Casper and I have grown closer to each other and built a fantastic relationship through the past year. We are great companions to each other. But we both miss our own friends and families who are far away. Therefore it’s always such a pleasure to have friends visiting. The greatest part is to teach them how to dive! Steffen and Sarah were the first couple of friends I’ve taught, then Matt and Hsuan were also brilliant students. We had such good fun together. Matt and I even held a little underwater facebook divorce underwater, haha, that was hilarious. Finally Casper and I, Matt and Hsuan can finally “announce” our real relationship on facebook. How silly we are, huh?

Being a dive instructor living on an island was something adventurous and challenging to me. The life style was very attractive which enabled me to visit many amazing places and meet many amazing people. However, something is missing. We miss the stable circles of friends which won’t change every few months, and a place we can call home always. It seems to us it might be time to leave the islands and settle down in a place. For many couples who are from different countries, the ultimate question of all time might be “where are we going to settle down in?” A mutual place to make both sides satisfied to live in “forever” is rare. Eventually one of us will need to compromise more or less and choose what’s the best for both of us. This is the process Casper and I are going through right now. Neither of us has been to the other’s countries. We found it a great idea to visit each other’s country and decide what the best is.

I am so looking forward to seeing Casper again in the fall! We have been missing each other tremendously since he returned to Denmark in May. I can’t wait to show him Shanghai and travel to some amazing places together! I can’t wait to see Copenhagen and visit those fairy tale looking places in Denmark, even though it’ll be freezing cold by the time we go I think only until then we can really know and understand each other.

The adventures are never ending. Each chapter of our lives is a new adventure. Although plans might be made to be changed, it always gives us something to look forward to. One step at a time

Since last May I set off for my big trip, I have had quite a few life changing experience. However, nothing has changed my life as much as diving (lol, I’m not doing PADI advert, don’t worry). I can’t imagine myself living away from the ocean and not able to dive on a daily basis. It’s no longer about sitting in front of in front of a computer in an office on a grey gloomy day. The ocean is my office everyday. The incredible corals are decorations on my desk. The fishes are my play mates. At the end of the day, a lovely dive boat is my taxi home while the late afternoon sun light reflects on the deep blue water shining all the way. My skin is tanned, my muscles are lean, my smiles are genuine.

I tried to get involved in the Eco projects and teaching in the school in Trawangan in the beginning. But it didn’t go the way as I wished. The divemaster course helped me to make up my mind to become a diving instructor because I felt so happy and rewarded seeing the big smiles of the students after their first open water dive. It’s like opening a door to a new world for people. I want to make it possible to swim with turtles for those who might have been even scared of water. I want to show the amazing marine lives to those who are so curious and excited about new experience. I want to maybe change some people’s lives by laying out the possibility of a different lifestyle in front of them. I met some wonderful people during my instructor course in Bali, who I am sure will be life long friends. My course director Minni is one of the most incredible women I’ve met in life, who’s affectionate, smart, influential and lots of fun. Learning from her definitely helped me to gain the confidence to be a good instructor. A very nice surprise also came along during my time in Bali. I met Casper, who’s now sharing the adventurous life with me. We fell in love. We feel happy. We want to be together. Life feels more complete to both of us.

Gili Trawangan has offered me a lot in the past seven months. It was home and it was my life. Most of my diving experience is from there. It was there I saw the school of twenty devil rays. They were “flying” above me in the water and my heart almost stopped beating. The absolute beauty of the nature is definitely overwhelming. Not only diving that Trawangan offered me, it also brought me lots of joy to become close friends with some amazing people especially Britta the most heart warming girl I’ve met. I am missing them while I am writing at this very moment. I miss the yummy home made icecream, too!

