April 28, 2007

As our trip winds down I'd just like to say that this place rocks! I mean I've never had such a love/hate relationship on vacation..but seriously, musicians need to come out here. Not only to continue to teach the students at Gitameit but to learn too!

It's hard to describe a fascist country..it's really hard. You have to come and see for yourself! And don't forget to bring your instrument! I'm going to start trying to raise some money for instruments...oh look. You can donate directly on their website through paypal. http://www.gitameit.com Please donate!

Alright, this is probably my last entry on the trip. We'll be back in Bangkok tomorrow!

April 27, 2007

From Myanmar....

It's Friday. Only one more full day and tomorrow is our concert as well. YAY! We taught a short class today. There was no a/c and it was sooo hot. We got to sight see a bit. We checked out the huge Shwedagon Pagoda. A lot of locals go there to pray. I made merits to my Friday God the guinea pig..Dave got a picture! We went to the big reclining Buddha and went back to market for more rattan! It's funny how we found the same shop though. While we were at the rattan shop the first time, we occupied our time while waiting for them to paint our rattan dark by playing with the local kids. Mostly Dave was playing rhythm games while I took pictures. So when we went back today to try and find the shop...we found the kids! The kids ended up showing us how to get back to the shop! hahah..hilare! We also went to a local glass factory that does everything by hand and in an oven. Crazy that people can stand more heat! We also found longyi to wear to the concert. They're suprisingly conmfortable and amazing. I'm going to buy some fabric back in Thailand and have the design copied!

I'm serioulsy in one huge, continous revelation here. Nothing makes any sense to me. I just want to do something about it. So i will. But it'll take time to try and raise instruments to get out here. Seriously...everyone needs to go out and get Aung San Su Kyi's books...any of them. HURRY! Anyway, this place is powerful. I can't help but want to help. What an experience. The past 2 years...the past 2 months! I mean, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Myanmar and Vietnam again..that's next. You can't say we're not taking advantage of being out here. And not only that...what inspired our adventures was just wanting to travel. And so much more has happened than just travel..what we've seen and learned. It's so unexpected or anticipated that I am hooked..totally hooked for life on traveling and teaching.

Wow..I'm real reflective right now. I'm probably suffering from heat exhaustion. Seriously..it's hot here.

April 26, 2007

Still in Myanmar....

Our 3rd full day here. We're getting comfortable with the electricity going out randomly. I'm sleeping through it! Most of the day we had air con...but mainly b/c we were in govt. buildings. Our clinics today went so well. We could tell that the winds were happy to see us again. We did a morning clinic with the full orchestra, an afternoon clinic with the winds and a later afternoon clinic with the horns and trumepts..private sectional style. The longer we're here, the more our fascination turns into depression. But I have to keep reminding myself that we're doing what we can to help an impossible situation.

The senior member of the orchestra enjoyed our classes so much that they took us out to a nice Indian food lunch.It was the first Indian rest. I've ever been to where people eat with their hands!!!! I actually kind of got grossed out by it...I totally used utensils. Something about it is just so weird to me. It goes against everything I learned as a child. haha. Anyway, we felt very welcomed by the orhcestra and administration and are sure we could come back to work again...if we want too.

I feel like we've dove into thick, messy layers of the political scene by the work we've been doing. Today we found out about the history (very brief) of the University of Rangoon. I guess it used to be THE school in se asia back in the day. Now, it's a desolate wasteland. The govt. closed it b/c the school has always been a center for democracy and students have always been the leading role behind the democracy movements in Burma. So of course, the govt. just closes it. It's such a beautiful campus and it really is disgeartening to see the whole campus overgrown with weeds.

It's really frusterating to see the pverty. The way people are forced to live....ahh, but then something soo beautiful is that the musicians we've been working with have come out of this lifestyle and are incredible! I've never taught such enthusiastic student. Isn't that amazing? For such energy and passion to come out of such oppression is just baffling!

Dave and I splurged a bit tonight on dinner. The cuisine here is so different than anything we've ever had. Not as spicey as Thailand, not the same spices in Indian curries. It's somewhere in between. Dishes tend to be served in miniature portions that are usually shared and several varities are eaten at any given meal. After we eat, we usually don't feel quite right..so we splurged on some Italian. The gnocchi was actually impressive! The restaurant was set against the back drop of a famous Burmese sunset and a peaceful lake...ahhh.

April 25, 2007

Here's more journal from Myanmar....

