(As usual I’m behind.. I’ve back dated some entries I wrote awhile ago and finally got the chance to publish them.)

Oh China… I choose you because it was warm in May in the north. The “plan” was to travel from north to south to stay away from the cold. I’ll admit I was very nervous to see you at first. Landing in Beijing gave me a rush that I’ve never felt before. Now I feel a bit more at home with you.

Random Thoughts, Facts, and What I Got Use To

• I love how you introduced me to squat toilets.
• Forgetting to bring toilet paper with me to the restroom for the first time.
• I now carry toilet paper with me all the time.
• Seeing kids with the slit pants became normal to me.
• I’m no longer aware of the people staring at me.
• Hard Sleeper trains are your best bet. I always preferred the way top bunk.
• I will now to try to go on dates back at home to KFC.
• Became somewhat numb to the travelers “Good Byes”
• Made some fantastic friends from many parts of the world.
• I speak much slower English now cause it’s the only way some Chinese will ever understand me.
• I’ve got hand gestures for every possible item or place.
• I suck at planning but I’m good at following people who do plan.
• I always ask someone at the hostel if I could read their Lonely Planet book for a little while since I never got one and can never find one to buy.
• Although the language barrier can be rough in China, it’s extremely easy to get around as long as you have patience and common sense.
• I’ve mastered bargaining. Certainly an art form.
• The UK has taken over backpacking. They are everywhere in China.
• Because I’ve met so many English folks on the road, I’ve somewhat adapted to their British English language.
• I can never get use seeing the Chinese guys lifting up their shirt to their chest and walking around town.
• Opening a business in China is like opening a business in the 1950’s. Bring a good idea here and you’re good for the long run.
• Pushing, shoving, and cutting is normal.
• Even if you have a reserved seat on a train, rush to get to your reserved seat as fast as possible for absolutely no reason.
• I’ve eaten tons of foods not knowing what they were.
• Street food tastes fantastic in China. Less likely to get sick as well.
• Apparently the Chinese never heard of WD40 cause every single bicycle, motorbike, and car has the sound of pain on their brakes.
• Driving on the opposite side of the road is perfectly normal way of passing someone up that is going too slow.
• Safety regulations don’t exist?
• Screaming even to say hello or thank you is normal.
• The locals make every attempt to help foreigners (Exception to Taxi drivers)
• “Boo Yao” (No, I don’t want) is used more often then it should be used.
• I’m addicted to the Chinese culture.
• 30 days in China is not enough. I’d say at most 90 days is pretty decent amount of time to travel most of the country.
• For everyone back at home, China is completely different from what you think it is.
• China is real travel…

China, I will be back…  Leaving from Kunming, China to Laung Prabang, Laos on a 24hr bus ride over the border. On my own again to a place I know nothing about.
Now for Laos

Tags: China

We arrived at Lijang and checked into crazy Mama’s Guesthouse in Old Village. Mama is a bit of a nutcase honestly but she means well. Old Village is beautiful, relaxing area, stoned bridges and roads, and just has a very old fashioned vibe to it. It’s actually listed in the World Heritage List. After many hours on a train and bus, we rested for tomorrows adventure on the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Woke up early to have some of Mama’s breakfast and get ready for a 2 hour bus ride to Tiger Leaping Gorge. Jemma, Clare, and Chris made the hike up Tiger Leaping Gorge mountain very entertaining. We played some ridicules games, talked, chilled on random spots, and of course tons of picture taking. The view the entire way was fantastic. Snow capped mountain tops, waterfalls, bright green trees surrounding the mountain, and bluest sky I’ve ever seen in China. We trekked I think for about 6 hours total and slept at a guesthouse halfway.

