Study Tour

I just want to give you all an update on my adventures in China. I was away from Beijing for 16 days and visited several villages in China. I was at a Miao (Hmong) village in Guizhou and at a Tibetan area in the Himalayas. The study tour was crazy and very challenging. I'm glad to be back in Beijing with the smog and terrible food.
The study tour in Southern China was intense. My experiences varied from shock and anger to awe and wonder. On Wednesday, August 24th, we got on a bus at 5:15 AM for the Beijing airport and boarded flight CA1461 flight (7:45 AM airplane departure) to Guiyang (贵阳市), and then we drove to Kaili city (凯里市；3+ hours) and then slept in a relatively nice hotel.
9/25/08 Thursday
As I woke, I heard a loud noise from downstairs. It was a parade! We had arrived during a parade. I packed my belongings and ran downstairs to see what was going on. Many of the students were already standing in the street to see the spectacle. Ethnic minorities from the southern regions were performing, dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments through the streets. Even though it was raining, we were not deterred from the wonderful sights.
After the parade was over, we boarded the bus in the early morning and were on the road to Ganwu village (甘吾村) in Leishan county (雷山县). The rain was pretty harsh. The villagers mentioned that poor weather coincided with foreigner visitors. We were going to hike to the village, but we decided not to since the conditions would not allow for such a hike.
When we arrived, we were greeted by the Miao villagers. The women were dressed in pretty black dresses with purple and gold center pieces, and the men were dressed in shirts and blue jeans. The villagers served us liquor which tasted awful, but I drank it thinking that it would be rude to refuse. Walking along the road to the village, we all shook hands. At the top of the hill, the villagers yelled out for us to stop. The villagers slowly walked past the students to get to the top of the hill to greet us once more. It was a rather humorous sight. As they served us more liquor, we walked to the classroom where the villagers welcomed us again. We were each assigned families. Evan asked me if I wanted to room with him. After I agreed, a little old lady grabbed our hands and took us to her house where we met her husband and her grandchildren. It was a dark and gloomy home, and we noticed that they had two television sets but no refrigerator or washing machine. We later found out that they were building a new home which was the location that served as our day home, and our evening home was located at the bottom of a mountain! We spent some time trying to get to know the family. However, after five minutes of talking, they turned on the television set and walked away. We sat down and realized that they had left the house. We looked at each other and laughed out loud. I looked at Evan and said, “Well, I guess we are latchkey Miao.”
From there we walked around the village to see if we could help with anything. We were told to participate in the village environment so that is exactly what we did. I had a great deal of respect for the Miao people because not only are they self supported but many of them speak multiple languages. The little girl in our house saw me walking around the village. She had so much personality. Furthermore, she was funny and extremely intelligent. Sometimes, she acted like an adult, yet on other occasions she acted like a childish class clown. Wearing a torn and tattered white shirt and pink sweat pants covered in dirt, we all decided to call her little friend in Chinese. We had a hard time pronouncing her real name. As I looked up, another little girl grabbed my hand, and they both walked me through the village. They pointed at numerous locations. I later found out that both little girls were six years old, although they acted much older. They escorted me to a beautiful sight where I could see another village surrounded by mountains. As the sun started to set, I could hear the girls humming, and I thought what an amazing moment this was. With orange skies and the soft voices of the girls, I was content. Little did I know that this was not going to be a bulk of my experience in the village.
9/26/08 Friday
The next morning we woke to noodles and rice for breakfast. Our sleeping conditions were harsh to say the least. You could not really describe our bed as just not having a cushion, but rather sheets placed on top of wood planks which brought the realization that sleep during our time here would be limited, at best. Once again our village family had left us in the house with the television on. Again, I went to see if I could help the other villagers. I ran into Robert and Justin and asked if I could help them. As I watched them doing all the work, I asked again to help them. Robert mentioned that he was trying to get to know his village sister better. I told him what a bad idea it was for him to hit on his village sister. Robert is not the type of person who listens to reason. As I offered to help after an hour of watching them work, they told me that they didn’t need my help, so I was more than happy to venture elsewhere.