Life moves on though. Casper and I were eager to teach and pass on the passion of diving. When this high season turned to be a “low season” for us the freelancers, we decided to seek work opportunity else where. It happened very quickly that we both got a job from Scuba Junkie, based in Semporna, Borneo Malaysia. Diving around south east Borneo is amazing. One of the best diving areas in the world Sipadan is also here. They wanted us to be here ASAP. We didn’t have much time to let the idea to sink in. We packed up and left Trawangan in one week. By the time I arrived in K.L. airport last thursday, I was still feeling a bit strange like I wasn’t totally prepared of the change. It’s like every time when I made a move to unknown, I feel a bit intimidated although I know it’s the right decision to move on. We were welcome by many friendly smiling faces. Scuba Junkie has a very nice team. We felt accepted right away and we have been working a lot since day one. So I don’t have much time to be “intimidated” at all.

Semporna is a very small harbour city. Not much to do. It’s not as dirty or ugly as some people described it to us though. I find it quite okay to live in. We were offered a very basic room above the dive shop’s restaurant. It’s with fresh hot water shower and air condition. For me it’s already luxury as I didn’t really have fresh water shower for over six months, let alone hot water shower. There is a big supermarket and food market down the end of the road where I can go wander around everyday. A nice western pharmacy is around the corner of the dive shop. A few Chinese and Indian restaurants are in walking distance. Life is very basic but I don’t have much to complain. We don’t have much free time to actually do a lot either. Our typical day starts at 7am from breakfast at the dive shop restaurant, and ends at around 5pm after 3 dives. Dinner is at 730pm in the same restaurant. The menu changes everyday and food is quite good. All meals and soft drinks are free for the staff. Now comes the best bit, as instructors we get 4 crates of free beers per person per month  Therefore we are taken care of in all ways. We pretty much don’t need to spend any money. It’s not a bad trade although we only get paid a small monthly salary instead of by commission of courses. We hang out with our team at dinner time normally. Not much of a social life around here to be honest. We chat about our days and maybe have a few drinks together. There are no parties except a local band plays on every Tuesday and Friday from 8 – 11pm. On a day off, we can either hop on a boat for some fun diving or stay in for a dry day to get online or read a book. At least internet is free here and the connection is working quite okay most of the time.

It’s been only one week since we arrived. I don’t want to make the judgement about life here, yet. It’s not as fun or as tempting as the island life we had before. It’s another kind of life. We belong to something, a shop and a team. We don’t have to worry if there will be any work the next day. We share the responsibility equally with the rest of the team. In a way, I like it.

I am grateful that Casper is here to turn this new page of life together with me. It makes everything more possible when you have a great partner next to you, non? I would like to stay in the diving industry at least for the next couple of years to see what more I can gain from it. Working as a diver might seem like just a holiday job to many people. But other than the flexibility for travelling, it’s actually like any other “real” jobs with rules and standards to follow, with work schedules and even bigger responsibilities for the others. There are different goals people can set for themselves as a diver. To travel the world, to go to the higher professional levels, to open their own dive centers, to own a liveaboard boat to do diving tours, etc. Some divers dedicate themselves in marine life protection programs and actions, such as those people from The Cove and Sharkwater. We carry some very important messages about marine life, ocean eco system and conservation to people we teach diving to so that they can also pass these messages to their friends and families. So, although we are a different bunch and look silly sometimes with our equipment, trust me, we are working seriously 

Tropical breeze to all of you that are not near an ocean at the moment! I will keep swimming, keep swimming, swimming swimming…