The guesthouse was one of the best parts about the journey. Met several people there and hung out for most of the night. Bijio is a killer alcoholic drink in China. It’s disgusting yet you drink it anyway. It was made and brewed on the mountain by some locals so it defiantly had a better taste to it then the last time I tried it. The most entertaining part of the night was thanks to Caleb. It was late and it was only Chris, Caleb, and I awake. Caleb decides we should join the owners and workers table of the guesthouse. Caleb knows a bit of Chinese so it was much easier for him to communicate with them. He was basically our translator for the night. Hanging out with the locals is the best way to experience a culture. This is what traveling is all about. Understanding the other side of the world. I now have a better understanding of the people in China. One thing that really stood out that was said by one of the owners of the guesthouse is that China isn’t looking to become a super power like USA or the UK. China just wants to be known on the map and have a better reputation to just get high enough to be known but not pass up USA or the UK. Very good information and it was like this all night. Plenty of jokes and laughter going around. Everyone loved it.

LOL we were making random chinese numbers. I did the number 6

We continued our trek the next day. Legs were already killing me from the day before. We gathered up some more people to come with us to the end. Although we had to do another killer 6 hours of climbing up then down, it was well worth it. Intense workout these past 2 days. Many parts of the hike was just straight up for awhile. I learned that I suck at climbing but I suppose over time I’ll get better.

Not sure of the full story but a tiger leaped over from one mountain to the other over a river hence the name Tiger Leaping Gorge. This was toward the end of our trek and by this point I was dying. I did make it though and got to see where the tiger leaped over the river.

Beautiful views, awesome people, chatted with the locals, and again, Jemma, Clare, and Chris are just awesome travel buddies! I’m going to absoletly hate saying good bye to them. Jemma and Clare leave tomorrow night and heading toward HK and Chris is heading north for a little while before going to Laos. So were all splitting up soon . I’m going to miss this crowd.

I just budgeted how much I’ve spent lately cause I feel like I been somewhat over spending and so far it’s been $816USD since I started almost a month ago. My budget was $1000USD a month so it seems like I’m doing a pretty damn good with my money so far.

Tags: China

Farewell Chengdu
What a crazy city Chengdu is. The only thing I knew about Chengdu was it’s Panda’s, I had no idea what I was in for. One of the things I love about China is how different each province can be from one another. This city will always be remembered for the night of my gig and the wonderful people I met. Thank you Braedon, Wu, Steve, and everyone else I’ve met. Truly a memorable city.

Independent Travel?
Yes I did leave the United States by myself but really I’m never traveling by myself. All the people I’ve met at the hostels have been incredible for the most part. Paul and DeDe in Beijing, wonderful people!! After Beijing, I had left for Xi’an. The hostel picked me up from the Xi’an train station. That’s when I met Chris from the UK cause he was getting picked up as well to the same hostel. Since then Chris and I have been traveling together since were going in the same direction anyway. Real funny and chill guy. From Xi’an, we went to Chengdu and that’s when we met Clare and Jemma from the UK. Nearly everyone we spoke to has said the Yunnan province of China is the absolute best part of China between it’s culture and scenery. Clare and Jemma had already planned out that they were going to go from Chengdu to Kunming then to Lijang in Yunnan province. Chris and I hadn’t really planned much but we knew we wanted to go to Yunnan province and Lijang is the best place to go to in Yunnan. Clare and Jemma were kind enough to let us tag along with them. 18 hour train ride to Kunming and then a 10 hour bus ride to Lijang. So now it’s Chris, Clare, Jemma, and I just living life as it should be lived. Someone up there is looking after me cause I couldn’t have been any luckier to have met so many wonderful people.

Random Chinese
My Chinese is getting slightly better. I really believe this language is going to be extremely important to learn in the future. It’s the leading language of the world in a fasting growing developing country of the world. I’d love to learn as many languages as possible so it will be my life long mission to learn as many as possible.

The 18 hour train ride to Kunming was just madness. We may have been the only four white folks in the entire train and many of the Chinese taking the train may never have seen a foreigner before cause most of them come from rural and farm areas. We were basically celebrities and had quite a crowd going wanting to take pictures with us and just messing around and laughing. It was very humorous and amusing since none of us could understand each other. We did make some conversations with them which usually consisted of hand gestures. It’s amazing what body language can do. Very kind people that offered us everything they had.

After a 18 hour train ride, I‘m now on a 10 hour bus ride to Lijang with the new group. The view has been spectacular though. Little villages on the side of a mountain,, tons of farms, tons of mountains all over, lakes, rivers, and just an amazing view for hours on end. This is real China.

Tags: China