It has been a long season of traveling for us, from Anshun to Xian to Inner Mongolia, Mongolia, Beijing, Yunnan and now we are taking a train from Kunming to Anshun, but only for a short (5 minute) stop before heading onward to our last student visit of the summer in Zunyi (north of Anshun). We are very tired from the travels and not being able to live normally but having instead to be based on others plans and different rules and schedules. We have learned a lot about traveling in China though and will write a few of them here.

1) An oldie but important, always be prepared to pay for the bathroom at almost any place. The more you pay does not ensure a better bathroom. Most of them are squatties and smell quite foul. Toilet paper is extra or bring your own.

2) When traveling it is important who you know, or in our case who you know that knows others. Relationships are very important in Chinese culture, known as Guanxi. Almost everywhere we traveled from Xian to the Yunnan, we met people who were related through friends or others ensuring us with many unasked for blessings. Sometimes it was a bit overwhelming though. Some families made us food everyday and gave us snacks from their bakery, or paid for everything and everywhere we went, or knew the best way to get around. Some shopkeepers even gave us free things because they knew our friend. Patty even got to dress up in one of their minority costumes and take pictures. Our friends father seemed to know everyone and even knew the owner of a tourist site from making many of the stones for the place so we got in free through the special door.

3) Some places charge 'special' fees for foreigners to get into parks and other areas. In Lijiang, we found that the parks and even special shopping areas charged a 80 RMB per person fee only for foreigners to get in, they called it to protect and upkeep the areas. It was very frustrating, but then again we had relationships and they knew how to get around the fees.

4) When you plan many things it is bound to rain. The week or so we spent in Yunnan it seemed to rain almost everytime we left to do something so it was important to bring an umbrella.

5) When visiting students or friends it is important to not eat for a week. They will feed you more food than is humanly possible to eat and say the dreaded words, "help yourself, don't be shy." This means to keep eating until it is gone or you explode. The food tends to be amazing but it is far too much for any one person to eat. We did get to eat some new firsts such as caterpillar and silk worm and almost every part of a pig from its stomach to its esophogus, liver and kidneys. Yummy though with hot sauce (it is the miracle food for getting all food down).

Here are some of the highlights of our time in the Yunnan. We went to visit our student and friend Bobby in his village of Heqing near Lijiang. Most of the villagers are from the Bai Minority and are farmers or fishermen. We did some fishing and caught some small 3-5 pound fish (their words not mine). We visited Lijiang for many days and saw many different things from the dancing at night, visiting his cousin and family, the Dongba culture of the Naxi minority, parks, and temples. We went to Shangrila (ZhongDian) for a couple of days and met a friend of his families who own a bakery. They provided us with almost everything--we ate way too much baked goods for a lifetime in two days. We saw many different areas around the city on rainy days and its Tibetan culture was very interesting. We went to Tiger Leaping Gorge on our way back--a super huge Gorge that the Yangtze River cuts through. The story is that Tigers would jump across the Gorge using stones in the middle. There are two tall mountain chains on each side and Bobby and I made the 1 hour long hike down the mountain to the water to get some pictures and see the furious water.

With the coming of the Olympic games we have been trying to stay close to a TV as we both love them. The opening ceremony was quite the spectacle if any of you saw it--4 hours of excitement and Chinese culture (very fascinating to see with a Chinese family). We hope that you all are doing well and chearing for America of course.