Alive in China

Sorry I've been so long without a post, but unfortu-nately Chazz, Lori and I have been having a fabulous time. Also, it seems that the blogger.com site was temporarily blocked by the Great Firewall of China, making me feel so much more happy to be here. Our trio was formed September 3rd in the posh Guilin Bravo Hotel, and after a brief two hours of relaxing, we set out for hopeful for some adventure.

Two weeks later, I can hardly keep up with all the stuff we've done. The Chinese approach to tourism can be a jarring experience, but with a little effort we managed to escape the droves of A/C buses and shutter-fiends that litter China's gorgeous landscapes. Compared to my previously lackadaisical pace, travelling with Rob and Lori has been totally awesome; we saw Panders ( Chinglish for Panda) and Tibetan monasteries, and we explored the karst landscapes of Guilin, and later wandered the 10,000-foot highlands of Western Sichuan, all in less than two weeks. Most recently, we saw the other great wall of China, the Three Gorges Dam.

Now in Beijing, things are slowing down a bit (paradoxically), and with an eye towards Mongolia, I hope to aquire a significant pile of Chinese junk. The North Fake Jacket and the Folding Electric Bicycle are at the top of my list so far. Rob has left us for Graduate School (what a responsible fellow), and Lori is back in Australia next Sunday, which will leave me one my own again. Sorry to be so brief, I promise to make up for the past two weeks soon.