So here's what we know. The Dept. of Radio and TV or MRTV also runs the Naitonal Symphony Orchestra or NSO. The NSO formed about 6 years ago and has had 6 or 7 concerts total since then and have never had brass players come work with the orhcestra. Not only are we the first brass players but we're like the 5th and 6th people to have ever come and work with them! WOW! I guess there's no money anywhere. The govt. doesn't even give its citizens running electricity 24 hrs. a day. In fact, for the past week we've learned they homes have electricity about 6hrs. a day total. It's weel over 100 degrees here right now and that's before the humidity. I didn't know if we'd feel the oppression..but here we are in our little hotel that luckily has their own generator. But what about everyone else? Just 2 weeks ago in China I was asking myself the same question but in regards to the cold...but there are always blankets to keep you warm. Here, what do they do to cool down? Our room with a/c is at 82 degrees right now. We have a friend here who's wife is pregnant! How do you have children in this heat? I just can't even comprehend. How do they cook? We walked around the streets tonight and the streets were pitch black. We had to use a flashlight so that we wouldn't trip! If really feels like a bomb has just hit. Huge old british buildings are completely in ruins and abandoned. It's totally incredible the way people live here!

We gave 2 clinics today. A morning session with the NSO winds and an afternoon session at Gitameit. The NSO winds were incredibly awful. I mean, I've never heard a wind section sound so bad. But how could one expect to hear anything but awful when there is no access to hear any orhestra music. This is it! That said, the musicians were the most interested and eager to learn than any I have ever worked with. It's amazing. We talked about air soooo much, but also sounds, blend, and we sang a lot. It's incredible b/c they are all fantastic singers.. At Gitameit students are way more musical and talented and we had them improvising by the end of our class. It was excellent. We've also been trying to get a concert together for Sat. night. We've invtited the NSO members but they're all afraid of Gitameit b/c Gitameit was recently under investigation for possibly being political! Of course they weren't doing anything political..it was all rumor but since they were accused no one wanted to go near the school in fear of being arrested! Anyway, I hope they are allowed to come and see our concert. They'll love it! What an incredible way to bring 2 musical groups together...through a concert. It's pretty amazing timing actually.

I still can't believe this place exsists in the 21st century!

April 24, 2007

Adventures in Myanmar...this is from my travel journal from our trip that was unbelievable!

Wow-our 1st day...no our first few hours..where do I begin? We arrived at the ripe hour of 8am...our friend Kit was waiting to pick us up. She's an american who is married to an embassy worker and has started up this great music center in Yangon. The airport was spanking new and clean. The first thing I noticed..

Oo..wait. We just got asked to work with the National Symphony Orchestra. WOW! I guess we'll do clinics and concert. That's crazy. Totally crazy! I guess they really don't ask people in and we're the first brass players they'll have ever heard! Cool! Wow! That's how I feel about this country so far. I'm just in awe...the charm, streets and cars. I mean, it's a 1/2 hour behind Thailand. That sums it up for me. What country is a 1/2 hour behind? It feels like the twilight zone a bit.

Our hotel is super cosy and cute...you can't beat $15 a night with breakfast! Anyway, back to my first impressions-all the men and women wear long patterened skirts called longyi.

We had our first Mohinga this morning after we arrived. YUM. A little fishy but I'll get over that..it's a consistency like split pea soup but tastes much better. Super good. Little fried veggies are thrown in with the noodles. After breakfast we visisted Gitameit (the music center that Kit started). It's a small 2 story building that used to be a liberal printing press. There are dark wooden floors and no a/c! 2 pianos are placed to the left and right of the front entrance and a few rooms in the back are filled with guitar students all practicing simutaneously. There's an air of creativity and although it's hot and humid, I'm totally inspired. After our visit to the school we went to exchange dollars into Kyat..which is only possible on the black market b/c there are no ATM's in the country! I guess you can get arrested for exchanging money even though it's the only way to do it! Dave went to a shop that was a trustworthy recommendation and went in, laid the $250 US down on the table and the guy takes it and leaves. It was pitch black with no electricity running and he could only see by candlelight. The guy came back a few minutes later and gave Dave a black bag filled with wads of cash. The largest bill in equivalent to $1USD..so imagine $250 single dollar bills in a bag. HILARE!

