restaurant nearby for a traditional Beijing (Peking) Duck meal. The duck is so tender and the skin so light, it melts in your mouth. You eat it by putting some thin sliced duck, sliced onions, and a soy-plum sauce on a small crepe-like wrap and eating! Mm, mm, good! Then back to the hotel for sleep time.

Tomorrow, Shane, Josh, and I will be moving to another hotel closer to the center of the city while the rest of the team does last minute shopping and preparing to leave China on the 8:00 PM flight out of Beijing.

The Three Musketeers (Shane, Josh, and I) will continue to post our adventures. Check back soon. AND we are REALLY hoping to post some pictures while here in Beijing since the hotels allow direct connections from computers. I really hope it works.

See you tomorrow.

June 29, 2006

Up very early and off to the Kunming Airport.

We flew from Kunming to Beijing. We arrived in Beijing in the afternoon. Our hotel is near the airport on the northeast side of the city.

Beijing is a huge city. 16 million people. Tons of construction and refurbishing going on. They are making their city ready to shine for the 2008 Olympics. It is VERY warm, humid, and unfortunately, smoggy.

The team said goodbye to Fred today. He is going back to his job with LifeWater.

This afternoon, everyone did their own thing. Shane, Josh, Scott, and I went to a restaurant that Shane had frequented during his last stay in China, "Paul's North American Diner." It was great, eating al fresco on a pleasant side street. We enjoyed some chocolate, vanilla, and peanut butter milkshakes for dinner.

Only two days left for the whole team. Wow, it is odd to be done with the project(s), but also nice to have some wind-down time.

That evening, bargain hunting was the goal. Prices here are amazing for some great stuff. Lots of "knock-offs," but also great buys on China-made products.

As the evening came to a close, a HUGE thunderstorm hit and the city was in a minor deluge! It was tough to get a cab back to the hotel, but we all made it "home" safe and sound.

Tomorrow, the Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City...and McDonalds!

June 28, 2006

We had an r and r day in Kunming...phew! We all worked so hard on our projects. The rest was definately needed. That night was the last night to see Steven and Daly. It has been so great to work with them on these projects. We hope to continue the positive releationship developed over these last few weeks.

Shopping, resting, and journaling kept us all busy.

Tomorrow, back to Beijing.

June 27, 2006

My dates are off by one day. Oops!

Today, Tuesday, June 27, the entire team went to another village outside Wenshan to have the trainees of the Hygiene Team present their lessons to the village members. We traveled about 40 minutes outside of Wenshan to a small village in the mountains. The Trainees presented four lessons to the members of that village. It was so great to see the local Hmong people training other Hmong people. The villagers seemed to catch on pretty quickly. This was a time for the trainees to show their stuff; and show it they did. They had a fun time teaching their Hmong neighbors several strategies for blocking disease from entering their water supply.

While waiting for lunch (provided by the local village leaders), we walked around the village and into the forested area. This village's water is visibly clean, but they will still benefit from the Hygiene instruction provided by the team. This was our last official task in the Wenshan area. We decided to go ahead and head back to Kunming a half-day early.

We spent seven hours on the bus returning to Kunming. On the way several of us played some great trivia and cunundrum games on the bus. We arrived fairly late and headed to the local KFC. We were starving!!!

June 27, 2006

Today the Hygiene Team went to a local village where those they trained taught the locals a couple of the lessons they learned in training. The team was met by 100s of people lining the road into the village, dressed in traditional Hmong costumes, singing them into the village. Kim and Allison said things went very well. The trainees did a great job transfering their new knowledge to their village-mates.

The English Team went to another village to teach and play at a school visited last year. We were welcomed by chanting children and the school's red-uniformed marching drum and bugle corps. The children were chanting, "You are truly welcome." It was very cool.