2009 has certainly been a very special year in my life. After mumbling countless times in the past five years about leaving Shanghai, my visit in Malapascua early this year helped to confirm the decision. While swimming in the clear turquoise color water gazing out to the horizon, I realized I could never be satisfied living in the pale city of Shanghai and sipping Starbuck’s coffee every morning at my pathetic looking office desk. The idea to travel around for a long period of time formed in my mind since I read the book written by the Lonely Planet’s founders three years ago. I remembered talking to Didier about it back then that we should leave our jobs and go off for a year traveling and diving. I never gave up that idea. I was still trying to figure out what I should be doing as my new career and how I should pursue it when the travel plan became a detailed picture – first in China then South East Asia. I was simply tired of the commercial work environment where everyone just focused on the profit in the very near future. I was a consumer, a materialistic person, shallow and selfish in many ways. I couldn’t’ see myself contributing to the society or helping the world and those in need. I wanted to do something, something more than just about myself. Working in education with NGOs became my new goal in career. That’d be what I would do after finished traveling. After thought it through, I felt “safer” to leave things behind and start over again with a goal in mind. Then, I counted my money and it should be enough for me to travel for six to eight months. It’s a pretty good length of travel time. Within two months, I left my old job, moved out of my lovely apartment (oh, I still love that place so much and miss the bbq on the giant terrace!), packed my life away, hugged and kissed my dear friends goodbye, jumped on an over night train to Beijing, my first stop in the journey. I secretly thought that’s quite romantic the way I left Shanghai 

No doubt it has been a journey of lifetime. Seven months flew by as if I just left Shanghai yesterday. I lost the concept of time and dates soon after the journey began. The absolute freedom of time, of whatever I wanted to do seemed quite overwhelming in the beginning. I remembered after one month on the road, I said to myself that I missed working. Oh well, I ditched that idea the very second I hopped on another over night train heading to another new place. I was surprised to find myself quite adaptive being a backpacker. Most of the time, I was being very positive and enthusiastic. I learned how to live within a budget although I from time to time did indulge myself with good food and some shopping I learned how to smile  (when was the last time you smiled at a stranger passing by?) I awed at almost everything I saw. I didn’t complain much about the tiring transportations. I ate any local food and mostly enjoyed it a lot. I kept my curiosity and open mind to anything new. I learned new sports, tried out new activities and physically challenged myself. I was eager to learn about different cultures and traditions. I was easily fascinated by the nature and its mighty power affecting the human life. My eyes were opened and my heart became bigger. The world seems very different to me now.

It’s toward the end of my travel. I finally felt the urge to go HOME – in any sense that means Shanghai. I miss my friends so much. I couldn’t wait to see their smiles and hug them again! Especially I realized a new chapter was entering my life. I can’t wait to tell them about it! I will shorten my visit in the Philippines and take Vietnam out of the list. I am going home soon! My wish for the end of the journey is to dive with the whalesharks in Leyte!

Another sleepless 28 hours hopping from one kind to transportation to another, I arrived in Panglao, Bohol on the New Year’s Eve. It’s a gloomy rainy morning. Though, the white sand beach and the different shades of blue color of the ocean were still unbeatable. New Year’s Eve was with all the wonderful elements, big group of interesting and dynamic people from Shanghai, beautiful beach, BBQ feast on the beach, firework, full moon, good music and local rum and coke The night ended by listening to the waves and sleeping on the beach.

A brand new year arrived in an impeccable way!

It wasn’t too complicated to cross the boarder from Laos into Cambodia. The $1 bills I particularly saved up for this country became very useful since that point.  US dollar was use just as much as the local currency in Cambodia which was quite bizarre to us at first. With my great travel buddies Lena and Jess, we spent a couple days in Phnom Penh for the killing field and PIO’s orphanage and school at the slum. Learning about the history of Khmer Rough reminded me a lot of the Cultural Revolution in China although it’s a completely different issue. However, the similarity in craziness shook me just the same. Failing to hear back from Riverkids, I decided to volunteer with PIO after my trip to Sinhanouville. Then we headed to Siem Reap. There were still sights of damages from the typhoon all over the country. Red earth was washed off from the mountains and fields covering the main highway as we were riding on a bloody road. It was raining in Siem Reap most of the time. Fortunately it was sunny when we were visiting the most interesting parts of Angkor Wat. After seeing so many images of these amazing wats, it’s still fascinating to be inside them. It was indeed a miracle how the ancient people managed to move those massive rocks and built their holy temples. And the stone carvings were so incredible that I was obsessively looking at them which made my neck ache after the morning. Of course that we couldn’t immune from the lure of the night market and both Jess and I bought many Kramas (local scarf) I have to say the Cambodian food was still my favorite during this trip. It’s so rich in flavor mixed by herbs, ginger, saffron and coconut milk. I attended a cooking class and learned how to make Amok my favorite dish from scratch!! I kept some recipes and would definitely try to cook them later on.