We were finally able to explore on our own at the big Scott market. I wasn't impressed with the bargaining but we did ok. Got 6 rattan placemats for under $3 each when initally they were asking for nearly $5. Not bad. We also got a rattan tray..soo cool. We were dying of heat so we went to a noodle shop and drank smoothies with our delicious noodle soup. I guess we're getting picked up soon. This is going to be such an adventure....meeting with a top government official so that we can work with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO). HILARE....until later

OK, it's later..well, basically we didn't know what to expect as far as teaching/playing is concerned. We had that meeting with the NSO. Apparently, we met with THE director of ALL TV and radio in Myanmar! HELLO! I swear..there's never a dull moment when we travel. It was a weird meeting filled akward silences but we've been asked..well, we've volunteered our time this week to the orcehstra in addition to teaching and playing a concert at Gitameit. It's great though. I was hoping we'd get to travel up to Bagan but volunteering time is a good thing. I am always interested in giving my time to those who want it! haha. There's 2 french horn players and 3 trumpets for us. Then I guess we're also doing a clinic with the whole orchestra. Sweet. Also, a few clinis with the winds.

It's weird being thrown into the musical politics of Burma. Real weird. I mean...how could a tourist ever learn so much about the country they're visiting? I love it. It's such a telling and fascinating way to learn about a culture. It's pretty nuts to be in the middle. Apparently, the orchestra started in 2000 and has had only a few concerts since then and all are private..for the military govt. Crazy! More tomorrow....

April 17, 2007

Found out why we can't access youtube. Apparently there's a racey video of H.M the King of Thailand and so they won't allow any access. You should look for it and save it for us to watch! Yeah, love the free society here. HA!

April 16, 2007

We're back in Bangkok! Crazy huh! Cheddar is sooo fat and happy that we're home. Our last few days in Hong Kong we're amazing. We totally went to Disneyland and had a blast! It's not as big or exciting as the one in L.A. or Orlando but it we had a great time anyway. Ate cotton candy, took photos with Buzz Lightyear and went on Space Mountain repeatedly until we were ready to ralph! hahha..good times.

We also had time to check out the Hong Kong history museum today before our flight and that was cool...oh and last night we had the BEST South Indian food I've ever had. EVER...no..seriously. Before last night I thought this awesome hawker center iun Singapore was the best but no...this place rocked. It was all vegetarian and we didn't understand a thing on the menu but got help ordering from the waiter and ended up with amazing, amazing food. We're going to go to an Indian cooking class very very soon.

It's great to be back in Bangok. Man, being gone really makes you appreciate home. We were so happy to be driving back to our condo today. It was such a clear day too! Beautiful! Anyway..China rocks dude. Hong Kong didn't impress us like I thought it would..but China was really amazing. I didn't know what to expect at all going there and now I want to go back for more! We're def going to try and do the bikeasia Mongolia trip next summer and throw in Shanghai and Beijing..can't wait.

Well, we're home for the week. We're heading to Myanmar next week..I've heard amazing things about it so I'm really looking forward to that. Oh, I just found out that both of my grad students have been accepted into the top summer music festivals in Asia..AYO and CISMA. I'm soo excited for them. It's so special for me to seem them doing so well! YAYAYAYAYAY!

OK...internet isn't working at home but like 3 new internet cafes opened up right near us..hilare! Oh..and youtube is banned by the government right now. Oh hilare is that! I love how we have ideas of communism and free market societies and I'm in the latter but can't use youtube!

April 14, 2007

In Hong Kong...sweet. This city totally reminds us of a larger Singapore. I think that's good and bad. It's really really different than the China we saw on our bike trip! We're getting our fix of all things western...so that's awesome.

Our trip here was quite the adventure. We arrived at the Guilin airport just 45 minutes before our departure and they had already closed the gate and immigration!! We think they gave away our seats before they should have...but we were pissed. Luckily, another couple (who happened to be from Oregon!) were in the same situation as us....and they had lived in Hong Kong before..so they BIG TIME helped us out. We were going to stay in Guilin another day and leave the following night. That would have meant I couldn't do my masterclass in Hong Kong so we didn't want that. So the other couple and us booked a flight to Shenzen (on mainland China) and then they had a car pick us all up and drive us the 1 hour drive into Hong Kong. That meant we went through China customs and Hong Kong customs...oh my gosh! It was quite a night. We were dropped off at our hotel at 2am and could not believe the sequence of events that lead to us actually getting to where we were supposed to be! HA!

