“No!”

(Lizzy)

The past two days have been very busy, and, I think we would all agree, yesterday was one of our best yet. We were picked up by Nancy, a woman of Bai nationality and our enthusiastic guide, and taken to see a market in a beautiful nearby village where the local people sell their fresh produce. Nancy explained to us that the Bai minority is a matriarchal society in which the women do most of the physical labor and the men do crafts, especially carving. The Bai men are called “carving men” because throughout history they have been carvers of everything from jade to silver to wood. The Bai people were given their name, which means “white,” because of their white buildings and the women’s white costumes, which many, including our guide, choose to still wear today.

Nancy explained to us that the Bai people are all very kind. We soon experienced their generosity ourselves when we were led into a stranger’s home unannounced. The family living in the beautiful, ancient courtyard-style home was happy to have us look around ...

Can you please pass the Toilet Paper?

(Colin)

This morning, we started at a comfortable 9:00 for breakfast in the hotel restaurant, which is not adjacent to the hotel, interestingly.  After consuming ungodly amounts of food, we meandered through the streets of Lijiang.  As we were wandering, Chris saw an old woman peeling potatoes on the street, and went to take a picture.  At the activation sound of his camera, the old woman screamed at him in some native dialect.  Needless to say, we continued walking.

After several minutes, we found ourselves on a market street, surrounded by various wares and curios.  Chris and Ryan bought ancient Chinese fake Ray Bans, Lizzy bought a nice pillowcase made in the Na Xi style, and I purchased a kind of flute thing.  We made our way up and down the street, and Lizzy realized that ...

Adventure Time

(Ryan Dougherty)

We woke up early yesterday morning vowing that we would have a Chinese breakfast.  No more sausage and egg for us!  We wanted fried noodles, hot soy milk, buns, and dumplings with mysterious black goo (which was delicious).  After breakfast, Julie met us in the lobby for our last day in Guilin.  We piled into the van for one last sight-seeing adventure.

Our first stop was Elephant Trunk Hill.  The reason for the hill's name is immediately apparent: the river nearby runs through the hill, carving out a large chunk that leaves a narrow strip to one side that looks like an elephant's trunk.  We walked around the nearby park, complete with a giant Chinese chess board, and piled back into the van for our next destination ...

The 1st rule of Chinese Driver's Education 101 - There are no rules ...

(Chris Estabrook, teacher)

Hello everybody. I'm sure that you've all been anxiously awaiting my first blog post. :) Our blog is blocked over here in China, so I haven't been able to read what Colin and Lizzy have posted. I'm sure their posts were very clever, witty and observant, so I'll do my best to match wits with those two -although I'm sure they'll have me beat. I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Lijiang. There are 4 people hovering over my shoulder staring at my screen. The idea of personal space doesn't really exist here.
 
First, I just have to say that I couldn't ask for 3 better travel companions.  Lizzy, Colin and Ryan have been wonderful.  They're funny, patient, adventurous...yet appropriately cautious, and downright cool!  This has been one of the most amazing and eye-opening experiences of my life so far and I'm glad I have three great people to share it with.  I'm starting to understand that Colin is going to be the prankster of the group ...

Li River to Yangshuo

(Lizzy Briskin)

Ni Hao!

It’s only our fourth day here in China, but we have already seen so much that it feels like we have been here for weeks. Yesterday we took the Li River Boat Cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo, a relatively small city.

The landscape in this part of China is amazing. The entire area was once an ocean, but what remains now is the thriving Li River surrounded by dramatic karst mountains that appear randomly, jutting straight out of the otherwise flat landscape. We had amazing views of the scenery on the four-hour boat cruise ...

Blogo Numero Uno

(Colin Braun)

Approximately 54 hours have elapsed since the Fantastic Four rose from their beds on Thursday, February 3^rd, 2011, at about 3:00 AM.  During this time, we have spent a good 22 hours on planes, and crossed twelve time zones.  Our initial flight departed Boston at 6:01 AM, and we arrived in Hong Kong 23 hours later, 17 years in the future.  There ARE flying cars.  Not much can be said about the flying, other than the crippling feeling of helplessness felt by at least myself, having for a majority of the flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong been absolutely clueless as to the remaining time.  Also, the food was terrible ...