China's Warrior's

My toes are tingling as the blood is trying desperately to flow to the outermost extremities. Both feet have been frozen for two days. We are staying in very meager accomodations and there is no "air-condition" as they call it. I would prefer to call it a heater but right now if it blows out breath warm air I would take it. I didn't know if I would make it through last night. Mateo and I put four very heavy blankets on one twin sized bed and slept with a hot duck between us (I'll explain later). I was still cold all night. When the sun came up we found out that our cold room had gotten even colder during the night because it was snowing.

We spent the last nine days in Xi'an where we thought it was cold. Beyond the cold we met some really cool friends. We were connected with a brother named Zamzam before entering China and met up with him when we got there. We were able to go places we wouldn't have because we can't read or speak Chinese. Our one goal was to see Qin's terracotta warriors and beyond that we had no plan. This brother, his wife and friends went so far out of their way spending time with us. We ate far more Chinese foods than I've ever seen in my life. I'm excited to get back to the U.S. and go to Lee Lee's in Chandler to see if I recognize any Chinese snacks.

Besides eating and snacking we drank delicious teas, strolled the ancient streets, visited brother Zamzam's University and learned to play Chinese Chess. Of course there's a story for each of those past times. We left Xi'an 2 days ago with our friends waving us off at the train station. They rode the bus with us carried our bags and helped us buy our tickets. It was another sad to see you go type departure. Even the culinary manager of the cafe at the hostel we stayed at was there. He surprised us when he strapped on Mateo's 50 lbs. backpack and walked out the hostel to the bus stop with us. Mr. Kim is a 60 year old qigong healer with a smile that will make anyone smile back. We liked him a lot and spent many mornings talking to him in the cafe over eggs and porridge. He's originally from South Korea and introduced us to some of his favorite tasty Korean dishes. He performed a traditional healing on Mateo when he was suffering from a cold and recommended an apple a day for good brain health. We liked him a lot!

So now, in the even colder cold we are off in search of the first Shaolin Temple. My feet have taken a turn for the worse and the blood seems to be headed away from my toes. Like the warriors we hope to encounter at this juncture we will brave the elements across the hanging bridge, through the pagoda forest and hopefully sight Wuru Peak. I must prepare so I will place hot duck at the foot of my bed and rub my ankles to stimulate circulation therefore creating warm feet for tomorrow's trek. In addition I will be wearing three scarves now because amid all the excitement in Xi'an I learned to knit. Wish us luck!

Joronda

early birds...

salaam

here comes another story straight from my personal journal...enjoy!!!

Sa 17 Dec 05 20:15:48

so the wife and i are, and have been on the train from guilin, china to xi'an china for the past 24 hours. neither of us know exactly when the train is supposed to arrive in xi'an or how much farther xi'an is or even where the hell we are at any given moment. so we were seated on the small window seats eating our halal noodles (an experience in itself) off the even smaller table when the first english message in 24 hours came blaring through the loudspeakers with a vociferous "Welcome to Xi'an!!!". as the message continued into its advertisement for the "railway hotel of xi'an", the train attendant servicing our car began rolling up the aisle carpet and mopping the floor. naturally, joronda and i began readying our travel gear for arrival. backpacks were removed from their overhead storage compartments and quickly secured...jackets, gloves, scarves, face mask, and winter hats with the ear flaps were all on and ready to protect us from the impending xi'an cold. we smiled at each other, pleased at our diligence and preparedness.

emerging from our berth like toasty "a christmas story" bundles of warmth we noticed that no one else had moved. a group of ladies continued to snack on sunflower seeds and slurp down bowls of noodles from their window seat. four shoeless men reclining in an adjoining berth slapped down various cards in an uninterrupted game...and our berthmate, after watching us pack furiously, calmly threw away his consumed bowl of noodles, wriggled his toes in his stolen hotel slippers, took off his glasses and slipped back into bed for some less than frantic shut-eye.

"What the HELL is going on?!?" i thought as i looked at 12 pairs of chinese eyes staring at me. didn't you guys hear the same 'welcome to xi'an' announcement that i so clearly heard 5 minutes ago? do you see all the city lights around us? can't you tell that the train is slowing down and we're about to pull into the xi'an station in less than 2 minutes?