Lena left us for Vietnam after 3 days in Siem Reap and I parted with Jess after our trip to the seaside a few days later. I started my one week volunteer experience with PIO two days after I got back to Phnom Penh. It was definitely the most rewarding experience I had in my life. All the kids were absolutely gorgeous and so eager to learn. They were living in absolute poverty but with dignity. All were very polite with only hope for love instead of any material items. They offered me their great affection and the sweetest smiles in the world. I played with them in between classes and learned their little games. I taught them how to bowl using the plastic pins and balls, and it became their favorite game after school. I wished I had more time for them. I was teaching mostly grade 5 and 6. I tried my best to teach them as much as I could in that week. Not only teaching English language, I also encouraged them to think out of the box, be creative and do more independent thinking. It’s obviously a new concept to them that one question could have more than one answer. Their eyes widened and jaws dropped when I told them they should even challenge the teachers sometimes. Haha… Yes! my dear children, you can be smarter than the teacher sometimes! By the end of the week, I felt so connected to the children especially the six-graders. They all wrote me a note about themselves so I could remember them in the future. Nothing could compare this fulfilling feeling that I might have made a difference in those kids’ lives. This extraordinary experience confirmed my thought of working with NGOs in the future. Quitting my job in Shanghai and seek for change in that direction probably was the most correct decision I’ve made in my life 

Ah, I shall soon send those kids their photos and some gifts before they thought I forgot about them already!

For more photos, please go to: “http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157622570246371/

The Lao National Unexploded Ordnance Programme (UXO Lao) was established with the support of UNDP, UNICEF and other stakeholders in 1996. The main tasks are to reduce the number of casualties caused by UXO through risk education, and increase the amount of land available for food production and other socio-economic development activities through UXO clearance activities. The UXO Lao include the following provinces in the operation: Luangprabang, Huaphanh, Xiengkhuang, Khammuane, Savannakhet, Saravane, Sekong, Champasack and Attapeu.

Although with the enormous effort of the dedicated members and continuous supports, financially and technically, from many countries, due to the difficulties of the operation and lack of human resource, UXO Lao only succeeded to remove or destroy 801,013 items (3983 big bombs, 371,869 bombies, 5,744 mines and 419,417 other UXO) from 1996 to 2007. It covers only 0.47% of the unexploded bombies. What a poor percentage. If it couldn’t receive more international attention and supports and continues in this pace, Lao people will not be able to lead a normal life without their daily nightmare in a hundred years! 

I went to visit the UXO Lao Center in Xiangkuang Province with my new friend Iona from Scotland, who, like many Europeans, had never learnt about the Secret War. We found the office was situated in a very limited equipped one story house 2km outside of Phosavan. Mr. Khing Pet gave me a brief introduction of the operation and the area they covered in this province. There are normally 15 teams sent out everyday to carry out different tasks, including clearance and roving. When I asked if there was a possibility for us to visit a bomb site they are working on, he made a quick phone call and grinned at us: “ This is your lucky day. We have a team working only 20km away getting ready for an explosion. I will take you there.” That became one of the most unforgettable experiences in my life.

A video will be loaded on Youtube after it’s edited, which link I will post here once it’s done. I was not allowed to climb higher or get closer to have a clear shot of the explosion. Therefore the explosion scene shown in the video might not seem as powerful as I witnessed. I am hoping more people will be aware of this fact and take action in helping this country out of its poverty caused by the cruelty of a war they were not supposed to be involved in.