I ran into Beth and Leah, and we went fishing. It was so much fun. In the rice fields, we used baskets to catch fish, and we were fortunate enough to have fish for lunch. It tasted great, and this coming from a person who hates fish. Later that evening, I ran into Evan, Jessica, and Caroline. I helped them cut down brush and feed pigs. After a while, our family found us and told us it was time to eat. We went to eat and realized we were having chicken parts with everything included from the head to the feet. Ewww! Sadly, we had named the chickens in the house Gary and Rogers. I think we were eating Gary. Roger walked around the house several times looking for Gary. Anyway, when Robert walked in, our host insisted that he stay and enjoy the glorious meal. They also tried to get us drunk. Evan and I stood firm and decided not to drink. Robert decided to drink the day away, and he ate the chicken head! More eeew! He actually liked it and now craves chicken head.
Two hours later, we had dinner, and our host family invited Josh and Brian over. They ate and drank and challenged our village dad to a drinking contest. Literally, we eat six to eight times a day. Between food at home and our neighbors’ houses, we were well feed. Back to village dad—before we knew what was happening, our village dad was drunk. He could barely stand, and we still had to go to a village party. As we walked to the party, he fell a good number of times to the ground with loud harsh thuds. I was able to catch him most of the time. Unfortunately, there were a few times he landed in a rice field and we had to drag him out. As we entered a neighbor’s house, the villagers could tell he was drunk, and within minutes, he fell asleep and started throwing up on himself. As we started to play another drinking game, the villagers noticed our village dad was kind of an embarrassment. They were going to drag him into the next room. Our village mom asked Evan and me to carry our village dad home, which was against the villagers’ wishes, but the wishes of our village mom prevailed, so we took our village dad home. The villagers’ reason for anger verged on the contingency that they were supposed to get us drunk, and they were supposed to take care of us. Not the other way around. Because of our village dad passing out drunk, he was considered a “bad host” by his fellow villagers. As we grabbed our village dad, he reached for Evan and gave him a huge kiss on the lips. Triple ewww! Evan just laughed and asked if I had any mouthwash. As we carried our village dad home, we realized we had to navigate rough terrain. Our home was about 50 feet straight down a mountain. I had fallen down this mountain a few times already, but we made it home with our village dad without any big problems.
Once we were home, our village dad started throwing up on the floor. When we carried him upstairs, we realized there was no bed! All they had were sheets on the floor. The family had given up their rooms for us, and they had been sleeping on the floor upstairs. As we laid him down, he started throwing up on the floor. His clothes and sheets were covered in puke. What made it worse is that he only had one set of clothes. When Evan and I went downstairs to change and go to bed, we heard him coming down the stairs again. More words I’ll never forget, “Hey Evan, is our village dad puking again? Yeah, whose turn is it to kiss him? Ugh, I guess it’s my turn!” He tried to kiss me, and I pulled back; as I pulled back, he fell forward, and I caught him by his belt. He started throwing up again all over his only pair of clothes. I was finally able to carry him back upstairs, and after that, I went to bed. Even though the bed was made of wood and was really uncomfortable, I still felt bad that I had taken their bed. Evan assured me that it was fine because all we were doing was sleeping on wood. Either way, it was impossible to sleep.
9/27/08 Saturday
The next day, our village dad was still hung over. Evan and I were famous! We were now honorees. In their culture, it is appropriate to take care of your family. By walking away from the party, we had proven that we were true Miao. The villagers were very impressed with our devotion to our village dad.
While I was trying to sleep, I realized that it had becoming increasingly colder. I was freezing! I had wrapped myself up in my dirty jacket and pants, and I was still freezing. Half of the house was not completed. Basically, the back half of the wall was not completed. We had little protection from the elements and for obvious reasons I awoke early. When I woke, I noticed my village mom getting up; she just looked at me and smiled and then walked out the door. It was freezing cold. I decided to stay in my room and listen to my MP3 player. I kept telling myself, I would only have to endure all of this for a few more days. Reminding myself, one can only go a few days without clean clothes, restful sleep, fresh bathing, clean water, and many other modern conveniences that did not exist in the village.
