I'm alive!

Hey hey hey, it's me! Still alive and kicking in China. Been busy taking in the sites and doing all the travel stuff, without much of a break for internet using. I have no photos that I can post yet, alas, but when I do, they'll knock your socks off. Yep, goodbye socks! I just left a town called Yangshuo and the scenery there was breathtaking. My meager little blog can't possibly describe to you the gorgeous landscape we were priviledge to. Steep, green peaks jutted up out of the lush rice paddies, the sun beat down hard, shining brilliantly off the river, and local farmers walked their cows and baskets of foods along the paths. We rented bikes to ride through this astounding scene, stopping constantly to snap more photos. We slathered ourselves in a mud bath in a cave, chilled out on a bamboo raft that lazily coasted downriver, took a Chinese cooking course, and got our adrenaline going with some crazy white water rafting. The town was small and crammed with backpackers, but things were still cheap and we loaded up with some souvenirs. It was a fun few days.

 

The mud bath was so strange, it was thick, slippery and slimey. When I stood up, mud had filled my bathing suit, making it look like I had a big old turdy pile in my bikini bottoms. Ewww.... The bike ride was amazing, and I can't wait to share the photos. The white water rafting was a bit more action than I'd bargained for as Theran and I hit a rock and tipped over within the first 10 minutes. I was a little shaken but climbed back in fairly quickly. Poor Theran couldn't get in and our raft was whooshed past him, me screaming frantically "stop stop! he's fallen out!" and Theran getting pushed downstream, over the rocks, collecting some hefty bruises along the way. We also went to the terraced rice fields, which I'm sure everyone can imagine, it's one of the most Chinese images you can have of this country. And of course, it was beautiful.

 

Someone tried to steal Theran's wallet on one of our bus trips though. No, not just a little bit of deft finger movements, fast hands type of thing, the guy actually was cutting through Theran's short pocket with mini-scissors! Theran noticed before the wallet was snatched and was understandably furious, punching the guy a few times in the face before the thief was kicked off the bus. Crazy.

 

Anyway, Theran headed back to Canada so it's just me and the siblings now. Hopefully we won't be at each others throats too soon. I'd better wrap this up for now, tonight we have a train to catch to a town called Dali, where we will take it easy for a couple of days. It's all rushing by so fast!

 

Oh yeah, I also saw a market that sold dogs. To eat. There were the doggies in cages, then the dead doggies on the table being chopped up. Not a sight for the faint-hearted. I have photos for later, if you can handle it. Keep writing, I'll update when I can!