We then sat in the school courtyard while the "band" performed a mini half-time show. Fun! After that we went into classrooms and did our "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" lesson. This was a bit more tricky as these students weren't as well versed in English as the school in Wenshan. None the less, they did a great job. We then had each class perform the song and whatever else they learned for the rest of the school. It was great. The kids were so excited to have us there. We then played with them, giving out stickers, balloons, candy. To cap the day off, we taught/played "Duck, Duck, Goose" with them. It was so funny. Imagine Josh being chased by a little 10 year old Chinese boy, getting tagged and winding up in the Mushpot! (Pics coming!) We also did "Steal the Bacon" and "Follow the Leader."

We sadly said goodbye and drove to a nearby village to have lunch with two teachers from the school. We toasted several times. The teachers expressed over and over again their appreciation for us visiting. We hope to return.

We came back to Wenshan, had a P.R. time before resting and having dinner on our own! We'll catch you up later.

PS - We have tried all sorts of ways to post picures, but still isn't working. Hopefully we will have success from Kunming on Wednesday or Thursday.

See ya.

June 26, 2006

Today several people climbed 1000s of steps up to the local pagoda for a club meeting at sunrise. There isn't a local club here in Wenshan. I was told the pagoda thing was pretty cool. (I didn't go!)

We met for lunch and then went to the Hmong market here in town. It happens on Sundays, the Hmong from the surrounding villages come into Wenshan to sell their wares and services. Our whole group walked the market doing a lot of P.R. There were merchants selling all sorts of things including traditional Hmong costumes (pics to follow!), herbs, spices, medicial stuff, shoe repair, vegetables, fruit, toys, birds, clothing, etc. After the market we had some free time. Scott, Todd, and I explored some streets we hadn't gone on before. We heard a sound that reminded us of an ice cream truck. We turned and saw the local garbage truck moving down the street while the shop owners met it at the curb with their refuse.

On our walk we saw a Buddhist temple. There was a group of men playing Mahjong outside. It is like a card game but it is played with large plastic tiles. The pictures and words are carved into the tiles. When drawing a tile, the men wouldn't look at the picture, they would just run their fingers over the tile and "read" it with their hands. Impressive, given the complexity of the Chinese characters.

We met with some students from the local college for dinner. They have been sponsored by Overseas Tribal Services with scholarships. It costs about 2000 quai ($240) a year to go to college. OTS gave each of the 10 students a 500 quai scholarship. There were four of the 10 students with us at dinner. Two were English majors and two were fine arts/music majors. They were supposed to go bowling with us, but they had a meeting later and couldn't go. Several of us, including Josh, Shane, Allison, Art, and me went bowling at an alley in an upstairs floor of a hotel. Rob, Todd, Kim, Jimmy, Kaitlin, Kathleen, and Lauren were also there. Art bowled a high score of 145!!

We got some cold drinks on the way home and slept well!!!

June 25, 2006

Yesterday, Friday, the Hygiene Team continued their training, making fly traps and water conserving handwaswhing stations. Both made from old soda bottles. The English Team went to a local village for some P.R. The Survey Team visited the "lake" village. That is the one that we saw after P. Don and Walter's trip last year.

Shane and I went with the Survey Team to take GPS and altitude readings of the village so that an adequate map of the area can be created to determine the best solutions to the water problem (where to locate a well, pump, water tank, supply lines, etc.). We arrived around noon. It is about an hour out of Wenshan. Off the main highway.

We used Steven's car for as far as we could. Then we met up with our village hosts at another village. We left Steven's car there and rode the famous Pop Pop Car (named because of the sound the two stroke engine makes) to the 'lake' village. It was pouring rain for most of the journey, making the adventure even more exciting. Disneyland's Indiana Jones ride has nothing on this!! Many times we jumped out of the cart to push through mud and water. But, we made it.

At the village we had lunch with the local leader and three other men in the leader's home. A fancy, expensive Hmong meal...rice, chicken, pork with bokchoi, mushrooms, and roasted local peanuts.

After lunch we began the survey. Scott, Ray, Fred, Steven, Shane and I. Scott taught me how to use the GPS, so we took and recorded the readings. We went all around the perimeter of the village and then out to the lake. Well...it's not a lake anymore, but a field of corn. The water is gone. We took readings around there to determine possible water levels, etc. We went to several high points in the village to take recordings too.