My class at the HKAPA (Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts) went really well. The school is large and grown as much as Mahidol in the past 10 years. Pretty cool. We also had time to check out an art museum and walked around several different areas of the islands. The horn yeacher at HKAPA took us out for some amazing Italian. Oh my gosh..we're soo deprived in Bangkok. The Western food here is way more 'on' than Thailand. We've been going to this killer bakery every morning for ahhh soooo good pastries and fresh mango juice..yeah...amazing! Yesterday we also went to this aweome dumpling place that by far was the best dumplings we'd ever had. And today we had dim sum that was to die for! We're doing alright here...ahha. We went to the top of Victoria's Peak which is like THE thing to do as a tourist here. Other than that..it's a lot of shopping and some beaches. But the weather isn't great. We have one more full day here and we are bored of walking around so we're totally going to Hong Kong Disneyland tomorrow! HAHAH! I love it..I can't wait! Maybe that'll change tomorrow but we're pretty excited about it...hahhaah..we're such dorks!

Well...internet is harder to find here than in the mountain villages of China..hard to believe but we went to 2 separate internet cafes that were in lonely planet that are no longer there! SOOO annoying..we finally found a small place in the Chungking Mansions, which is a big Indian/Pakistani hang with shops and food and rip offs. hehe..

I won't write again until we're back home in Thailand...I miss Cheddar!

April 12, 2007

Cheers from Yangshuo! We're leaving in a about an hour but I wanted to update from my last mess of entries. We got here a few days ago after the muddiest ride ever. Our last day of cycling was really intense mountain biking...through rice paddies and really rocky, muddy roads. It was great! We officially clocked over 500km's of riding...sweet.

Yangshuo is the bomb. The cobblestone streets are lined with cafes, shops, and tourist stops. It's filled with more white people than we've seen combined from the past 2 weeks! haha...we've been drinking at the bars with our new friends, did a chinese cooking class out in the country and drank wine and ate cheese under the stars. Today we even rode our bikes again out to Moon Hill and climbed to the top..excellent work out. It's been a perfectly amazing way to end our bike tour.

We'll see what Hong Kong brings.....

April 11, 2007

Wow...it's been soo long since I've updated on our trip. But I have good reason..besides being really busy biking and enjoying the trip, there was NO internet and when there was internet, I was banned from blogger. I could never log in! So here we are...at the end of our biking trip. We're done cycling! I can't believe it. We're still with our group..hanging in the super hip Yangshao. Tonight is our last night and tomorrow after noon we head to Hong Kong.

Anyway..since I couldn't get internet I bought a journal and have posted my entries below from the last several days! ENJOY!

APRIL 6th
So the morning after I last wrote was totally nuts. First off, we started the day with a 10km hike up a mountain on a dirt road. I think the group was surprised that I made it! And second...it was raining the whole time! Yeah..it sucked. Once we got to the top we were all soaking wet and dancing around trying to stay warm (well, maybe that was just me). We put on warmer clothes for the ride down but we were all stuck with soaking wet socks and shoes for the 6km descent. We made it to our lunch stop and were bombarded by the local kids. We probably saw every kid in that town! It was super cute.I was singing songs and chasing them around...haha. The rest of our day was dry but coldy clod. We saw a water buffalo market..no joke. We stopped and checked it out too! The field that the cows and buffalo were on was probably a football sized plateau and just filled with guys and their cows! haha. The funniest part was that our local guide FT was chatting with the locals and discovered that the stew that was brewing at the market was actually filled with buffalo poo! YUCK. By the end of the day I was walking up that hill. There was one last climb that knocked me out and I could walk at the same pace as Dave riding! haha...Luckily our next day was a rest day in the Dong village on Zhaoxing. Apparently it was voted as one of the most authentic places in the world by National Geographic..and now I know why! We saw pigs being roasted on the streets alongside chickens being de-feathered...fried dogs at the market and tourists! haha. The bargaining here is fantastic and Zhaoxing is the first place we really got to buy local products. The women all carry their babies on their backs while working in the fields etc. in these amazing little baby carries made out of decorative fabrics that tie around you like a backpack. So I really wanted to find some for sale. I bargained so hard that after we settled a price, the saleswoman patted me on the back and gave me the thumbs up! hahaha..nice. Anyway, Zhaoxing is a special place nestled in the mountains on Guanxi autonomous region.

We're in a cold front right now which is odd for this time of year...it's in the 50's at night but without hot shower water it's hard to warm up! 3 people in the group have colds but Dave and I aren't any of them! YAHOo..

