So I was a very bad blogger and never posted goodies about Longji or Hong Kong. So now, after being back for weeks I'll fill in the blanks. Longji was so freaking beautiful, relaxing and amazing that I really didn't care that I had to hike two days straight with a chest cold. By the time we trained it to Hong Kong I had no voice left yet we still partied like rockstars until 4am! Man, I LOVE Hong Kong! Totally the best city to end this adventure in. Ate wonderful dim sum and had the best time shopping in the markets. I will so return! Check out the few new pics if you like below!

Down with western food! (i.e. western food in china is bad!)

Ok, so I'm in my last day here in Yangshou and it's by far my least favorite city. Adam has likened it to a ski resort village, full of bars, restaurants and nick knack tourist shops and it really feels like one (just in China with Chinese style buildings). Since Yangshou is one of the main touristy cities it really caters to the westerner and well I don't want to be catered to really! Besides the fact that they serve breakfast (rice porridge was sooo not cutting it) I'm having a hard time stuffing my face with authentic food (yep that's right I'm complaining about food of all things!). Yet there have been some really fun activities we've done here. After my first acupuncture treatment Adam, Nick and I walked along the river and hiked down a local trail until we came to a little bamboo raft that locals were using for a river crossing. Pretty neat! The walk was fabulous for viewing the huge Karsts (limestone peaks) and walking through the local villages. That evening we hit up Monkey Janes rooftop bar and soaked in the spectacular view with a few drinks. Again the next morning I went in for more acupuncture,cupping (over the needles this time) and more therapeutic massage. After the first treatment my back was considerably much better and Dr. Lily recommended that I come in as many days as I could. That afternoon Nick and I decided to climb the highest Karst in town (the one with the TV tower on it) since he had received directions to the trail from a local. Oh boy was it a climb (we were completely drenched with sweat too!)! We hiked up and up rocky stairs that took us up to the best view ever! The karst are so beautiful (the saving grace of Yangshou really) and majestic. That afternoon the whole group went to a local cooking school and learned how to make traditional dishes. It was so much fun! We ended up making five dishes all for our own dinner. I made sure to complement the chef, she did an amazing job ;-)! Today we climbed aboard mountain bikes and trekked through villages, fields and only about five seconds of pavement to reach Moon Hill. After climbing the 1500 or so steps up to the site we viewed the natural karst that has an arch shape to it so you can view through it (sorry my descriptions are a bit lacking today). We biked to the village below and had one the best local meal ever (I came for traditional food and I totally ate the best of it today!)! Then after sweating through my shirt three times today (biking to moon hill, hiking up moon hill and then biking back to the home stay, ick I was really gross too) I showered and heading back to Yangshou for my last treatment with Dr. Lily. I have to say I'm really glad I've been going, I'm still really sore (on my monkey tail as she says they call it here!) but I'm not in massive amounts of pain just walking or moving anymore. So it looks like no yoga until I fully heal and I need a lot of therapeutic massage and acupuncture when I get home (Why can't health insurance cover this?). Tomorrow we trek out to Longji to hike the rice terraces and stay in the rice paddies! And this time I'll really post some pics, sorry lunch called to me last time!

Greetings from Yangshuo!
Wow, what a whirlwind the past few days have been. We took an overnight train into Shanghai and hit the ground running right from the start. The first afternoon in Shanghai we spent walking along the absolutely beautiful Bund and looked at the fantastic European architecture, saw the space age TV tower across the Huangpu river and walked through W. Nanjing road with all it's snazzy shops and neon. Later that day the whole group found our way over to the Shanghai museum and were awed by their collection of ancient jade and minority costumes. Then Rob lead Adam, Nick and I on a wild goose chase through the streets looking for the French Quarter, we're still not sure if we ever made it there! That night we had one of the most memorable meals of the trip at the Seagull restaurant which sits looking over the river and directly at the TV tower and all the glowing lights of the shanghai skyscrapers. Amazing! After dinner Juanita took a look at my back and declared it an absolute mess. She did a bit of acupuncture but stated I really needed more treatment (plus my lower back really started aching after the train and all the walking).

