I’m in the middle of nowhere having taken a 4 hour horseback trip over a mountain and two lakes. Going to freeze tonight in this random village where no one speaks english and there is no heating. Have been wandering gorgeous ancient chinese villages for two days and squatting over holes in the ground for toilets. People are super sweet. The setting breathtakingly gorgeous. Electric blankets are keeping me alive. The guides who took us up the mountain were wonderful. We sang with them in chinese and english for hours :).
Other highlights:
– live chinese rock pop in random kunming bar
– warm fresh roasted chestnuts at street markets on cold nights
– sweet chinese people everywhere
– fabulous chinese raisin bread (but still not as good as the stuff we got in calgary!)
– an expat bar in lijiang called ‘sext tractor”
– spicy hot pots
– amazingggggg food
– beautiful old people sitting on the streets
– cute delicious round faced asian children everywhere
– how everyone stares at me because they think I’m chinese but not really
– riding rickety old chinese airplanes!!!
– cobblestone streets
– frozen toes
– frozen me!!
– debates about philosophy and memory and dating and happiness
– all this photography bliss
– trying to communicate with taxi drivers in cities where no one speaks any english!!!!!!
– then meeting sweet people who can speak english who want to help
– pushing myself out of my comfort zone and stretching the mind!!!! Amazing!
China is mysterious, beautiful and magical. What an incredible experience.