Anyhow..after Zhaoxing we had an easy day to Sangjiang. Actually, it was rough but not from the biking. A huge stretch of the road sucks so we had to ride in a van for 3 hours on very bumpy, unstable terrain. YUCK. When we got into the hotel we had a brisk walk through the local Dong village and enjoyed a warm meal with come local mafia guys! haha....

The next morning we had to deal with another non-cycling morning b/c of bad roads but this time we took a boat down a river but the boat got stuck over this one patch and after an hour of trying to go upstream we had to give up. We ended up getting a local tug boat to pull us through the current! hhah..good times. By the time we started riding it was 3pm..and on top of that the last 7km was a tough climb up a mountain. After the climb we had to walk up a steep hill with bikes to get into the village..but we were able to hire the locals to carry our baggage! They raced up the mountain so fast and weren't even sweating where I was dying. The woman that was carrying my horn and day pack must have been at least 75! So now I'm writing this from Piangan..the steep hill village of the Zhuang people. It's pretty hilarious we're here b/c last year at JJ market in Bangkok Dave and I bought some killer fabrics that just happen to be from this minority group! HILARE.

We've had a rest day today but I don't think you can call what we did today resting. Pingan is nestled near the famous Longxi rice terraces but in order to get to them it's about a 13km hike through the mountains and valleys. The views on the mountains are incredible and along the way we were followed by more locals with baskets trying to sell local products! They just follow you and follow you..never stopping until you buys something! haha...that wasn't hard for me though..I like bargaining!

The people on our trip are awesome! Our leader, Scott is a hilarious Austrailian who also owns a bar in Yangshao. BikeAsia is his company. Our training leader, Will is from the England and is our age. He's been teaching us Kung Fu in the mornings to warm up! Ann is from Ohio and has a nuresery and fruit/veggie shops and Mark is from Australia and is an ex-racer so he's really fast and we never see him! hha..just joking..we see him but only off the bike! hahah.

APRIL 7th
Wow..tomorrow is Easter. I'm at the Butterfly of Butterfiy hotel as they like to spell it here! Today was a tough ride..about 60km. It's amazing how my standards have changed. While we were in Zhaoxing we couldn't imagine not having a heater in the hotel room but we haven't had one since! It's actually comfortable...but I do need the hot water. We weren't sure if we'd have it today but we did..yes!We're way up this tiny village that doesn't see much tourists at all...hidden in forests of bamboo and pine. It's beautiful. There are butterflies and moths raoming amongst the local horses and chickens..the architecture here (HUidan Gu) is much different from the Miao and Dong cultures. It's much more pagoda based and looks more traidtional Chinese.

I can't even contemplate all that has happened on this tri0p. The biking is incredible and challenging everyday. It's hilly and there always seems to be a few km's of climbs everyday. We've been talking about buying our own bikes when we move back..but we'll need some snow tires to deal with Rochester.hhaha. We're primarily on back mountain roads and usually see a few dozen cars a day.. We take 3 breaks a day...2 tea and one lunch and one meal is consistently noodle soup. The snacking is excellent and I've recently discovered peanut butter oreos! Did you even know they exsisted?? They're amazing...can you imagine a pb oreo blizzard??? Oh yeah...bringing some of those back to Thailand! I also found cream cheese frosting and grahm crackers!! Uh-huh..that last up until a few days ago!! haha..the Chinese food is still amazing but the spice is working me. I can't do the spice and then bike...not good. There's a lot of veggies!

There are only 3 cycling days left..how sad! We've been talking about other tours that bikeasia does and one that sounds awesome in Mongolia! Dave and I are going to come back next summer and try to get a group of 10 people for that. So start saving!! Most of the trip is camping but I guess there's even some horse back riding too. WOW! Summer 2008...oh yeah!

Oh man..the locals here call us the hellos! ahahhaa..how hilarious is that..I like it better than gringo or farang..hellos.. hahah. We go back to Guilin tomorrow and then head through the karst limestone formations for next few days until we reach Yangshao..can't wait!

APRIL 8th
It's Easter..and I got the cold that's been going around. :-( How lame is that! Desptie the cold we had a good day. The hotel we stayed at last night was hilarious...only scolding hot water and def no heat. The ride today was mostly off roading...all dirt, mud and rocks! As we were coming into Guilin we saw some amazing limestone cliffs...ahhh. We were short on food today..no restaurants along the road but tonight made up for it! YUmm..one of my favorite meals. Squash, lamb, fish...and on and on.