"No!!! No we're not...you stupid ass american tourists!" this isn't xi'an, and as a matter of fact we are no where near xi'an. we still have 2 more hours to go before lights out and then, maybe in their dreams, will people even begin thinking about xi'an. so pocket your gloves, hang up your winter jacket, and take off that DAMN ninja mask...DUMMY!!!



i don't speak mandarin, but i'm sure that's what they said.



peep the picture for your amusement...







a sheepish salaam,
mateo

p.s. we ended up arriving in xi'an at 2200 hours...who knew?

Independent Travellers

Well it's time to leave Yangshou and head for the even more uncertain and we have just a little time to share some words with you. It's still cold but no snow. Robert the hotel weather forecaster was wrong. Actually he was probably right on. He never expected snow or rain, he just wanted us to book a tour with him before we got into town. It turns out he tried to over charge us severly and we suspect it's because we are from the U.S.

Last night we caught up with our Polish friends for some local Chinese food and then on to a local heated pub/restaurant for hot tea. Although they have since left the Dong Feng Hotel we found out they paid less than us for all three of them and they didn't even speak to him about the tour. We did a tour of our own. For 8 RMB each we rented bicycles, bought a large water, two baguette butter and jam sandwiches and secured our goods in the cage on the back of my bike. So along with our travellers guide and two free local maps we were off to the countryside. It actually totalled 29RMB as opposed to the $80 USD Robert said we should pay him. He was full of crap! *Please note 8RMB = $1 USD

The countryside was a great journey too. Old men were walking water buffalo and cows on ropes with their heavy jackets and pants to break the cold air. We rode through thousands of chickens on open land free to dart from one side of the road to the other. The path was narrow and uneven but that didn't stop the trucks from rattling all over the lane with their loud chugging sounds coming from the vehicle's exposed engine. I kind of felt like we had been put in the middle of some Grapes of Wrath type exploration movie. These trucks were like ancient tractor plows that had been converted into modern day vehicles with a sort of rusted green body and bed that resembled the model T Ford style. I was in awe. The journey was relatively quiet. People worked in the fields as we rode by and school children pushed their bikes up hills and walked to their villages in groups. We met a pig along the way who went from curious to startled to curious again but we didn't stay to make friends with him. I too became very curious when a very small elderly lady was walking from the water pump with two large buckets of water hanging from each end of the bamboo pole drapped over her back. I stopped my bike to let her cross and then watched her short step it through a gate that must have led to her destination...perhaps her house.

After our 20 km ride we parked our bikes above the Li River back in the city and ate our little dinner snack. Just into our quiet evening we were approached by a group of school girls inviting us to their English corner. We thought it might be a scam so we didn't commit but got directions and later rode our bikes to the Wisdom Girls School. It turned out to be one of those cool experiences we know are sure to come. Mateo and I were in separate classrooms helping about 30 young girls practice their English. It was great!

So now it's off to Xian we go. The train ride will take a full day so talk to you when we get there.

Joronda

We're going to FREEZE!

My hands are so cold it hurts to touch the keyboard. My ears have started to ring at unannouced times and my nose is like popscicle tips. I'M COLD! But I'm not complaining because in two weeks it will be even worse. We just checked the weather in Mongolia and it should be -7 when we get there. No problem though because we are on the hunt for winter coats in Yangshou, China. Never mind the fact that the arms are too short and the clerks just laugh when we try them on.

Today I bought a hat and a second scarf and I'll probably be wearing everything I own in a few weeks. I'm nervous that I'll get frost bite. Anyone have some suggestions? Where is our Washingtonian travel companion when you need her. The pace of my typing has slowed tremendously so I'll ahve to make tis really quik. I can't even waste time deleting all the typos I jsut made.

