Some words about the trip

It has been a few days since the craziness of the spring trip is over, and I can look back on it now as one of the best weeks out of the last 2 years. It was certainly more stressful and less relaxing than I prefer, but the combination of sightseeing, relationships, fun activities, and spiritual significance make this a highlight of our time here.

Here is the quick breakdown of our trip:

Thursday - leave for the train station in Chengdu. Board the train at 4pm. Play lots and lots and lots of card games. Answer questions from inquisitive girls. Watch the boys make a fort using spare blankets and table cloths. Sleep in the 3rd bunk, just inches under the train car roof.

Friday - Wake up on the train to the sounds of boys playing guitar. Play more cards. Get off the train at 11am. Go to Walmart and eat lunch at KFC. (First time in a Walmart in China. Really!) Board a bus and drive to Dali. Watch an episode of LOST. Get to our hotel and have a mini-crisis, since the hotel is full of prostitutes and NOT in Dali Old Town (the tourist area).

Saturday - Go to Dali Old Town for a photo scavenger hunt. Drink an awesome mango smoothie. Argue more with the tour company when the bus drivers refuse to drive us to dinner. Help get the bus drivers fired.

Sunday - Drive to Shuanglang, on the other side of Er Hai. (a village on the other side of a big lake) See our comparatively awesome accommodations, right on the shore of the lake. Scratch my head at our "honeymoon suite" with a glass front door and glass bathroom door. Plant trees on the mountain to prevent erosion. Go kayaking and capsize trying to do the kayak limbo.

Monday - Belay students who are mountain climbing, and then go biking. Walk back when a student crashes her bike. Get a little too much sun.

Tuesday - Help clear an area in the village of trash, bricks, and manure. Install exercise equipment for the old folks in town. Play some fun games, and sing around a camp fire. Wonder who the random villagers are who came in on motorbikes and started dancing around the fire.

Wednesday - Travel by bus to Tiger Leaping Gorge. Hike for 4.5 hours through the canyon. Very beautiful sights. Take a 5 minute rest, and go back with a bag full of flashlights to help those lagging behind. Find all the students. Check watch - only 7:30, it is still light. Go back to help the teachers in back. Now it is 8pm, very dark, and wishing I had brought someone with me. Think I lost the trail, double back, then go forward, then back, then forward again. Find the teachers. Walk back to the hotel. Greet 2 Chinese strangers who apparently came looking for us. Arrive at 9pm and share 10 Chinese dishes amongst 3 people. Full. Find out my room has no shower, so go to bed very, very dirty.

Thursday - Hike 4 hours out of the gorge. Wait for the rest of the group to catch up, then drive to Lijiang. Stay in Lijiang Old Town, happy that this time we have a nicer place to stay in the city. Go out on the street at night, and find out we are in the bar district. Hear pulsating music and see dancing girls in all the bars. Hope that the students are all tired and are not tempted to sneak out.

Friday - Shopping in Lijiang. Eat a Chinese shwarma. Pretty good! Go to the airport and hang out with the students in the smoking lounge. Get on the plane, and come home. Hear the students moan when the plane gets to Chengdu, leaving blue skies and sun for perpetual gray. Sleep in my own bed. Hooray!

We did not take too many pictures with our camera - there were at least 6 digital SLRs spread out amongst the students, so we felt it unnecessary to break out our little point-and-shoot Canon. As a result, there will probably be a dearth of pics of us, but oh well. We'll get some good shots of the scenery to remember it by, once the picture CD is compiled.

-alan