Beijing
Hey everyone,
I am currently in Beijing at the moment. There is internet access at the hotel we are staying at and my roommate Terry has a lap top, so no internet cafes for about a week. Those were starting to bug me for one reason or another.
Sunday I was still in Lijiang. It was our last day, so it was kind of a sad one because of how short our duration there was. We went to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which was a ton of fun. Lots of underground walking and waterfalls. Who could ask for more life and death situations?
Monday we flew back to Kunming for a few more days. The first place that we stopped at was this Export and Import Commodities Fair that they had going on. I came to the conclusion that I need an eye massager after trying one out. It felt real nice.
Tuesday was an off day of sorts, which is kind of weird considering it was our last day in Kunming. We had a farewell dinner and a lecture over Chinese opera. For whatever reason, they asked us if one of us wanted our face painted. Me wanting to break out and be the crazy one out of the group, I was like ‘sure, why not?’.
WORST. DECISION. EVER.
It took about 30-45 minutes to wash all of it off. There were three different phases that went along with it:
Phase 1: ‘OMG, my face is purple’
Phase 2: ‘Great, my hair is colored’
Phase 3: ‘Now my skin hurts’
The group decided to go out for a little bit to this place called the Speakeasy. Strangely enough, there’s a place in OKC with the same name, but this one was a little different. I ended up hanging out with these girls from Vermont for a little while. Even played pool with them. One of them could easily be mistaken as Maya Rudolph. She was fun to talk to, and it’s nice to find another person who appreciates the kind of electronic music I like. I ended up walking them back to their hotel.
Wednesday we flew from Kunming to Beijing. Beijing is what I expected it to be, if not more. It’s really nice and so far there has been plenty of sight seeing. I’ve gone to a few stores in the area and finally tried on some shirts. It’s weird how XL’s here fit like M’s ( which is what I wear ). And this whole time I thought the chinese women were implying that I was fat.
I’ve sortive gotten to that point on the trip where people are starting to annoy the poo out of me for one reason or another. It’s not incredibly bad, but that doesn’t keep it from still bothering you. Oh well. A few weeks to go.
At times I feel like I’ve been gone from home for so long, but the more I look at how many days left I have here, the more I think of how fast time is flying. A part of me really doesn’t want to go back home. It’s nice being in a different country where no one knows much about you. I like the idea of not having an identity at times.
Sincerely,
Tim
