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VACASIAN!

Since last being in touch I hope you have recovered from a wonderful holiday season. Here in China the big holiday is the Spring Festival, which occurs after the 12 lunar month comes to a close. This year the date happens to fall on February 14th, so this year Chinese will be eating chocolate truffles along with the typical festival dishes.

Along with Spring Festival comes a nice long break from work. And after two weeks of being on the oppossite end of the examination process (trust me, this is a lose-lose situation) it is in need. Already a week into the trip, I've since headed to two Southern Chinese provinces. First to Sichuan which is better known to the Western world for its Kong Pao chicken, the 2008 earthquake, and Giant Panda bears. Within the country Sichuan is known for beautiful scenery, beautiful women, and beautiful food (this is a literal translation). The scenery was indeed eye catching including a trip to Leshan where the largest standing Buddha (71Meters...240 feet) looks out over a river basin. It was a very impressive sight indeed, and I did my best to shake the big guy's mammoth hand. The women were an interesting breed as well, and the downtown area even had a fashion center to check out. Shiny down vests, trucker caps with English writing, and glittered glasses without lenses are just of the few 'in thing' noticed...go figure. Considering the 'beautiful food' I must say that despite enjoying the fine cuisine I would hardly describe a violently spicey hotpot as being anything but beautiful...something beautiful usually doesn't make you hiccup for five minutes and nearly bring you to tears!

In Chengdu I met another English teacher from America with an interesting story. Jeff the recent graduate student in Sweden and former investment banker from Colorodo was on a similar travel plan and schedule in Sichuan and had the same intention to head south to Yunnan...a place that Chinese call 'eternal spring'. We decided to take a 22hour train to the capital of Kunming, and what an adventure that turned out to be! Because we had the bottom 'communal' beds we had a good chance to get to know everyone with the best of our communication and language abilities. In the open bunk of 6 with us were two people from a separate minority group of China (Yi), two business men from the area, one guy that said nothing but snored the whole time, and no one that spoke a word of English other than Jeff and I. A good portion of the ride was spent speaking to one lady of the Yi ethnicity. She and I could actually communicate quite well because our mandarin is both at about the level of a three year old! She was kind enough to teach the basics or her language (mom-ama, dad-ada, thank you-ka sa sa, etc.) as I ended up being teaching the alphabet. You may also notice that including the two of us foreigners I listed seven people. This is because the two Yi ladies bought one 'sleeper' bed ticket and one sitting ticket between them...and continuously changed postions throughout the 22 hour journey. Finally we made it to Yunnan which is a province where I currently am, and I must admit that winters here are a great time to be here. (75F degree highs and 60 in the eveing. Everywhere lies a background of snowcapped mountains and a striking blue sky.)

After parting ways with our new friends (and trust me, everyone was overly friendly and curious about two foreigners) we headed to a youth hostel. En route to our accomodation locals we happened across a fellow traveler looking for the same destination. This is how Silk, the full time traveler, part time tutor, and former hydroponics practicioner from Korea, became part of our three person traveling group. The following day we enjoyed a trip out to Shilin stone forest, which is a labirynth of stalagmite-like rocks that stretch over acres and acres of land and reach at least two stories in the sky. The most fun was finding peculiar shapes within the stone....the states of Maine and South Carolina were recognized, along with a cat, rabbit, and the outline of Australia (photos to come for validation). Next on the tour was Dali, which was compared by another American traveler as the 'Chinese Santa Fe' for a colorful historic town sandwiched between a wall of mountains and a picturesque lake. Unitentionally, I arrived at the 2010 China Flower Exihibition which had the city covered in rose bushes, camelias, orchards, and magnolias. There's also ample opportunity to get to know the local ethnic minority of bai people and see there vibrant way of life. A trip to the local park especially revealed the close relationship the oldest and youngest generations enjoy seen throughout the province. There were a few incidents further in the countryside when small children pointed to us and said to their mother, /na shuh shen ma/ or...'what is that!'..followed by a good chuckle from their parents or grandparents, and us foreigners.

Next on the stop was Lijiang, once a sleepy city hidden in the Himalayas, but now a thriving tourist destination. The change came after a devastating earthquake in the early nineties and the visit of many relief workers that it attracted so much attention from the outside. The visitors were so impressed with the scenery and the many different cultures living in harmony that enough support was gathered to declare it a UNESCO world heritage site. Since then the city was completely renovated into a historic tourist destination. Only one day was spent in the town, before I flying out and touring a little of SE asia... I'll be sure to update you on the trip then. The final end of the trip is a long anticipated visit from my amazing grandparents and dear mum and a trip to Hong Kong, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. Surely, more good stories to come! Hopefully you can update me on some of your happenings too, it's great to hear from good people!

As always...wishing you the best!

-Trevor