the eaves of the world

Hello dear people,

We're pretty darned close to the roof of the world here in Lijiang, Yunnan Province (China). Hoping to upload some photographic proof. And some shots from Laos- those will be forthcoming. (hopefully).

We have had some slightly humorous adventures since leaving Laos- already! Where to start. How about the 9 hour busride through the bumpy hills of Southwest China- from Kunming to Lijian. What was funny? Well, thankfully it was nice and cool, but I don't know who to blame about the three back to back severely violent movies that blared for most of the ride. Severely violent. I won't go in to more detail, but for Kaja and Kate who will remember that the ONE scary movie I watched with them I had to watch from under a blanket, you know this was not a pleasant experience for me. And I tried to keep Eric from watching too. Who needs that poison in their brain? And all blaring in Chinese, even the American movie had been dubbed. We each had one ipod earpeace in, trying to focus on the nice hippie music mix that Leah made for Charlie (and then Charlie copied for me). And I tried to knit peacefully. When the movies finally ended, I found I had mostly been holding my breath.

The good news about the bus trip were the roadside stops- at one you could buy FRESH PINEAPPLE. Oh the joy. ALmost as good as chocolate. Then at the next one, right when we were wondering how on earth we would get dinner, we stopped at another place where you order fresh veggies (and meat) and its made on the spot. Of course, don't think that we knew how to navigate this meal. We sort of followed the other people from the bus (all Chinese, no english speakers) to this little room that was filled with bins of all kinds of vegetables and other items (mushrooms, meat-like things, potatoes..). A young woman came up to us and said "meat and potatoes?" which I suppose is the most common request from whitish-pink people like us who have the audacity to travel without speaking the language. We sort of nodded, not really wanting either. THen Eric pointed to some bok choy, and she smiled and pointed to some mushrooms, which they often stir fry with bok choy, and then escorted us out of the little room, across the courtyard. I suppose across the courtyard is the right place for tourists. So we waited there, hoping that some food might come. It did. Eric even looked up the word "rice" in our phrase book and went and spoke it to some of the people who seemed to be runing the place, and they giggled at him and nodded. We both wonder if he managed to say something about their grandmothers instead.

delicious, anyway, and way better than any roadside stand in the states.

We got in around 10pm, and as usually happens when we show up somewhere new, some local sizes us up and offers to take us to their guest house. A young woman had that role this time, and she took us to this tiny place that is probably new and definitely immaculate. The room is about 2 feet longer than the bed we share, and a TV is wedged in along the side (not sure how you would *watch* it from the bed). But we have our own bathroom, which is nice, and it has a seated toilet (instead of the squaters, which require a high level of balance and toe strength). I know you guys are so thrilled to be hearing about toilets. We'll try to keep you in the know. Amazing how important they are when traveling.

So here we are in Lijiang. As is again the case in most tourist spots, even ones as remote as this (and we are headed to more remote soon), there is a hip little backpacker cafe filled with cigarette smoke, fruit smoothies, coffee, and internet. And of course, they are playing Jack Johnson. Because what else is there to play?

Today we biked to a small town about 9km from here, under a huge snow-capped peak the whole way. Totally beautiful. And so much contrast- we biked through these tiny tiny old towns with traditional chinese roofs, and then suddenly we'd be in the middle of some huge construction project with cement mixers and huge trucks full of rocks driving by, all the while accompanied by various locals on bikes, or women carrying children, or little bands of kids saying "hello" and "good AFTERnoon!" And then we'd pass wheat fields, and then whammo, a huge "world heritage site" that is all spruced up for the tourists. And so goes China, so far.

We're here for another 2-3 weeks, then we head to Mongolia. SOmetimes the trip feels fast, sometimes slow. But so far we've avoided sunburn and stomach issues. Keep your fingers crossed.

I miss you all.

xoxo
betsy