Alright, I think we're ready to jump back into the blogging world and get back on track. It has been a crazy last couple of weeks, but our Rock has stood firm and the waters are hopefully subsiding. Tomorrow is Ryan's last day going to the hospital for IV and anitbiotics, after that he will continue to take medication and go back in in two weeks for a check up to make sure the infection is gone. We are very thankful that we were able to get to a good hospital and the college has been very helpful in getting us adequate care. We start teaching classes again next Monday and so we are preparing lessons, hanging out and trying to continue to build relationships while we are here.
But we didn't want to forget to tell you about our trip! We had an...hmmm...interesting time. We saw some amazing parts of China and met some really neat people that we traveled with. Here are some brief highlights and pictures. We will provide a more detailed account of our trip on our travel blog over the next couple of days if you want to check it out!
-Three hours before we were flying out of Nanning, we found out that our tour guide for the trip could not get time off of work to go with us so we were one our own. We have already paid for the plane tickets and she promised to take care of us over the phone and set-up people to help us along the way, which she did.
-We arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan, a province in the mountainous region of China next to Tibet. The very first day was one of our favorites. We visited a Giant Panda Breeding Research Center, basically a zoo for pandas and got to see them close up and in all different stages of developemt, including some one month old twin panda babies. We also watched some adolescent pandas wrestle and play king of the mountain for fifteen minutes...one of the highlights.
-That evening, after exploring a temple, we went to a Sichuan Cultural show, with music, drama, some incredible hand puppet displays and the famous #2 magic in China, face changing. The magicians have masks over there face and with a twicth of the neck or blink of an eye there mask changes in front of your eyes, quite astounding.
-The next day went joined a tour group in route to visit the world's largest Buddha. 25 stories tall and 1200 years old, it was an architectual amazement. It was carved out of rock by a monk and took over 80 years in the 800s AD. We enjoyed getting to know two gentlemen from Singapore that spoke excellent English and were our 'unofficial' interpreters and friends.
Mr. Buddha himself
Our friends and 'interpreters'; Bruce and Darris
-The next day we visited the #1 mountain in China. Emeishan. We were expecting grandiose views and inspiring scenery, but instead had a long hike and a lot of fog. Nonetheless, it was cool and fun and we even got very close to some wild macaques.
-The next four days we spent traveling to the Northern part of Sichuan on the bumpiest road you can imagine for 10 hours. We were stopped by crazy drivers and goat herders, but saw some beautiful country and a glimpse of the Tibetan culture. Alpine lakes and beautiful colored water awaited us at 'Jiuzhaigou' or nine village valley. A national park of sorts, much like Yellowstone, which we explored for a day and a half. We met a chinese couple who spoke English and were very kind and we even dressed up in some of the local costumes.
-Though I wasn't feeling well and didn't go, Kealy ascended HuangLong (or yellow dragon) mountain, a heigth of 4100 meters, about 13,500 feet and hiked down for about four hours through limestone pools and majestic scenery.
Kealy, the mountain conquerer!
-There were many temples along our way and we got an interesting glimpse into the Buddhist community and its origins,backgrounds,beliefs,etc.
-We finally made it home after a week and crashed, hospital, etc. you know the rest. But we had a good time, nonetheless, we were protected and we learned a lot about each other and this crazy world! We love you and miss you all very much. talk to you soon. We are feeling better and more uplifted and have run into more potential for relationships to grow.
Sincerely,
Ryan and Kealy Thorson
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