Mom Comes to China!

On May 1, My Mom and Anokhi's Mom and Dad both came to Chongqing! We were both so excited and had been counting down the days for weeks. Scratch that, months! We made some fun signs to greet them at the airport and deep-cleaned our apartment so we were completely ready and waiting for them!

Yay! Her flight was a little delayed from Beijing and we didn't get to our hotel until around 12:30 but she made it! I was exhausted but she was still wired and on California time. We chatted a little, hugged and she showed me all of the yummy Western food she brought across the ocean for me! I ate a homemade chocolate chip cookie and passed out! 

The next day we started exploring the Chonks! I took Ma to Ciqikou, our little old town. It was super crowded and rainy, perfect China conditions so she could really get the feel. We walked around and I made her try some of the snack foods that are native to Chongqing. Then we visited the Buddhist temple on the hill and looked out over the city.

Mom burning some incense at the temple

I just love the up turned roofs!

Later on in the day, we met up with Anokhi and her parents and Justin for a boat ride on the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers! It was so fun to have them meet each other and to meet her parents! We were like a bunch of families coming together, and it was really cool. 

Like mother, like daughter! 

Some of my favorite people all together!

 The next day we took a ride on the cable car over the Yangtze! Basically, anything to do with the Yangtze River is super cool and fun. It looked really eery dark that day but don't worry, that's just pollution!

We went out to dinner with Anokhi's co teachers one night and had a really good Chinese dinner! Unfortunately Mom got sick from either the spice or just being in China :-( It took her a couple of days to be fully better.

The next day we went out to dinner with my co teachers!  We had traditional Chongqing Hotpot! Duck intestines, cow stomach and all! Mom got pretty sick and couldn't stay to enjoy the delicacy that is pig throat. Oh well, her bad, right? 

Yay! Such a great group!

Love these gals! Sandy, Leah, Melody and May!

 Mom got to come to school with me! She watched me teach my K3 class and then do afternoon activities with my K2 class! Although it was super busy and hectic, it was really fun that I got to share that side of my life with her, as it has been a huge part of my life in China and really important to me. Also, the kids are dang cute!

YWIEK Rongke Campus!

Then we left for 5 days in Beijing! The best part of the trip! We visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City...

And of course the GREAT WALL! The best place ever. I called the same driver, Charlie, who drove Anokhi and me around in January, and he drove us basically everyday. It was really nice. He took us this day to a different section of the wall than I had been before. This one is farther from Beijing and more remote. It is called the Jinshanling section and was absolutely beautiful! It was really nice to see it in the spring time with so much greenery and almost no people around. Mom and I took the cable car up to the Wall and walked around for about 3 hours, it's never enough time though. 

Dreams coming true!

The next day we went to the Temple of Heaven and walked around there with some audio guides for a couple hours learning about it's history. Then we went shopping at some of the black markets and finally ended our day at the Summer Palace taking a boat ride around the huge grounds and fighting the biggest crowds we had seen yet!

 Being in Beijing, Mom had to try the famous Peking Duck! We went to the famous, Quanjude Restaurant and had the whole spread! I liked it but it wasn't Ma's fave...

Reppin' the Chonks!

Our final day we went to the Olympic Stadium! I was weirdly excited for this and felt weird pride for Americuhhh. We saw the Water Cube, the Bird's Nest and walked the vast grounds that the Olympians had walked six years ago!

The Olympic Village built in the shape of the torch and flame!

Woohoo! 

This was that time that Michael Phelps won everything! It was cool, they had a huge wall of all of the winners and the winners from the Para Olympics!  

 USA! USA! USA!

Can't you just feel the greatness?? I can!

There is a huge food street right by our hotel that we walked down a couple times. Mom captured this pic of some of the delicacies provided. Starfish, squid...

Mom getting ready to head home and me heading back to my home! It was so great to have her here and see a little sliver of my life for the past nine months! It's so different to show her what I have been talking about and have her experience for herself and meet the people that are a huge part of my life here. It means a lot that she took time out to come to a place that I knew was difficult to navigate and not exactly a vacation! I love you Ma! 