We got dropped off in the middle of who knew where just as the light of day was approaching the morning sky. Well we knew we were in Yangshou but that was about it. I hadn't seen my breath in months and now I was standing in the middle of the street with my husband, 3 Polish travellers and a Chinese guy named Robert. People were chopping meat on a slab of wood behind us and steam was rising from metal pots under several different tarp covered eating caves. I was still half asleep and the bus was pulling off with all the other passengers on it. Robert was flashing his autograph book in our faces because he was the hotel representative and this morning he wanted to show us to a hotel. We followed him and although he tried to charge us $16 apiece we've gotten pretty good at the bargaining thing and ended up with a rate of $10 total. We're talking a tremendous drop from where he started right. We read you should start at a bargaining rate of half of the starting price. It's a crazy way to buy stuff trust me.

The room has no heating but there is hot water. That's a precious luxury these days. They do however provide an electric water pot. That's been great! We have ovaltine twice a day. We will be leaving that hotel tomorrow for our hostelling international hostel that we didn't know was here. Robert called us at 8 am to try and get us to go on a countryside tour with him. Whatever! it's 35 degrees and we were packed in our sleeping bag under 2 heavy hotel comforters trying not to move when the volume of the ring regenerated goose bumps that took all night to warm off.

Tonight I bought some gooey hot soup because A) I wanted to get warm and B) I wanted to see the lady pour the hot water from the dragons mouth. That was the coolest part, especially when the stem came out of his nose. When I mixed it though the water had turned to slime and the whole thing resembled mud pies. I ate it because I bought it but I won't be provoking anymore steam breathing dragons. Ok well we're expecting snow tomorrow so I better go get prepared. Talk to you soon.

Joronda

Guangzhou

So we're still in Guangzhou and things picked up today. Our overnight bus leaves in a couple of hours and we are just relaxing after a very exciting day. We decided to check out of the hotel and hit the park to waste the day away. Now this isn't your ordinary park. It's your real beautiful, swans in the lake, Tai Chi type of retreat. We payed our 5 Yuan to get in and on our way towards the animal farm we happened upon what looked like a children's playground nestled right in front of a ping pong haven. To Mateo's delight! He sat around for a while looking like the kid who didn't get picked while I filmed the ping pong masters and the myriad of other physical activities people were invested in. I started heading back to where I left Mateo and what did I see...the lonely child with a paddle in his hand. He had been chosen. From 12:30 to 4:00 he took full advantage of this opportunity. People were taking turns playing him and you know what, he's GOOOOD! While Forest Gump was in ping pong bliss I was making friends with a 7 and an 11 year old. They offered me peanuts, cookies and carrot waterchestnut juice and we were buddies. The children's playground turned out to double as a workout facility for all ages and these kids were really impressed by some of the things I could do. Of course being 2 feet taller than them gave me quite an advantage. We played on every piece of equipment and then we ran off to get more juice. For about 30 seconds we caught our breath before running over to the amusement park to go on the spinning buckets, bumper cars and giant swing all before racing remote control boats in the lake. We were really enjoying ourselves and don't forget about the stares because people were certainly looking at me, this over grown child running through the park with these two energetic kids that I had only met hours before.

We ended the day with a relaxing wading through the water in a paddle boat with the family we had just met. It was great even the very end when the boat ride turned into an all out game of boat ramming and we chased boats down in the serene lake of Liu Hua. Today was one of those good days filled with some of those good people.

Joronda

On the move

I've been kind of stressed because I started a post 2 days ago that got erased because we had to speed out of our hotel. It was around 6:45 a.m. and we were waiting in the lobby due to another south east asia false alarm. You know the kind that knocks on your door three times. Only this time there's a phone in the room so we got a call 30 minutes early saying the bus was waiting for us. It was a lie but we bumped down 4 flights of narrow stairs with our big ole' packs and were on the internet when the bus really did show up. We crammed ourselves in the back of the bus and rode 3 hours to the border to try and enter China. We hadn't had any border crossing problems until we reached China. We were detained at the border for a good 45 minutes. They never told us the problem. The guard just said he had to report the case to his supervisor. About the only thing we did find out was that my passport photo was "too black" his words not mine.