For more photos, please go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157622609684234/

Although with the constant frustration dealing with money oriented guest house owners, tourist agents and un-flexible café staff, I adored Luang Prabang. The waterfall in light turquoise color, the monks in their red-orange robes, the beautiful temples, the cafés and restaurants in colonial style buildings concurred the exotic and romantic feeling of this country. The smile of the local people just melted my heart. We got up at 5am to attend the giving to the monks. In the blue dawn light, sincere Buddhists sat on the straw mats they laid on the side of the streets, with food and flowers next to them patiently waiting for the monks to arrive. Groups of monks showed up in line quietly from different directions around 5:30am. It’s so quiet around. All we could hear was the sound of the flapping of the monks’ bare feet on the floor and the clicking of the tourists’ cameras. I was fascinated by the beauty of this peaceful scene. People were still holding up their faith although they had been suffering from wars and poverty.

Communication was a big headache during my stay in Laos though. People barely spoke in English. I took a pretty good practice of sign language. As days passing by, I got used to this way of communication and felt much less frustrated. I deliberately skipped Vang Vieng where people mostly go there to indulge themselves with tubing on the Mekong and get drunk while doing that. I wasn’t that intrigued by the idea of meeting drunken silly western travelers. I went east after Kacey flew down to Siem Reap. Ever since I heard about Laos’ painful history of the Secret War and watched some of the documentary, I meant to visit one of the most heavily bombed areas by the Vietnam border. In Phosanvan, I was lucky to be received by the Provincial Coordinator of the UXO Lao center there. I was shown to a bomb field they were working on and witness the explosion. It was an incredible experience and I was astounded to learn some of the facts about UXO. I put this in another context with more details.

On the way to Phosanvan, I met two fun Scottish girls, Selina and Iona. We enjoyed each other’s company very much and travelled down to Vientiane together. It’s a lovely former colonial city with many cute cafés scatter around the center. The city was wrapped in an enthusiastic festive atmosphere. The biggest festival of the year was coming. The boats were getting ready for the big races, loads of observation booths were set up along the river, carnival facilities were set next to the market, ear-splitting cheesy pop music was hovering in the air. All the guesthouses were organizing parties. We were definitely influenced by festive scene. We wandered around the market among thousands of people, enjoyed the delicious grilled fish and cockles by the river, and even had a little sophisticating cocktail moment at the Spirit House. Unfortunately, because of the miscommunication of the boat racing’s actual schedule, seemed everybody had a different answer, I bought the bus ticket to Pakse on the evening of 4^th. The boat racing was on 5^th. I only got the chance to join the locals to send a candle boat down the Mekong hoping it’d help realize my good wishes. Salina, Iona and I hugged and kissed each other goodbye in the busy night market. Then I boarded my sleeper bus sharing a bed with my next travel buddy Lena.

Lena and Jessica were so amusing. We traveled together from Pakse to Dondet and later into Cambodia. We laughed and made fun of the situations that frustrated us. We shared our experience and stories, starting with traveling then soon extended to family and relationships. We also made fun of each other’s funny habits. It was a lot of fun traveling with these two girls. We created a system making announcement of the day declaring the moment we felt happy or upset. But mostly we announced when we felt happy.

Laos, once was called the Elephant Kingdom, and now maybe more known as the most bombed country in the world. I expected to experience poverty and harsh reality of its struggle from the shadow of the cruel Secret War. But after a short visit of 20 days, I found I was more touched by its spectacular nature, people’s warm smile and their determination of developing the country.

For more photos, please go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157622485174875/”

Nobody passed me any map of secret beach. I planned to go to Koh Tao and took the course for my advance open water diving certificate. Abram and Nic joined me for the ride of the second class fan sleeper train to Chumpon where we caught a ferry to the island the next morning. We were welcomed by the warm hugs from Sarah who was waiting for us at the dock. The week in Koh Tao was relaxing and adventurous at the same time. I enjoyed my diving so much during the course. I learnt how to identify various fish and saw a sting ray for the first time at the night dive! I was thrilled and enthusiastic. Even though I suffered severe ear pain most of the time, and my hearing wasn’t recovered until almost a week after I left the island. Oh, damned the cold I had! There was a small “intermezzo” during my dives. It was a little dramatic when I had the mild decompression sickness on the first deep dive. I was put on pure oxygen immediately and rushed back to the island by a speed boat. I had to rest for almost two days before I was allowed to get back to water. So we went kayaking the next day around the island. It wasn’t as easy as I imagined paddling through the wavy sea water. The view was fantastic though. After 7 hours I was just exhausted and wanted a massage badly, plus sunburn on my back and legs.