As others wakened at day break and worked with their families, they shared some great experiences. One student met an old woman and had held her hand all day long. She had mentioned that her daughter was in the city working and the student had mentioned that her own mother had disowned her. The student would hold her hand and walk through the village proudly, both introducing each other as mother and daughter. This is not uncommon in villages such as this. Many parents leave the village to go to the city and work in factories. The elders care for the children and run their households while the working family members send money home. I was heartbroken when I heard that many of the children only see their parents once a year for a very short period of time. Basically, the family foundation is being destroyed, and there does not seem to be any answers to adjust for this sad state of affairs.
Back to me: As for Evan and me, our village dad slept all that day, and we could not find any of our family members. I went to hang out with Josh and Brain. We watched television, and their village dad made us lunch at 9:30 AM! I felt a little under the weather, and I found out that our village dad was in hot water for his drinking. In fact, they made all of us drink less. I could tell that the students in our group were getting frustrated with each other. Our conditions were harsh, and people began to yell at each other. We decided, as a group, to help widen the roads for the villagers. It was a wonderful sight. We had students and villagers working together as a group which prevented our arguing over shallow things. Sadly, as many of us were working, there were students who stood around and did nothing except yell at the students who were working. Obviously, this created some more tension for the students. I decided to go work in another area to avoid saying something I should not say. Before I left, Robert told Jarrod that he needed to use his legs more when he was using the shovel. Jarred just sighed, and I told Robert to shut up and pick up a shovel and work five minutes before handing out advice. He said he would be happy to do that, and then using a sarcastic tone of voice, he said he needed a shovel but they were all gone. So he was helping the best way that he could. I turned around and pointed at two shovels lying on the ground. He just looked down as he walked over slowly to pick up one of the shovels. He was walking so slowly that I walked over and grabbed the shovel and then threw it at him. He just looked down and started shoveling slowly. I could tell I hurt his feelings. Oh well. As I left, I noticed that many of my peers were at the bottom of the hill playing with the kids. I walked down and started playing with the kids, too. I felt like a jerk for telling Robert off and then playing with the kids. However, I did work hard for a good couple of hours as opposed to standing around. I kept thinking that I should go back and work, but many of the villagers had sat down and were just talking. I decided to just play with the kids.
9/28/08 Sunday
The next day, I woke up feeling really sick. Our village dad had finally waked us up and wanted us to work. As we started to work, I had a bad case of diarrhea which was really uncomfortable, and as I tried to work, my village dad made fun of me. I later found out that he was upset that I had complained about him not taking us to work with him, and the villagers asked him to put me to work. Little did they know I was not in a working mood. Our village dad had his reasons for his decision. The village was told that if any of the students got hurt, the village could face fines and sections from the Chinese government. In his defense, he wanted to make sure we were safe. After a few hours of work, we went back to our home.
We were supposed to have lunch, but I decided to go for a walk instead. I ran into Sarita and got some medicine; as we walked, it helped, and I felt better. We decided to go visit the local school which was a three-hour hike down a mountain. As we headed down the mountain, students flew right by us. Little six-year-old girls were laughing and running right by us. Students would jump on rocks and twist in mid air. It was amazing. I had never seen such agility. It was funny and embarrassing at the same time. I tried to get the kids together for a picture, but they were trying to tell us something. They looked so serious and cute. Many of them pointed to the village, and we pointed to the school. I could see them shaking their heads in frustration as I was trying to take their picture. After fifteen minutes of this, Sarita realized they were asking us to leave. We were not allowed at the school, and we needed to turn back. We needed government approval to go to the school, and without it, we could be arrested by the local authorities. Anyway, we decided to head back to the village. We were supposed to help with the rice fields.
It was a hard activity. Many of the villages watched and laughed at what a poor job we did. Once again there were those who stood by while we worked. Once again Robert started making fun of people who were working, and Gloria yelled at him for a good while in front of everybody. He looked like an idiot. Villagers and students were laughing at him. After awhile, villagers asked us to stop. I was filthy, and I could hardly stand. It was a real good workout for us.
