Reporting for Duty

(Brandon)

I apologize for missing my second blog post. I picked up a pretty bad bug while we were in Shaxi Village and I was bedridden for the next two days, missing most of our current trek in Lijiang. It got to the point where I had to go to a local hospital in Lijiang. Luckily, our tour guide, Evan, was there to help us out. He translated everything the doctors and nurses said, making sure I got what I needed, from treatment to an actual bed. Mike and Ms. Moy faithfully stuck by my side, braving the long night and providing much needed lightheartedness.

Southern Lake and Lantern Displays

(Deanna)

In our first official day in Xi’an, we ventured out into the Southern Lake, an artificial lake invested to beautify the already lovely Xi’an. The government decided to move residents to apartments and the residents were paid 500,000 Yuan equivalent to 80,000 US dollars. My initial thought was that the lake was artificial, how is it possible for it to be this beautiful? The lake is quite similar to Kunming’s lake which is peaceful, even featuring calm background music to add to the mood of the lake. In snapping photos of the lake, a little girl saw me strolling in the park and ran towards her grandmother.

Forget Two Chain, this is more like No Chain (Shaxi day two)

(Patty)

The guest house we stayed in last night (and tonight) is beautiful, however we were all discouraged to discover they were unheated. This, however was made better by the boys' discovery that our beds were heated. So, after a warm and refreshing sleep, the group embarked on the task. We left the courtyard where our rooms were set, and wandered to another courtyard(where we were told there would be food for us) and found our way into the middle of someone's home. Although we were very confused, we found the owner of the home, who also happened to work at the hotel, and he directed us into his dining room and treated us to a delicious breakfast. We are still quite unsure if we imposed ourselves on this man and his home, but he seemed happy to have us, so we plan to return again tomorrow morning.

White-Knuckling It to Shaxi

(Michael)

Our journey to ShaXi was a lot like the first World War; it consisted of long periods of serenity punctured intermittently with brief moments of pure terror. We left DaLi right after a Chinese buffet style breakfast in a van with a driver who both spoke no English and did not know the word ‘fear’ in any language and ended up in ShaXi within a few hours.