falling behind!

ciao d'Italia! (no, i could NOT think of a cheesier opening phrase.) a lot has happened since my last re-cap so...that was your fair warning that this could be a long one.

yangshuo was incredibly crowded (i feel like that's a common theme for most of these cities). it was 'Golden Week' which follows the Chinese national day - everyone in China has the whole week off, and Yangshuo is a popular tourist destination. We saw an amazing light show that was designed by the man who directed the olympic opening ceremonies. hundreds of singers, actors, and boats with synchronized lights...incredible. i'll try to post a video soon.

Em and I turned our last day there into a day of 'self-improvement'- we took a cooking class and a watercolor painting class.

Watercolor class summary: bamboo leaves are tough to draw. this one is not going on my mom's fridge.

Cooking Class summary: It started with a trip to the local supermarket (it's a long way from Safeway). The market was more like a big, loud warehouse with every imaginable species of vegetable, fish, and animal on display.

mmm...snakes.

Sally, our fearless culinary leader, then proceeded to help us prepare 5 traditional chinese dishes. Once again, an intense block of instruction. Luckkily, she printed out the recipes for us to take home because I don't remember much from the class except Sally's loud commands over the sounds of banging pots and pans: "High heat!!! Add water!!! Lower heat!!! Don't let the garlic burn!!!!!"

I found that my cooking improved as my beer consumption increased. The fruits of my labor were, if I do say so myself, 100% edible...and actually pretty good!!

We spent the next day biking around the Chaolong village (near the Li river). THree of us decided to climb Moon hill (because of the shape). it was a tough climb for out-of-shape me (think: 1 hour on a natural stairmaster) but the view was worth it.

Our next destination was the Longji rice terraces. We hiked about 6 hours from Longjing to the Pinjan village. The scenery was breathtaking - we saw maybe 3 other people during our whole hike - and it was a well-needed break from the city lights.This little guy was from the village where we stayed in Pinyan after our hike. He had just gotten a new badminton set, and he was the most dedicated player I've ever seen. For hours, he would stand in front of our hotel, volleying with anyone he could coerce to take the other racquet. I played with him for about 3 hours, and despite major communication difficulties we were able to get four consecutive hits!! He was very serious - no smiling, no laughing, just practice. When he missed a shot, he would mutter to himself in Mandarin and return to his preferred starting point, determined to improve. Look for him at the 2024 Olympics.

At our guest house, some of the members of the village put on a little informational show to introduce us to the dances and celebrations that have been going on for centuries. It was really interesting and a lot of fun (especially when two members of our group were 'married' in a traditional ceremony.) They had us all try our hands at this bamboo double dutch thing...I was lucky to escape with all of my toes in tact. Gotta run....Hong Kong and Rome stuff to follow....xoxox :)