Since the last posting (sorry still no pix yet...China doesn't let you upload and Laos--where we are now--is in the slow lane of the internet highway), we visited two of our favorite places in China--Tiger Leaping Gorge and Sanya. Sorry for the delay...the WebMaster (yeah you got that right MASTER!) needed a vacation from the vacation...the cacaphony of China caused a minor nervous breakdown on an overnight train from Kunming to Nanning. Phong held me back and told me to find my "happy" place. Dr. Nguyen saved the lives of a little Chinese brat who had a 4 hour temper tantrum and 10 smoking senior citizens who were up at 5am competing for the spitting championship. China's population is still safe.
Tiger Leaping Gorge is the land of "happy plants and happy people"...It is a mini grand canyon in the Yunnan Province...about 100 years ago, grandma was minding her business and herding her goats at night...then an earthquake (one of many that affected the area during the past century) caused the mountain to split in half...as the mountain was separating, grandma saw a tiger "leaping" over the gorge with one of her goats in its mouth to the other side [the gorge is 5000 meters deep and 500 meters long--it is HUGE]...THIS CAN'T BE TRUE...probably not...what they don't tell you about the gorge in the guide books is that the area is a forest of marijuana...it grows right along side the road...we think grandma was probably smoking the shizza before she witnessed the "LEAP"...
It was our first truly natural experience away from the madness of Chinese tour groups, pagodas, and cable cars (the Chinese don't like to hike--they like the most direct route to the top of the mountain). We spent 5 days hiking thru the Gorge-there are guest houses all along the way--one with a panaromic view of the gorge--amazing views of the stars. This was the beginning of our vacation from the vacation.
We then escaped to SANYA...the Hawaii of China. We did nothing for a week except flip to even out
the sun exposure...the water was like a bathtub (which is necessary for us to swim since Miami thinned out our blood). it took us 6 days total of travelling to get there but it was completely worth it.
we missed out on some rice paddies..but the palm trees made up for
it. we partied during the full moon festival, ate dim sum, and watched the Chargers kick the Steelers arse! everyday we got to see a bunch of naked asian men swimming in
the ocean...who doesn't love watching naked asian men?!?!