The whole process took about six hours. At one point, Shane took over the 'stick' of the Pop Pop Car. Strange, the four locals got off and we stayed on as Shane drove. I'm not sure who are the smarter ones!!!

The four men who took us around were so great. They seemed genuinely happy for us to be there. They were most impressed that we rich Americans would jump in the mud with our expensive shoes (Costco $15.99!). They seemed to appreciate the help and potential solution to what they said was a 100 year old problem for them.

We rode the Pop Pop back to Steven's car and said our goodbyes. Steven was able to do some P.R. with them before we left. Yahoo!

Lots of P.R. around the men and the village. Lots!

We drove back to Wenshan and stopped to get Steven's car washed. It cost 10 quai (about 80 cents) for a full hand wash inside and out. Do you think Fox Farm Car Wash would drop their prices to that? Dunno...

At the car wash we asked if we could scrub off our shoes. They were caked with the thick red mud from the village.

We then went back to town and ate at Dico's. Dico's is an American style fast food place with chicken sandwiches and soft serve ice cream and sodas with ICE!!! While there three students from the school came by. We had met them when the English team taught them on the last two days. It was so fun to talk with them again. One boy (English name Bruce) was there celebrating his sister's birthday. I got to meet his mother, aunt, and uncle. The mother was so proud that her son was speaking English with an American. I asked Bruce to help me order another iced tea. He was great. The two girls, (English names Fiona and Shelby) were so cute. But they were all so eager to practice their English. And they did very well.

Back to the hotel for a much needed shower! Lots of red dirt everywhere.

This morning I took a picture of my clothes with all the red dirt on them before sending them out with the hotel laundry. Then the whole team met for more P.R. time with 'fresh bread' from the word. We had to say good bye to John, one of our translators. Steven instructed us on some upcoming plans. We will fill you in when we return.

We met for lunch then a walk through the Sunday afternoon Hmong market. Lots of food and wares. And now I'm here at an Internet Cafe checking mail and posting this blog. More later.

To my friends at CATS: I hope Carousel is spinning around well. Miss you all. I'll be back for a few performances at the end of the run. Love you all!

Can hardly wait to bring this experience back home. See you after the 5th. Happy Fireworks Day in advance.

Brian

june 24, 2006

forgive the lack of upper case letters. the shift keys on this computer aren't working. welcome to the world of e.e.cummings.

i've got a quick chance to let you know about today. it's saturday. the sanitation team is continuing their great work. the survey team is going to the village with the 'lake' that we saw at the 'club by the lake' presentation after don's visit last year.

the 'english' team is going to a hmong market today to do some p.r. and sightseeing. there is no school today.

shane and i are going with the survey team; scott, ray, fred, and steven to the 'lake' - see above - village to do some fact finding about possible well sites. scott's gps will come in very handy for measuring the area. it is about an hour drive from wenshan. in steven's 'car.'

last night the english team went out to dinner with the teachers from the middle school. we had so much fun building relationships with them. one teacher's daughter, emily - her english name - came. she has been our student guide while at the school. they have asked us more than once to come back and help them with their teaching. hmmmm...

afterward several of us went on an ice cream adventure through wenshan. kathleen took us to a supermarket where they had ice cream bars...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. and frozen juice in bottles. i bought some slushy orange juice, it was heaven.

then we all paid 10 yuan - about 1 dollar and 20 cent for a 30 minute neck and back massage. oh yeah...

brian, see you later.

June 23, 2006

The teams went back to their work projects.

The survery teams were able to meet with a goverment geologist. This is a great plus, because he will be able to help in gaining the equipment needed if a well is necessary. Scott said that was a huge benefit. They spent the day scouting out materials and resources. A very good day.

The sanitation team continued their excellent teaching. The curriculum for this part is very well done. Interactive with lots of modes being used.