"It seemed like a long time and also it seemed like my trip had just begun, like I was only now digging into whatever it was I was out here to do." -Cheryl Strayed Wild

Tiger Leaping Gorge!

We had a three day weekend because of National Tomb-Sweeping Day (Yes, that's correct) so Anokhi and I booked tickets immediately for Lijiang! Lijiang is in the Yunnan Province to the South of us and supposed to be suuuuper beautiful! We left right after school on friday and headed for the airport only to find that our flight was delayed three hours...Great start. Instead of getting in around 10, we got in around 1 am and hailed a taxi for the Old Town! Our driver wasn't exactly sure where our hostel was and we had been trying to call it for HOURS. When we booked it, the directions were to call them and have them talk to the driver...that's kind of a problem when they don't answer. So, we were wandering around a dark, cold, new city trying to find our hostel and calling them over and over again. We finally decided around 2 to go into the 24 hour KFC and hole up until we could get ahold of our hostel. 

We slept for a little and kept calling our hostel until they finally answered around 7! Ugh. They gave us directions and then sent a guy to pick us up. They said they didn't answer because they were drunk at the bars all night, well of course! We were exhausted and slept for a the better part of the morning until going out to explore the city of Lijiang. 

The view from our hostel!

 Lijiang is one of the only remaining Old Towns left in China and one of the biggest. It was so beautiful and what you think of when you think of China! We just wandered around the stone streets and down alleyways looking at all of the shops and trying some weird food!

One of the famous and interesting aspects of Yunnan is the nature! This province has the most famous and largest gorge, Tiger Leaping Gorge. You can drive to see it, oooor you can hike to see it! Guess which one we decided to do?! The hike takes around two days and is literally through the mountains. Since we arrived late on Saturday we missed the chance to sign up with a tour to take us to the mountain and then through the mountain. So, of course, we had to do it the hard way! We took a public bus on Sunday morning and had them drop us off in Qiaoto, the city where the trail begins (Our hostel wrote it in Chinese for us).  Then we walked through the town looking for signs of the trail and doing charades with the townspeople, until we found it!

The beginning of a long journey!

This was Anokhi's first time hiking! Her first time seeing a mountain was in Xi'an so I was really excited to show her how amazing it can be! She was excited too, and a little nervous :-)

The Haba Mountains! So beautiful!

Along the way there were many villagers who had set up bathrooms, snacks and rest areas for the hikers, it was so nice and they were all really sweet! When we walked up they would say, "Shoshi," which means, "take a rest" in Mandarin and then offer us a Snickers and a Powerade.

After hiking for a couple hours and before getting to the really hard and famous "28 Bends" a man with some horses found us and somehow convinced us to ride horses up past the bends. We met a Chinese girl, May, along the way and she helped us all negotiate with the guy and then we hopped on for a scary but exciting climb!

Bend 1!

Our new friends enjoying the view

We had beautiful weather! No rain and very sunny! I did get sunburned but it really was nice to get away from the cold!

sneak peaks of the river

We ran into a goat herder on the side of the mountain, not an awful job eh?

Had to take my regular jumping pic!

after 6 hours of hiking, we made it to our destination! The Halfway Hostel nestled in the mountains! Halfway to the Gorge!

The next day we set out early and made our way to the Gorge!

Once we got to the village where the Gorge is, we had to make a 3 hour hike down to the Gorge! This was one of the hardest parts, it was straight downhill, at times we were on the side of the cliff and we had to take a perilous ladder down at one point. But we made it!!

Tiger Leaping Gorge! 

I decided to hike further down to get right up close and personal with the Gorge. Gotta get my time's worth! I had to cross this brige and then slide down that rock...

YAY! 

We did it!

We hiked back up and decided to try the village's "delicacy," Yak cheese dumplings dipped in honey. Not my fave....but glad I tried them! Yak cheese has a really strong flavor!

 It was so challenging and crazy but so worth it! I would do it again in a heart beat! 

It ended up being 2 days and 15 miles total and the next couple days we were both SO sore! 

I especially liked getting out of the city and being in nature again. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was back, but living in a city can be hard sometimes. I can't wait until our next adventure!

"I hear people go crazy for steady, but me, I run every time"

-Gavin Degraw