On the Road with Brent & Erika

We left Beijing on an overnight train, but not before I hung out for awhile with the family of a couple of kids that I teach, Daniel and Kevin. It's totally random, but they are Chinese and spend every summer in Beijing visiting family. They wanted to get together when they discovered that their art teacher would be in China, so we had a proper Chinese feast with them and toured around a historical area. They were extremely hospitable and we all had a great time, although I think Daniel and Kevin at first didn't quite know what to make of their teacher walking the streets of Beijing with them. Kids are awkward enough when they see their teacher in the grocery store, much less China!


Touring around with Daniel and Kevin

Our train took us to Guilin, and we hopped a bus to Yangshuo--lazy little backbacker hangout set amidst the beautiful scenery dotted with odd-shaped peaks that seem to come from the mind of Dr. Seuss. We rented bikes again and took to the local countryside over many bumpy dirt roads and across a few rivers. Amazing scenes of rural life surrounded us along the way to Moon Hill, where we hiked to the top for some breathtaking 360 degree views.


Enjoying China's spicier version of ramen noodles on the train


One of the views from our bike ride


Crossing the river with our bikes


Irrigating the crops


Chinese graffiti--my guess is either it's someone's name or profanity


Erika with free hat we found in a tree being cooled off by helpful watersalesperson


Moon Hill

After that, we needed to cool off, so Erika and I went to the neighboring Moon Water Cave. This cavern, which stretches through three mountains, is unique because it has a natural mud bath and freshwater spring--both of which Erika and I partook in gladly. The mud was the thickness of a milkshake and caked our entire bodies a quarter-inch thick. The chilly spring pool was the perfect way to clean off--it was quite the experience!


Entering the cave


Me helping Erika get muddy


Can you recognize us?


Erika hiking with cave-safety precaution hardhat to the freshwater pool


Cool off swim

The next day was July 4th, so we decided to take a break from traveling and bum around with no agenda other than miss America. We slept in obscenely late, ate a beautiful cheeseburger for lunch, and watched three DVDs in our room (our penthouse hostel had free DVDs, free internet, two bathrooms in our room-one with a tub, and a killer view too!--all for around $3 per person!). We also had a KFC picnic in the room complete with corn and mashed potatoes for dinner (however, Chinese portions are rather small--Erika thinks this is how they remain so thin). It was the best we could do to be with all of you barbequing, fireworking, Old-Navy-shirt-wearing folk back home.


This Independence Day burger was awesome!

Then it was off to the Longji Rice Terraces. Their cool Chinese sounding name is Dragon's Backbone. We hiked around amidst villages and interesting minority cultures for two days to view these agricultural miracles. The women of these villages never cut their hair until they turn 80! It is meticulously wrapped around their heads and they accompany this look with cute and colorful skirts. We had fun getting to know (as best as you can with limited shared language) some of these women as we stayed the night in their village. As for the rice terraces, I hope the pictures can speak for themselves. The resourceful reconstruction of their landscape to suit their need for food really is impressive. It leaves a land that twists and turns as the terraces hug the hills. Very green and very cool!

Scenes from The Dragon's Backbone:







Our guide--Pandajeea (my phonetic spelling!)




Soft-hearted Ricky bargaining for souveniers he didn't even want





Vietnam next. Cambodia after that and then home. Less than three weeks to go and still so much to do. As usual, thanks for the prayers and comments and personal e-mails. It means so much! Until next time...


Birdflu on wheels!

...Brent