The English Team returned to the Middle School to teach our American Holidays lesson. This time we broke into about seven groups. Art and I were together. We taught about the holidays, emphasizing the BIG American holidays - Fourth of July, Easter and Christmas. It gave us a chance to talk about New Years, Valentine's, St. Patrick's, Easter (wow!), Mother's Day, Father's Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (wow, again!). Well, we had no problem telling them the historical events surrounding the holidays and why we celebrate them. The Chinese textbooks had a section about American Holidays that mentioned no Easter Bunny, but the real person behind the holiday! Cool.

Then, and we couldn't have ever planned this one, the local news station showed up with a camera man and reporter. They filmed us teaching and interviewed Kathleen about our work here. Could we have ever thought that kind of thing would happen. We will be on a two minute segment of the 8:00 news tonight on the Wenshan Channel 1. Hum, coincidence, I think not!

After the lunch break we will return to the school for "English Corner." It is a time when the students are free to interact with each other, and us, practicing their English. Hum, good timing after the Holiday lesson...yep!

Then we will meet for dinner with the teachers. That will be fun.

This is a short, but amazing post, don't you agree? Our bus is leaving in 30 minutes.

To my family, I'll try to check email again. And to those responding to the blog, the icons and text on them are all in Chinese so I haven't figured out how to responds yet! My Mandarin Chinese isn't that great yet!

Keep up the P.R. It's working!

June 22, 2006

Our first full day in Wenshan. We met for breakfast. I ATE DEEP FRIED GRUBS. Kind of like over done french fries. One was enough!

Today the team split into its parts. One part went to local villages to survey the water situation. Scott, Fred and Ray are in that group. They were about an hour out of Wenshan, so they stayed out all day. They surveyed soil conditions and began formulating a plan for getting water to the towns.

The second group began their training on water sanitation here at the hotel. Allison, Jimmy, Kim, and Rosemary are in that group. They are working with representatives from several surrounding villages, training them in water sanitation skills. Allison said the group was VERY engaged in the learning. For many this is their first time in a city for any extended time. It is quite a luxury for them.

The third group is the "English Team." Our work is to go into the local school classrooms and "teach" English to the students. This group included Shane, Josh, Kaitlin, Lauren, Sudy, Art, Rob, Todd, and me. We also had Kathleen from CMA to host and translate.

The school is a very nice school in Wenshan proper. The local official (Mr. Yang, our government connection) has a son who goes to that school. It is a middle school (7 - 9th grade). The night before we worked on a lesson with some basic vocabulary and teaching them the song "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes." We had a blast. Sudy, Art and I were in a group and taught five different classes. Each class has about 50 students. Between all of us we probably conneted with about 750 children and their teachers. The children are very well behaved and so excited to have Americans in their rooms helping them with their English. Each class period we saved time for questions and answers. They were most interested in how they could work on making their English better.

The students have a break from 11:00 AM until 2:30 PM for lunch and rest. We did the same, meeting back at the hotel for lunch, then observing some of the sanitation training. Back at the school, all of us were in a room observing a teacher teach an English lesson. Afterward, we met with that teacher, several other teachers, the head teacher, and the principal. They asked us for suggetions to improve the teaching. Wow! They are very interested in making their teaching better. The teacher did and excellent job. There was little to suggest.

We taught in another room. Then the best part of the day...

Earlier, we were asked to do some outdoor games with the children. Being middle school students made it easy to think of playing against them in baseball or basketball. Our boys (Josh, Shane, Rob, Todd, and Art) were ready for an easy game of basketball with the 12 - 14 year old middle school boys. We walked down past a beautiful soccer field/stadium that belonged to the high school. We got to the basketball courts only to find the HIGH SCHOOL boys TEAM of twelve practicing. Their coach running them through the drills. There was a score table and referees! Our guys started to pale. Though tough enough, our team was older, limited - with no substitute players, playing at about 4500 feet, no practice, no playbook, or coach. They played a full four quarter game (about an hour) and, yes...they held their own. At one point, Art scored a basket to tie the game at 44 to 44. But age took its toll and Team Big Bear/Temecula lost to Team Wenshan 56 to 50. The comraderee (sp?) was wonderful. Lots of applause and cheers (and laughs). Our boys done us good!! Most all of the students from the Middle and High Schools were there to watch. The court was lined with kids. A good time was had by all. Lots of red faces and sweat and smiles!!! Congrats Team Big Bear/Temecula!