It seemed that I was never really alone during this big trip. Soon after waving goodbye to my friends in Koh Tao, I was waiting on Khao San Road for Kacey!! When she showed up in her military patterned pants rolled up to her calves, her giant camera bag on her back, I couldn’t help whooping and ran to give her a big hug! We smiled happily to each other and started our journey to the inland Thailand the next day. We were so amazed by the maze of wats in Ayutthaya. I found my favorite Buddha in Wat Mahatta who was shining under the afternoon sun. He’s quietly smiling to me when I looked up to him. Even we’ve taken hundreds of pictures in different angles of those ancient worshiping places, we just couldn’t stop complimenting the form of the architecture and the Buddha statues. Chiangmai was equally amazing to us. We were toured around by Kacey’s friends’ family and shown to more amazing wats. Thai people’s passion about Buddhism and temples never seemed to fade, so as their love for their long live king and queen. He’s the longest king in the world, probably in history. He’s been in his thorn for almost sixty years! The pictures of the king and queen could be found in every corner of the cities, every wall of the houses, taken in different ages and occasions. Auntie Me was sighing that it’s hard to have another wise and compassionate king as him anymore as his only son was not a decent seed to be passed the thorn to. He had a reputation being a playboy and showed not enough talent to take over the country. Maybe the king just had to live a bit longer till his grandson was grown up? Besides the tourist stuff, we were also taken to various restaurants to food courts to try the delicious Thai food. I could never have enough Lapp or curry or Tom Yam to be honest.  Other than those few meals on Khao San Road, I haven’t been disappointed a bit about the food in this country. Even the meal we had cooked by our trekking guide in Pai was just unbelievably tasty. I am drooling when writing this. We made out way to Chiang Khong at the Thai-Laos border with pleasant memories of the time we spent in the past week. Laos was just across the Mekong River in front our guesthouse! We could see the buildings and temples in the sunset light. People were practicing rowing on the river getting ready for their biggest festival in the beginning of October. I told Kacey that we’ve got to try some laolao when we got there

For more photos,  please go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157622588819156/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157622603042894/

I made a real stop in Dali for more than two weeks, visited a couple quiet yet beautiful villages around it. Almost untouched by tourism, Shaxi and Xizhou were a refreshing surprise. The scene of the ocean of paddy-fields was so soothing. There were moments I was sitting on the rooftop gazing out at the surrounding green fields and felt perfectly content. After parted with Abram, I had a good rest in Dali enjoying the precious time with one of my oldest friends Maomian who I rarely saw in the past four years. Then I started the rest of my trip in early August. Yuanyang’s massive terrace fields and Dongchuan’s red earth were breathtaking. I am always happy to be in places where normal tourists find hard to get to. Although people in those places usually are anxious to attract tourists so that they could get out of poverty, I secretly hope the process would be as slow as it can so its true beauty could be preserved for longer. We often want to share the amazing experience in this kind of places, but at the same time, so afraid tourism would just destroy what’s amazing about it.