It's weird to be back in Guilin. We've been in such quiet places for so long that this city feels HUGE! Dave is the only one that hasn't been sick this entire trip! We clocked about 70km today and have a similar day tomorrow. It's been raining every morning..lame!

APRIL 9th
Wow..what a day. I've been so sick all day..yuck. BUt we had an incredible ride. From start to finish we saw limestone cliffs! We had a few good climbs and clocked another 70km! It rained again this morning but it didn't matter b/c we were riding through orange groves and strawberry fields. YUMMY! We saw lots of goats today..usually it's been buffalo and cows...loads of them in fact..some days we see more water buffalo than cars! Oh...we even saw a huge pig today..must have been longer than me and maybe 4 feet high??? Totally huge! Right now we're in a small village off of the famous Li River. It's beautiful and quaint. The skyline looks like someone ripped a piece of paper. There was jagged cliffs next to smooth round and massive sized cliffs as well. Ahh...it's beautiful. The village we're in dates back to the 1400's! How amazing is that!

April 1, 2007

Happy April Fool's Day! We are in Songjiang...in a Dong minority culture village. It's nuts! We rode almost 90km today! Can you believe that? That, is no april fools joke!

OUr trip is going sooo well. We're having a blast. 2 days ago we flew from Guilin to Guiyang through Guanhzou. That was a long day. We got to Guiyang to see a wedding part arrive! It was soo cool..the bride was greeting everyone and giving all the men cigarettes and lighting them too! HA! We stayed at an amazing Ramada plaza hotel. Soo nice..we even got a non-smoking room! oh yeah! Then yesterday we drove for 6 hours into the countryside. Yeah...that's not a joke either...6 hours. We went through Miao villages which are soo cool b/c it's all hillside/riverside towns that have made 3 story houses with no nails! It's pretty spectacular. Then after the car ride we got out at this tiniest, poorest town center ever. We ate noodle soup while sketchy dogs ran around chasing chickens. The kids were soo cute and were playing hide and seek with me. After out 1st noodle soup lunch experience (there's been one everyday) we got on our bikes...finally and rode about 30km to our hilarious hotel. The ride was nice and I figured out how to use the gears on the bike fast! our hotel last night was really pretty dingy but Dave and I got soo lucky. OUr a/c unit was working so we put in our alarm clock batteries to the remote and got it on! I think we were the only room that had it working..and it was hot! AND..our bathroom was the only one with a western toilet..everyone else had a hole in the ground that doubled as a drain for the shower! Oh my gosh!

My absolutely grossest toilet experience was yesterday...there's tons of toilets on the side of the road that look like wodden shacks assembled hundreds of years ago...maybe they were. But there's a slit between the planks of wood on the ground for the bathroom part and maybe a hole underneath but usually it just drops off the side of the cliff (and you can see down)! It's really gross and I don't think I'll get used to it...but hey..when you gotta go..you gotta go. Anyway, yesterday it was a cement slit in the groud that was super skinny....not always easy for girls to aim like that but pretty hilarious anyway b/c I tried to hold my breath the whole time! haha..yeah..that didn't work at all!

So the food here is absolutely RIDIC! We're going to take a cooking course when we get to Yuangsho at the end of our trip. Seriously..so much flavor and not just spice like thailand although there is a LOT of spice too. Loads and loads of red chili. So that's been an amazing dioscovery for us. Oh yeah!

There's sooo much to write about and it's only the beginning. I really can't believe I didn't die today. My bum was sooo sore from the ride...but it's beautiful. All day we rode alongside a huge river between bamboo and pine tree filled mountains. The weather is goreous and cooler than Thailand....the riding is hard for me but I'm hanging in there. I'm going to be ripped after this trip! WAHOO!

The people are really nice and warm here. There's lots of staring but once you say "hello" and smile there's lots of warm giggles and smiles from the locals. It's great. A really amazing experience....the kids are the cutest and I've had fun playing around with them. We're picking up some chinese..what else. Hmmm....tomorrow is a 50km day (easy) but more hilly than today and man, that is going to kick my hiney! But I can't wait! We better go to bed..long day tomorrow. Today we had started at 8:30am and didn't get to our hotel until 5:30pm!

Can't think of anything else for now....I'll try to write in a few days or so!!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!