At the school earlier that day, they asked us to develop another lesson to teach in the classrooms for the next day. They wanted it in English, but also about American culture. Our team met at the hotel that night and developed a lesson about American holidays.

After the meeting, most of us walked to Dicos Restaurant. It is an American style, fast-food place with chicken sandwiches, sodas, and soft serve ice cream. Yum!!!

Some went bowling afterward. I went back to the hotel to write up the lesson plan. I thought I wasn't going to have to do that until I start up school again in August!

Good night!

June 21, 2006

I apologize for the delays, but our hotel in Wenshan has no Internet connections in the rooms. I have to go to a local "Internet Cafe" to be able to get online. Some don't allow access to certain sites. The first one I tried on our first night here would let me check email, but not post to the blog. This one lets me get to the blog, but I'm having a hard time getting to my eamil. It costs only two yuan, or quai an hour. That is about 24 cents! Also, because I can't connect my computer at the "Cafe," I won't be able to post pictures yet. We will be back in Kunming and then Beijing next week. While there I hope to update the blog with pictures.

Anyway, today we traveled from Kunming to Wenshan. We had two vehicles. A bus and Steven's car. The trip took about eight hours. On the way we passed by part of the "Stone Forest," an area of unusual limestone outcroppings that look like weathered tree trunks. About half-way we stopped for lunch in a small restaurant. It wasn't much to look at from the outside, but inside there was a small courtyard surrounded by individual dining rooms. Again, we had a traditional Chinese meal. All of the food is placed "family style" on a large turntable in the middle of the table. Always there is rice. With that you can eat the other items. My favorite for that meal was the bamboo shoots in garlic! Yum!

From that point until reaching the Wenshan area the road was narrow, few guardrails, lots of hairpin turns, and "bold" drivers who use their horns as much as their brakes! Along the way we passed by farm area after farm area. Depending on the elevation you would see rice paddies, corn, tobacco, gensing (sp?), pomegranets (sp?), and sugar cane. Of course there were the people working in the fields using water buffalo (cows) to pull wagons. Many people would be out selling their vegetables or fruits along the road. We saw beautiful red and green grapes, mushrooms, peaches, plums, and watermelon. And of course there were various unknown "foods" along the way too! :)

We arrived in Wenshan around 4:30 PM in the midst of a torrential downpour. Our hosts said that they had never see this kind of rain before. By the time we got into the city proper, there was 12 - 18" of water in the streets, manhole covers being pushed up, and people huddled under awnings and inside buildings. We saw several cars become stranded or stalled. But it did help the humidity drop and the temperature cool.

It is very humid here in Wenshan, but that makes it so green in the surrounding hills. The mountains are so beautiful. There are limestone outcroppings and shear cliffs (pictures to follow). Our hotel is in the downtown area and within walking distance to the very nice shopping and nightlife, but make a quick turn down an alley and you expect Indiana Jones to come around the corner and fight off some bad guys with his whip!

The people are very curious about us. This area is not a foreign tourist destination, so it is very unusual for non-Chinese to be here. The people stare at us as we walk down the street. They are, however, very excited to have their pictures taken. Thank goodness for digital cameras. I probably take a hundred pictures each day!!!

Our group had dinner together in the hotel dining room. It seems like we are eating every moment. And when we eat you want to try a little of everything. But with twelve dishes on the table, that ends up being a LOT of food. I haven't felt hungry yet! Then you turn around and its more food!!!! Yes, Don, some things are a bit odd, but ya gotta try!

Bedtime was welcome and we all slept like babies. There is air conditioning in the rooms, so sleep comes easy. Nitey night!