You know I have to tell you I'm completely against gawking. We have been stared at, pointed at, laughed at, ignored, pushed, shoved, cursed at and who knows what else behind our backs. We have our good and bad days. We smile and wave and other times just look straight ahead so not to see the responses. I try to put myself in a place where I have stared at someone because they look different or maybe I feel they're out of place. You know it can be really overwhelming and frustrating when you're the focus and that focus is not always for kindness. One guy said he felt like a superstar, like he was really famous or something. People had asked him to take his picture and to be in pictures with him. Well no one has asked for our picture but the night before last night two girls held each other really tight and backed away from me in what looked like sheer terror as I paused to let them pass in front of me. That made me really sad and angry. You would have thought I had just jumped out of a horror film. We notice when people are talking about our skin because they seem to do a wiping motion across their face or arms but I don't know if that means we have superstar status.

Just in case we have to make a fast exit I want you to know that we are in Guangzhou about a 2 hour train ride from Hong Kong. We don't know if we'll be heading to Hong Kong or not. We will probably be out of touch for a few days. Everything is spread out here and it will take us a whole day to get to the next city Yangshuo. Our goal is to reach Xian, that's where the terracotta warriors are located. We will spend a week there before moving on to Beijing.

Last night we were on an overnight train and we ate our dinner on two little window seats pressed against the wall under a tiny table top. We shared longan and oweat as we watched the scenary go by. Beautiful, old and sparse are some of the words I would use to describe the landscape. The stepped agricultural fields were impressive and although bird flu is a huge concern in this region we saw more free range chickens than either of us have ever seen. Does anyone have any suggestions on China? Is there anything that we should look for on our route? Please let us know because right now we don't even have a Lonely Planet guide so we're just kind of on our own.

Joronda

So hard to say goodbye

I'm very heart broken right now. We're getting ready to leave Hoi An, Vietnam and our entire class came to the hotel to see us off. Although the faces were very somber we all managed to smile and joke a bit as we visibly anticipated the bus pulling up. We were congregated in the street next to the curb in front of our hotel and that caused quite a scene. The hotel staff, motorbike rental people and the ladies with the snack stand in front of our hotel came out to gawk along with many passersby. Over our travels through Vietnam we've learned that gawking is rather common in most situations and specifically those sitiations involving Mateo and myself. For the most part people have been starring at us because we've got dark skin but today in addition to our dark skin we were surrounded by a group of handicapped Vietnemese adults in wheelchairs and on special motorbikes and all of us had sad looks on our faces.

The director of the school stopped by to say his goodbyes and after maybe 3 minutes he couldn't take it anymore. I could see his eyes welling up and the shape of his cheeks started to change when he breathed out "I can't stay here anymore...Bye". I was done, and for a few more seconds he couldn't start his bike to drive away. We said thank you to him and I turned my head away from the students as the tears ran down my face. I could hear people starting to cry behind me.

For the past two weeks we've been volunteering in an incredible environment. We don't speak the language but they have accepted us and treated us like family. Almost daily we walk into the office to ask for help translating something and everyday we received an invitation for lunch, coffee or snacks. One day we went 6 kilometers to the countryside to have lunch at Lieu's house (one of the students). She's been disabled since she was ten. Laura hopped on the back of her 3 wheeled motorbike while Mateo and I walked beside the other wheel chairs. We stopped by their houses and met their families and when we arrived at Lieu's house we all did our share of assisting with the meal prep. Of course for us Americans that consisted of picking the stems off the mint leaves while Mr Thong chopped banana blossom with a hatchet on the floor and Lieu sauteed up one of the best Vietnemese meals we've had. It was a great effort and I enjoyed every mint picking moment. On the way back to town we had a wheelchair race and although Miss Tam and I lost to Mateo and Miss Hanh we we're kilometers ahead of Laura the tortoise who eventually used that exact take it slow tactic to edge us all out. The three of us shared a bottle of water after we dropped off all our teammates. It was great! On a couple of other days Mateo and I got to exercise next to Mr. Tam as he rode his motorbike and we jogged along side. He was "Veri Hap-ee" to be spending time with us and so were we. For morning coffee it was like being invited into a part of the culture that only those who know someone on the inside get to experience.

