Hardship Tour

Hardship Tour

1. After a 5 hour flight and another 5 hour bumpy bus ride, I knew I had bought the wrong tour.

2. I was nearly thrown off my bus seat on the second day when the bus when negotiating a particularly treacherous bend.

3. The views and sights were extraordinary. So was the difficulty in getting to see them.

4. Blogspot is banned in China - Go figure.

5. I am tanned.

6. Average day = 8 hours of bumping in the bus.

7. Food glorious WAIT! GORY food. Not good. Except the fiery Sichuan steamboat meal where they served pigs' large intestines, duck intestines, and duck blood "tofu". Yum! Fear factor? Bah!

8. Temperatures toggled between 7 and 40 degrees. Experienced my first heat wave in Yichang, one of the cauldrons of China. I am truly and wetly humbled.

9. Peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, and watermelons are in abundance, but not sweet enough yet.

10. Same old dishes meal after meal after meal...