Greetings from China

Hello dear readers, I'm currently sitting in an Internet cafe in Chengdu, China. It's very humid so I'm in a constant state of stickiness here. We've been having a great time thus far. A brief overview of what we've done until now.

5/19
-Visited Ming Tombs, walked along the Sacred Way, amused by piped in 80s and 90s pop ballads, like Elton John's "Sacrifice" -- someone needs to tell them to take away the music
-Climbed Great Wall of China (but not all the way to the end due to time constraints)
-Toured a cloisonne factory
-Ate Americanized Chinese food (yuck!)
-Ate Beijing duck (yum!)
-Stay at Ru Jia in Qian Men

5/20
-Toured Forbidden City, which is currently under construction so there are large screens in front of some of the major buildings. >_<
-Ate at Japanese ramen place
-Hopped on a plane to Chengdu, stayed overnight in a ghetto hotel with only squat toilets

5/21
-Hopped on early early flight out of Chengdu to JiuZhaiGou
-Arrive in JZG, haggle for a driver and hotel
-Tour a yak jerky store, ate lots of yak jerky
-Hiked in JZG (mostly left fork of park)
-Made friends with a Tibetan girl in a Tibetan village in the center of the park
-Ate illegal fish
-Cheap fantastic foot massage!
-Stayed at Aviation Hotel -- toilets don't flush very well and eventually are stuck for all three rooms

5/22
-Yummy free breakfast at hotel
-Hiked more of JZG (mostly right fork of park)
-Ate Tibetan snacks
-Saw Tibetan show (probably not that authentic, more like a Tibetan Chinafest for those who went to UVa)

5/23
-Early morning flight out of JZG to Chengdu
-Arrive and haggle for hotel, discover that being a foreigner means you get charged more
-Ate yummy Sichuan food that later is making us sick in terms of digestive system

Time's up! Logging off. More later!

Baby bloggie

Following the trend set by my friends who have gone abroad or are currently abroad, I've created a blog that I will hopefully be able to update frequently with details from my trip to China and Taiwan. Heaven help me if I don't have internet access while abroad. >_<

Flight departs this Thursday, which leaves me one day to pack and prepare for the trip. I bought a 40L Kelty backpack and will probably spend all day tomorrow debating whether or not I'll be able to live out of it for the whole summer. The sales guy at REI gave me a skeptical look when I told him I planned to live out of the backpack for two weeks while in China, I wonder what sort of look he would have given me had I told him that it would be for the summer. I see a summer full of weekly laundry sessions.

First stop, China. Will arrive at Beijing and spend a few days there before setting off for Chengdu. While in Chengdu we'll also fly out to Jiu Zhai Gou. Then, back to Chengdu for a few days to tour the city. Then it's off to Xian to see the Terracotta Soldiers and the city itself. Last bit will be back in Beijing. I separate from the group afterwards and make my way to Taiwan where I'll be this summer, studying at Tai Da (National Taiwan University). I'm on my own for a month until my mom comes. I'm slightly terrified, but if all goes well it will be a great learning experience.

Oh, a quick explanation of the blog title. Hu2li3 hu2tu2 (糊裡糊塗 for those who can read Chinese) is a great Mandarin phrase but hard to translate. I guess the closest approximation would be willy-nilly or haphazardly. It's how my mom says I approach life. Not really with a plan in mind though sometimes I have a general goal and somehow things seem to always work out.