After that, we met as a group in the classroom and talked about saying our goodbyes to the villagers. We were also going to donate money to the villagers for their school. As we did this, we were presented with options. The school system teaches Chinese history and not Miao history. They talked about getting a teacher to teach Miao history, and many of the students in the program found this concept erroneous. I was surprised. I thought it was a great concept. Only I and one other supported this great plan. The students were more focused on umbrellas and pencils for the students. I thought this shortsighted. I guess it is hard to argue with shortsightedness. Either way, before we left, I went to give my family some presents for allowing us to stay with them. At one point, I thought about not giving them anything because I did not form a real bond with them and felt ignored by them. I went to ask Caroline a quick question to get her opinion and hear her plan. Some people had decided to give presents earlier that morning. As I walked into her house, her village mom grabbed my shirt and tried to drag me into the house for dinner; however, I had gifts in hand for my family who were expecting me for dinner. Caroline was upset that I did not want to stay for dinner because her roommate, Jessica, had left the house for most of the time which in turn had left Caroline alone with the mother on a daily basis. When I left, Caroline whispered something rude to me. I tried not to get upset because I realized we were all stressed, but I decided to leave. When I got to my house, I noticed that Evan was gone. I decided to give our village family their presents, and they seemed disinterested in them. I had given them a picture of my wife and me and an University of Alabama t-shirt. I also gave them some money and asked that they use it for the children in school. I was later told that by giving them money, I made our relationship a business relationship which meant we were no longer family. Oh well, I never felt like family.
That night, at our last dance, the ladies of the village out danced us. It was funny watching them dance to techno music, but it worked. Regrettably, things got out of hand. My village sister had grabbed my crotch! This is a sign that they like you. It is completely nonsexual. However, it was still unwelcomed. The director even mentioned that it seemed like things were getting out of hand. More words I’ll never forget include the director stating, “You know, this is the kind of environment where crotch grabbing can happen!” I agreed and told him what happened. Ergo, they decided to stop the party and say goodnight. Everybody was upset, and all they knew was that someone had been grabbed. They all assumed that it was Robert. He tended to lie. It was easy to blame him. Sadly, I did not speak up. I just let everybody get mad at Robert. He swore it wasn’t him. I’m sure this will mean bad karma. Oh well.
9/29/08 Monday
The last day many of my peers had tearful goodbyes with their families. On the other hand, I walked around the village trying to avoid my family. After awhile, I ended up at a beautiful cliff, and a little girl walked over to me and gestured that I could fall down the mountain. I gestured back falling and she laughed. She poked out her little hand and walked me back to the house. The whole village was silent. They were all inside saying goodbye. When I arrived back at the village, we were welcomed to snails for breakfast. All I could say was “Yummy.” I ate half of one and then grabbed my bags and left. We were supposed to walk over as a family, but Evan and I had had enough of our family and decided to leave without them. They came into the classroom and sat with us. Evan completely ignored our family, but I said my goodbyes to them. We embarked on one last dance and hiked away from the village. Many exchanged addresses and had their last tearful goodbyes. I just grabbed my bags and said, “Can we go?” The villagers also enjoyed doing the Hokey Pokey with us, and we had encores of that. We started to leave, and I gave my family one last arm touch goodbye. I thought I had a moment with the little girl as she said something and pointed at the mountain. I asked Justin what she was saying, and he said she was telling me to make sure that I stayed with the group and not to wander off to the school and try to stay in a line; the path is narrow.
The villagers walked with us for part of the hike downhill, and then they waited from across the valley until we were totally out of sight. They shouted from across the valley when we were halfway into our hike. It was very touching and just indescribable. They will miss us more than we ever could.
The rest of the hike was grueling. It was supposed to be a two-hour hike, but it was a five-hour hike instead. I’m starting to think that the director’s not a math person. We were exhausted. Much of the trail was slippery, and everybody fell at least a few times. Manny had pulled me up after numerous falls, and I had caught him a number of times too. In fact, it was a weird bonding experience. We actually became close friends after our hike and realized that we had a great deal of commonalties. We had completed the first half of our adventure. What lay ahead also proved to be quite challenging.