Our next fast paced day in Shanghai included us walking along the Bund again (you really never get tired of the amazing skyline and architecture in shanghai, it's like the Asian New York!) and then shopping in the old street area. At one point we decided to give in to our curiosity and walked into one of the shopping centers (Chinese stalls selling knockoffs and Chinese fashions) and boy was it a trip! We were immediately followed by about ten people all wanting us to buy a watch, a bag, or really anything and all claiming to be our friend and they would get us a good price for the good. George seemed to be their favorite while with me being too tall for the asian fashions I seemed to be not such a target for selling good to. At one point Adam and I separated from the group trying to divert our "friend" yet we were still tailed. Then we tried speaking spanish thinking he might not understand us but then he started calling us amigo and speaking spanish right back at us! We couldn't help laughing how funny the whole scene was! In the evening we all headed up to the Sky Bar that is on the 87th floor of the Hyatt Hotel. It's a super swanky spot and Nick had a bit of a problem getting in at first. Little did we know but they had a no sandals rule for men (saying it was unhygienic) so thankfully EJ caught me still in my room and begged for us to get him a pair of shoes. So being resourceful (and also knowing security is a bit lax in hotels) I went down to the front desk and stated that my roommate had the key and I couldn't get in. They gave me a key card for Nick's room and soon we were speeding away in a taxi with his shoes in hand! Since we all could now get in we soaked up the sparkling skyline and had a few tasty drinks! The next morning was spent shopping again in the silk markets and having fun with our "friends" that wanted to desperately sell us a watch or bag. Oh, and have I forgotten to talk about the food? Oh! Fantastic food! Really, I am truly in love with all the street vendors and their food. I ate my way through a fantastic pork wrap, luscious noodles with bok choy and sesame balls with sweet bean paste in them. Oh! I love it all so! That after noon we headed to the sleek and amazing (really nice and clean too) train station for our 24 hour journey to Guilin then Yangshuo where I'm presently at.

The trains we've been riding on while not the fanciest are really a great way to travel from destination to destination. But after this journey my back again was screaming. So Today I checked in with Dr. Lily the amazing and brilliant Chinese medicine guru of Yangshuo. She concluded again that my back is really messed up from the fall (and of course I refuse to complain or stop, I'm on vacation! Suck it up and go is my motto!) and that I will probably have aches and pains from it for the rest of my life (because I live in a cold climate). So she worked her magic on my by sticking me with acupuncture needles and moxar (?, I have no idea how to spell this but it's a heat treatment over the needles to get the chi flowing), getting a therapeutic massage (the poor girl had to crunch away at my muscles that are all tight) and then cupping. Cupping is where they take these bamboo cups light them on fire, stick them on your back by suction (extinguishing the flame of course) and then the suction pulls toxins out of your muscles. So now after all the treatment I feel a bit better (I have to come back for more treatments while I'm here plus it's cheap only about $28 for all that!) but a little sad that I damaged my back in such a long term way. Oh well it's so not going to stop me! Again, I miss you all, please enjoy the pics!

Hello Friends and family!
Today is my last day in Xi'an and I'm kinda sad to go, it's a lovely city that has by far the best food that i've tasted yet. Yesterday we awoke to poring down rain. As we headed out to the terra cotta warriors I slipped and fell super hard onto my tailbone. The slippery walk got me! After sitting for about 30 seconds I couldn't hold up the group and got up and bit back the pain, plus I had to see the warriors! Riding the city bus out to the site was hard, I just wanted to puke because of the pain but again, I'm on vacation and not going to complain so I pushed on. Thankfully I'm with a super supportive group that watched me for the rest of the day. Juanita is an accupuncturist back in Australia and offered to do a bit of pin work on me if I needed it (I just may take her up on that offer!). I'm glad I pushed on since the warriors were pretty cool. One of the pits that we viewed they are still uncovering warriors and horses and are actively still doing excavation. The museum was also interesting, pretty much a bunch of propaganda about how great a job they are doing and all sorts of retoric. The contrasts to the US are amazing, standing back and observing has become my favorite past time here (besides eating everything in sight!). After taking the city bus back into Xi'an we headed over to the Muslim quarter and bartered away for a few souviners and other items. I have to say I'm really bad at this! I just don't really know what I'm doing and I'm horrible at being pushy. After dinner we walked back and ran into the same festival in front of the city gate. They had these dancers and singers in groups around the park along with some simple fair games (like throwing a ring over a ceramic object). The group dancing was my favorite, people had umbrellas, scarves, feather fans waving in the air and they would move in and out of formation in this long entertwining line. Awesome!

Today we couldn't get an organized ride out to a tomb we wanted to visit so it's just been a lazy free day around town. It's also the first day I've felt homesick. Not homesick like I want to go home more like I miss the people in my life and just want to connect with anyone. As wonderful as traveling is it also makes me feel alone, since I don't have the ability for comfort (am I just a freak for feeling like this?) or the intimacy of sharing my adventures with others who know me. But again, I'm happy to be here, I just need to forget about home I guess. But on the bright side I spent a part of theafternoon with Adam eating our way through the muslim quarter again. We walked down a hutong that we hadn't explored yet and had a culinary orgy! So much food and I wanted to try it all! Every few feet I had to get a steamed dumpling or sample the piles ofseeds and nuts or snack on the sesame candies. Finally I was so stuffed that I couldn't eat anymore yet there was so much more food to try! Adam kept calling me fatty but truly he is the piggy! I love the food here, I know I keep saying that but really it's so freaking good! I'm goingto be posting more pictures, some mine and some from my travel mates. Oh, did I mention they rock? Yeah, very fun and cool! I miss you all but i must get some more food...