Now we have to leave our days of rolling out in the entourage down the main street, eating at the local hot spots and having coffee in the morning even though we don't drink coffee. Except Laura and her cafe sua which turns her into a whole different person :) It's hard to capture the feelings behind the stories and of course there's a ton of it that I'm not telling but just know that now we have a family in Vietnam and after only spending a short time with them and witnessing and hearing some of their challenges, as well as enjoying good times with them it was painful to leave. With the few lessons we had before our final day they had learned to say "Please keep in touch" and they used that line over and over. It rings in my head right now. I also have to let you know that they wanted us to give our best to you all. They of course know we have family and friends outside of Vietnam and they send their best. Of all the horrible things we have experienced and the challenging things we try to overcome this has been a bright spot in our life that will last forever. If you want to know where we'll be heading back to on our return trip across the pacific Hoi An, Vietnam is at the top of the list.

Joronda

Happy Thanksgiving!

Of course by now your turkey is long digested and you are probably back into the routine of a five day work week. We are very sorry we haven't been able to post in a while but for some reason we couldn't get on the blog. We're in Hoi An, Vietnam and we are doing well. If you get a chance check out MAPS adoption www.mapsadopt.org. Click on the Vietnam aid link on the left hand side to access more specific information. Or go to www.mapsvn.org This is the NGO that we are volunteering with.

When we walked into the organization on the first day we were immediately put to work and after a short time there we have had some incredible experiences. Leaving Saigon, we were equipped with a bit more information on the war but walking into a computer lab to greet two young Vietnemese brothers severly deformed because of their fathers exposure to dioxins was a greater lesson than we could have known. Anh Trang means bright star and these two are just that. Mateo was Trang's teacher and I had Anh. They spoke very little English but every Tuesday and Thursday, for an hour and a half, we taught and they made us laugh. One of the sweetest things I've ever seen is my husband slumped down in his chair close enough for Trang to lean his head against Mateo's and pull down on his beard and say "M-aa-theyow" in a high pitched sort of sigh. It just makes me smile thinking about it.

We teach English to a handicapped class every morning. Our youngest student is 23 years old. The class has been taking very good care of us. Neither Mateo nor myself had ever spent an extended amount of time with handicapped people. I don't even think "handicapped" is politically correct but that's what they call themselves here so respectfully we follow suit. You wouldn't believe the innovation, independence and generosity they have. There are seven students and every morning we get "Good Mawning Tea cha..." as they make their way into the classroom. It's great!

We help out the Vietnemese teachers in the evening and on the eve of Thanksgiving we were asked to teach about the History and Traditions of this U.S. Holiday. Well, let's just say it was a challenge. Besides the fact that the students are learning English and we were using words that make no sense in Vietnemese we had to stuggle with how much of "why do we celebrate thanksgiving?" do we give them. We kept it pretty simple throughout the presentation but I just couldn't let them go away with only the word "Indian" in their Thanksgiving vocabulary. So I gave them the choice of "Native American" or "American Indian" same same but different. What happened next was all about unsatisfied Americans meet confused Vietnemese class, with limited English. Teacher Laura our travelling buddy so gracefully steps to the front of the class and shares the dark side. The Thanksgiving we don't talk about back home. shhhhh! The vocabulary words in this conversation began with 1. Protests then moved on to 2. Genocide and finally ended with phrases like 3. They were mad, mean Pilgrims and New World. The class really enjoyed the presentation. A lot of them work in the tourism industry and wanted to know about the holiday since the hotels are getting into presenting the U.S. holidays.

Please don't think we were standing before a group of 9 year olds. The students are working adults who mostly go to school at night to improve their communication for work. I think I learned more about Thanksgiving than they did. Do you know who Sarah Hale is? What year was the first Thanksgiving? Did the Pilgrims celebrate Thanksgiving?

Well on Thanksgiving day we celebrated it with our morning class. They didn't know it was our holiday but they invited us for a big lunch at one of the Pagodas. This is a popular place and we ate non touristy Vietnemese food called com chay - a rice and noodles dish with vegetables. I was very thankful to be sitting in the presence of such generous people. We left the school in an entourage of steering wheeled wheelchairs and three wheeled motorbikes. This became a familiar site on Phan Dinh Phung St. on several occassions after this day but for me it was the first time I had hopped on the back of a motor bike that was kick started by hand by a driver who gets around on his hands. We had so much fun that day!