After the Miao village, we had some down time to do touristy stuff. We went to some caves and to Huangguoshu, the biggest waterfall in China. According to the Chinese, this waterfall is most beautiful in the world. Whatever! We did take a sleeper train to Kunming city, and I managed to give myself some nice bruises slipping off the bunk. I was unfortunate to be placed with the party crowd. Late into the night, they were drinking and laughing as I tried to sleep. Even when I asked for silence, their whispers were louder than a shout. Their key conversation piece was regarding how Robert ruined their last evening in the village. This may have been karma getting me back. Anyway, I also developed a bad cold while in Kunming. We flew into Zhongdian, which is now called Shangri-La for tourist reasons. We travelled by bus through the Himalayas to Deqin, going over a mountain pass of about 4200m high. You can guess it: My cold and the altitude made it hard for me. I couldn't breathe, and my head felt like it was going to burst. We rested for a day in Deqin which was around 3400m. It is an interesting town, somewhat like a frontier town. I liked it. I felt like I was in the Wild West. They told us it was a rough town. People settle their differences the old-fashioned way here. I thought that was so cool. Many of the girls didn’t feel safe. On the other hand, I thought it was amazing to be in a place that had escaped modern contexts and existed as a self-supported community. I felt better after sleeping for twelve hours and taking lots of medicine.
10/5/08 Sunday
After a few days of rest, we drove the following day to a small village in which the hike to the glacier at Meili Snow Mountain began. The village had vineyards all around it and wonderful architecture. We were originally going to have a day to rest and get used to the altitude; however, we were running late and had ten minutes to prepare for this heart-breaking hike. As I grabbed my backpack and water bottle, butterflies had grown in my stomach because this was going to be a harsh three-day hike. The first day was a six-hour hike with switch backs straight up a steep mountain. We had Tibetan guides and mules to haul our stuff. It was a fairly steep and dangerously narrow trail at some parts. When we hiked in the Himalayas the first day, I was able to stay with the main group. My goal was to get to the farthermost point. I was really nervous. I was surrounded by students in their twenties who were in their prime. Many of them are marathon runners and have very athletic builds. I, on the other hand, am not. When I finally made it to our first campsite after a grueling hike, I had nothing left in me.
I was exhausted, and the director called out to us to help prepare the camp. As this happened, I noticed that many of the students had just started to arrive. Many of the marathon runners had been at least a half hour behind me. I’m not going to lie: it helped this thirty something’s ego. When one girl yelled out, “Come on guys, look we can make it. Juan’s already here and he’s old and out of shape. We can do it.” I also noticed that they were grabbing their supplies and setting up their tents instead of helping the group prepare the camp. A student informed me about rugged individualism. She insisted that if we all take care of ourselves, we don’t have to worry about helping others. Others nodded their heads in agreement. While she was saying this, a few others were working to build a fire and gather water for her.
I haven’t camped out since I was in high school. We had beautiful weather for the three days we hiked, and it was clear enough to see the snowcapped peaks. That night I told Manny I was going to the top. He seemed surprised. He didn’t think I could do it. He just thought that the second part of the hike was for the experienced mountain climbers. I was merely a weekend hiker. He tried to urge me not to do it, but I had already decided to go for it.
10/6/08 Monday
It was pointed out several times that I had the option to hike down. Of course, I attempted to hike up to the glacier with the other students. Our guide pointed out that there was no trail to the glacier; therefore, we started hacking our way through the wilderness. I was up at the front listening to my MP3 player. We had come across a large stream of water. Many of the students fell in, but I was able to avoid getting wet. Many of the students were surprised that I was able to avoid getting wet while their shoes and pants were soaked. I don’t know how I managed my way across. I just got lucky. The group was impressed as I crossed over listening to music and posing for pictures at the same time. I felt so cool. As we approached the glacier, we had to navigate harsh terrain. There were areas where there was no trail. All we had were rocks to hold onto, and we had to hold on for dear life. We finally made it to the base of the glacier where we sat and enjoyed the view. Half the group looked at what lay ahead and decided to turn around. Our objective was to get to the glacier water. The director assured us that it would be a half-hour hike, but that was not the case. After three hours of hiking, we realized that the glacier water was much farther away. It almost seemed like the closer we