Oh, I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this but I posted a buch of photos! Enjoy!

Xi'an!

Hello from Xi'an! Yesterday was a travel day for our group. We headed out early from staying overnight at the base of the great wall and headed back to Beijing. From there we shopped at the market for food for our overnight train trip to Xi'an. The market is so fantastic! It's full of little stands that sell everything from fresh fruit, roasted duck and chicken, dried fruits, candy, liquor, eggs of all shapes and sizes and fresh dumplings! We picked up a few noodle pots (larger and better versions of cup o' noodle) and other assorted novelties (we are all fascinated by all the different foods and have actively tried everything!). Then we trucked it to the Beijing Railway station which is by far the most incredibly busy place in the world! While waiting for the train we played a few games of travel sized connect four and chatted with locals. We boarded the train on a hard sleeper car which is six bunks per bay (three up each side, I was on the very top!) and settled in meeting our bunk mates. We had two ladies from Mongolia in one bay and the other a grandmother, mom, and four year old son (he thought we were the funniest things on earth and giggled at us constantly!). The classification of a hard sleeper isn't really as harsh as it sounds, it was actually quite comfy and we ended up having a blast on the train. That night we drank many, many beers (only for a little over $1 each and about 20 oz. in volume!) and had a grand time making fun of ourselves! Early today we rolled into Xi'an, what a great city! We walked through the muslim quarter and ate from the stalls for lunch (I'm in love with the spicy cold noodles! And only $5 yuan!) then rode bicycles on top of the city wall. So much fun! I love traveling with my group, they are really an awesome bunch and are really makign this trip so awesome for me! Hooray!

So freaking great!!!

Hello All!
I hope you haven't given up on my posts, it's been a whirlwind few days! After the airplane fiasco day one ended up being much better, I ended up chucking most of my "saftey" rules and ate at street stand for breakfast, not bad either. I still couldn't find my group in the morning so I decided to just trek out on my own and see the sights I had came to see! So with a bit of help from the hotel front desk they pointed me to the subway and I manuvered myself to the Forbidden City! Holy macaroni was it amazing, huge, and soo great! I was in constant awe of it's enourmity and of the history of the grounds. I spent five hours there and still only saw half of the compound! My absolute favorite part of the Forbidden City was the garden in the back, it was so beautiful! After many hours trekking on my feet I decided to find my way back to the hotel on the subway in hopes of finding my group. When I walked into the hotel and checked the board for any notices a girl approached and luckily it was EJ my trip leader!!! Hooray! After big hugs of joy since we had missed each other in passing about a dozen times I was finally joined with my group! We trekked out again to a dinner spot and ended up along this river that was lined with bars and restaurants. It was so neat! There were people paddleing in boats and the lights along the river were so pretty.

Day two - The group of us took the subway the the Summer Palace and spent the better part of the day touring the grounds. Again, so huge! So beautiful! And so wonderful! We hiked up to one of the temples and walked all around the lake viewing the grounds. Again, after many hours on the grounds we still hadn't seen the whole place! I soo wabt to go back! That evening we went to the night market and ate yummy street vendor food including a scorpion! Mmm, tasty! I purchased my Chaiman Mao watch (it's sooo cheesy awesome!) and we bargained hard through out the stalls.

Day three- We took a bus to a spot on the great wall that is not refurbished and not touristy at all and hiked about 10 miles on the wall. Walking along the wall was so thrilling! At one point all the hairs on my body were standing on end it was so magnificint! Again, I really am almost speechless as to how amazing the trek on the wall was, I want top do it again, it was so beautiful!

Day four- Back in Beijing, hanging with my group mates at the internet cafe waiting until we board a train for Xi'an. Let me introduce the group of Lads and Lassies I'm traveling with, they are truly fantastic! The group leader is EJ, she's a lovely Brit that has traveled the world and is fun as hell. Nick (we have nicknamed him George Michael for this trip because he is almost a mirror image and we have another Nick in the group!) and Juanita are a pair of newlyweds that joined us after their wedding in Thailand and are from Australia, I have simply had a blast talking with them and trekking around Beijing with them. Then the group is rounded out by three British boys Nick, Adam, and Rob. They have been super great pals and have nicknamed my Audrey (after Audrey Hepburn since I look like her in my sunglasses and wide brimmed hat). Ok, I would load some pics but with the slow as heck internet and a hungry belly it's time to run! Just in case no one knows it yet but I'm having a blast!!!!!!