got, the farther away it became. Some girls started to cry. Some of them even thought we were going to die. I looked down and realized that the rocks were loose, and one misstep could lend itself to death. I marched onward, one foot after the other. I promised myself that I would go to the farthermost point and would not stop until I made it. We were close to 6000 feet and my head was hurting; I was dizzy, and I felt like vomiting. We had made it to the point where we could see the water flow. At this point, we should have had mountain climbing gear, but we didn’t. So…we marched on. The guide turned his head. I was the fourth person to make it to the furthermost point. I raised my hands in the air and lay down on some unstable rocks. The guide looked over at me and shook his head. He started to talk. I pulled myself up and saw that a huge section of the rock was gone. It was impossible to reach the glacier water! A group that was about a half mile back yelled out that we could go behind this rock formation and climb to the back portion of the glacier. The director yelled out, “That might work.” So we turned around. I was completely exhausted. I wanted to stay on the rocks. I was also dehydrated. Our two-hour hike had turned into a six-hour life-or-death ordeal. I pulled myself up and started climbing the rocks Spider-Man style. Sarita and Alex noticed that I was moving slowly, so they stayed behind to check on me. The main group had moved on. I noticed that Sarita had started to climb a waterfall. She looked down and uttered some more words I won’t forget, “The good news is that the waterfall is dried up some. The bad news is that the rocks are loose, and if one hits you in the head, you’ll die.” With that said, I started my climb. It was grueling. My arms started shaking. I had made it to the top of the waterfall. Success! Oh no! I looked up from a crouching position and noticed that there was another waterfall that was twice as steep. I sighed as I started to climb again. I made it to the top, again! I was the last one. I noticed that those at the top were lying on giant rocks breathing really hard. Sarita told me that I made it. I looked up and saw that a few had gone on. I started to walk. I promised myself I would go to the highest point, and I refused to stop. I noticed as I slipped what a long drop it would be if I fell. I said to myself, “If I die, my wife is going to be so mad at me!” So, I had to stay alive. I had no choice in the matter. A few of the group members tried to talk me out of it. I refused to stop. I waved them away and kept going. I saw Jessica returning, and as I waived at her, she fell to the ground. She had stepped on a rock covered in brush and fell hard to the ground. She cut her shoulder and her forehead. When I tied to help her up, she uttered more words I’ll never forget “Go on without me. Just go on. I tried to get over the boulder. It was too big, good luck.” I turned and started walking up the rocks covered in brush as the group yelled out to me to get some glacier water and sit for a minute. Others yelled out, “Go for it Juan!” I kept going even though it felt like my lungs were going to explode. Eventually, I made it to the boulder. Only three people had been able to climb the boulder. This was the last obstacle. I had wrapped my fingers around the boulder and pulled myself up it. With no footing for my feet, I pulled with everything I had. When I got to the top, I crawled to the highest point. I lay down and once again raised my arms in victory. I reached for my camera, and it was gone! No evidence of my achievement. My heart sank for a moment. However, I realized that this moment will live in my memory forever. I lay down for two minutes, and the director yelled out, “Time to go!” I could not move. It started to get dark.
After a few minutes, I pulled myself up and climbed down the boulder. I noticed the group had already made their way down the waterfall. I was all alone. I smiled and enjoyed it for a moment and then realized that I had to make it back to the camp. I started to step on the rocks and made it to the waterfalls. At the bottom, our guide was waiting for me and he pointed out where I should step to make it easier. The group noticed that I was making my own trail and passing the main group. They yelled out for me to stop, and I yelled back that I’m just following the guide and being a rugged individual. As for them, many took turns falling and tripping on the trail the guide who was behind me and caught me every time I almost fell. The ground was slippery and unforgiving. I started to feel better and was in the middle of the pack. The trail was still harsh, and it was getting dark. We could see the camp fire and it inspired us to keep moving. After numerous slips but no falls and a brief stop to get my breath, I was at the end of the group again. I was minutes from camp as the sun went down and the stars came out. I lay down in my tent and Manny said he heard that I made it. He said, “Yeah, good job dude!” I lay down and pulled myself up for dinner. I ate really quickly and went back to the tent. It was really uncomfortable, and I didn’t sleep well. However, I was happy not to be moving. I pulled out my MP3 players and listened to some good old Johnny Cash, as I lay down in the tent. Yeah, I had a smile on my face. 10/7/08 Tuesday
The hike back to the village was hard. I realized that I had blisters on my feet, and I was really stiff. Furthermore, hiking down is a great deal harder than hiking up. In fact, when we arrived at the village, a villager told us that after 40 years of hiking down the mountain, her knees were torn apart. It was natural for them to assume that at 32, I would be in similar shape. As we began the hike, I stayed in the middle, but as we started the switch backs, I noticed that I had run out of gas. We had no water for what would be a four-hour hike ahead of us. I started to falter. I noticed people passing by me. I kept in mind that over half the group had not gone as far as I had and therefore had more time to rest. The funniest part was when the director’s 10-year-old daughter skipped passed me down the trail. As I walked, Gloria caught up to me. She had been last to all check points and had quit midway through the second hike. She insisted that I not take away her title as the slowest person and encouraged me to keep going. As we walked down, I felt my knees starting to shake. They felt like jelly. After six hours of hiking, we finally made it back to the village. Pretty much all the food that had been laid out for us was gone. They saved us a cup of hot water. I was able to get a purifier, and I made some pure water with help from Amanda and Robert. It was wonderful. I went to my assigned house and lay down right way. Mr. Zhou, the Director’s assistant, came into the room and told me that I needed to interact with my family. I could barely stand, and now I had to be social. I pulled myself up, and he wanted to show me something on the roof. To get to the roof, I had to climb a log. It looked daunting. As I tried to climb the log, I noticed that as I got half way up the log, it flipped upside down. I fell hard to the ground. I lay down for a second and got up fast. They were concerned and tried to tend to me. I just brushed them off and told them I was okay. It really did hurt my head. I was mad and tired and was ready to start saying not so nice things. After that the director talked to me; I told him that I was exhausted and needed to rest. I had not slept for three days. I needed to rest! He assured me after the village party I could get at least a few hours of sleep before we left. And then he told me that the villagers had thought that I would be the first from the group to return to the village because of my advanced age. He said they were impressed with the fact that I was one of the last to return. They think very highly of you, he said. With his pep-talk, I kept going. Gloria also mentioned that they had said similar things to her about me and my determination to go the farthermost distance.
We stayed overnight at the Tibetan village and something special happened that evening. They danced and sang for us. Tibetans are usually very shy people and rarely do this, unlike the Miao who are incredibly outgoing. This village also had not had foreigners since the early 80s. The other students were really tired out from the hike. Our group wanted to engage them, so Gloria taught them the Hokey Pokey. So somewhere in the Himalayas, in a remote village, they know the Hokey Pokey thanks to Gloria! As far as food went, they had amazing fruits: pears, grapes, apples, and pomegranates. We finally wrapped things up and my village grandfather needed to use the restroom. I helped him to the outhouse, and my village sister came over to help out. He had had a little too much to drink and had a hard time finding his way home. We each took a hand and gently guided him home.
10/8/08 Wednesday
The next morning, we made our way back to Zhongdian. I could tell our guides were heavyhearted about seeing us leave. Unlike the Miao village, only three guys saw us off, but I could tell it was hard for them to say goodbye. We had danced, drank, and ate with them and were just about to have some interaction but we had to go.
To celebrate our trip we found a karaoke bar. I normally don’t participate in these kinds of activities, but Manny talked me into it. With a few drinks and some good music, I was in the mood to party! Being that I was still alive, I felt obligated to celebrate. After awhile, we noticed that Alex and Evan had disappeared. We looked for them and noticed that they had been kidnapped! They were asked to attend a birthday party and sing some American songs. We joined in. It was a great deal of fun. From cake fights to dancing to singing, it was a great way to end a great trip. However, minus two hours of throwing up from 2 AM to 4 AM, I had a great time that night.
10/9/08 Thursday
After an eight-hour drive followed by a three-hour plane flight…ugh!!!...we finally arrived back in Beijing. What I wrote is not even half of what happened on the tour, but it's already long enough. I hope the pictures give you a glimpse of what happened on the tour. I will try to recover from wanderlust and hit the books here in Beijing. It is rather surreal to be sitting in a classroom after this experience. With little more than four hours of sleep, I woke for class on Friday morning.
10/10/08 Friday
Awake for class. No rest for the weary. :)