Guizhou seems to be a rough blunt young guy while Yunnan appears as a delicate beautiful girl without any vulgarity. I also avoided the most popular waterfall areas near the capitol city and travelled from the south west to the south east with only one night over Guiyang for transit. Most of the areas of this province are covered by epic mountains. Lacking of developed highways, places are connected by bumpy roads winding around the mountains, which often under some sort of repair work. Local buses run clumsily on them. I haven’t encountered so many car-sick people in my life before. It was incredible to see how many locals vomiting at the same time on the bus and demanding the drivers to turn off the aircon even it’s over 40 Celsius in the car. William came to join me and we had a wonderful time visiting the Miao and Dong villages in the south east Guizhou. We couldn’t help shopping though. The ethnic costumes and products were simply irresistible. The handmade fabric was died over and over until it became shiny dark blue paper-like material, then made into exotic, yet fashionable to our opinions, traditional clothes. Most of the locals wore their traditional outfits and accessories daily, and we were just envious how good they look in them. When we put them on, we looked like nothing else but silly tourists. Even though, we both bought a couple pieces which might be stuck in the bottom of our wardrobes right after this trip.

After the long exhausting bus ride from Congjiang to Guilin surrounded by more than a dozen constantly vomiting crowd, I was more than ready for a more sophisticating scene in Guangzhou. It’s time for a short period of relatively luxury lifestyle J My friends in Guangzhou welcomed me back warmly. They were quite amused how I acted like a country girl the first couple days back in modern civilization. I wowed every few minutes about the cosmopolitan sights. I complimented every dish I ate, amazed by how delicate the dim sums looked like, and was eager to kick off my flipflops and have my rough nails manicured.

I spent a few days with my father and his family in my hometown. It’s been three years I haven’t been home. I felt like back to my teenage years sleeping in my old bed, staring at the popstar’s posters I hung on the wall when I was 16. My dad didn’t change the room much although I didn’t have any belongings left there anymore. I gazed out of the window in my room and found nothing actually changed in my neighborhood over the past 16 years. I exhaled a deep sigh. Another time that I confirmed myself I didn’t belong there.

Hong Kong was a blast as usual. I quickly arranged my travel insurance and spent the rest of my time reunited with Lea. We went to movies, ate in delicate restaurants, partied in Lankwaifang with Andrew and friends, and, of course, we wandered around on Lamma Island my favorite place in Hong Kong. The brief catching up with Neil was very pleasant, too. He’s like a long lost brother to me. There was no awkwardness what so ever even we hadn’t seen each other or exchanged much updates for more than four years. We just casually chatted what’s happening in our lives and our common thoughts of changing our careers while sipping latte in a café in central.

While feeling blessed by the warmth from my friends and family, I boarded the plane to Bangkok on 7^th of September starting the other route of my journey in South East Asia. Adventures ahead of me again!!

For photos, please go to:
http://www.fl1ickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621954610932/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621946767347/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157622393833966/

Xinjiang was beautiful and impressive except that the expensive tickets and entrance fees for scenic spots were really turning us off. Who can say they own the nature and charge us for being there? I had a feeling that things would be better once we got down to Sichuan. We took the longest train ride in our lives from Kashgar to Chengdu, transferring in Turpan, total 66 hours! We were stuck on the upper beds the entire time with many curious Chinese people and hyper kids. We had some fun despite the boredom though. The ride seemed to be bearable when we thought about it after it was over. But let’s put it this way, if it had been one hour longer, there probably would have been some kids being strangled by us.

It felt like we were back to China after arriving in Chengdu. This city reminded me a lot of Guangzhou actually. It’s very green and laidback. Food was fantastic! My old friend Wanglu who’s from Sichuan took us to some real authentic restaurants on the street so we did have a good taste of the famous hotpot. It’s kind of ironic how our taste for Sichuan food spoiled by those Sichuan restaurants outside of Sichuan. Abram thought food in Sichuan was not spicy enough. The real Sichuan dishes are more “numb” than spicy actually. I had a great time eating there. If I had stayed a bit longer, I might have been able to gain a few kilos back

Seeing Wanglu again made me really appreciate the unconditional friendship from the old friends I made during my years in Guangzhou. It’s been 8 years since I moved away from Guangzhou. Lots happened during these years. We all have been through a lot. Though we don’t keep in touch that much, the good memories and friendship just never change. Wanglu took us to his hometown Pengzhou and showed us Xiaoyudong area which was severely damaged from the earthquake last year. It was very sad to see a lot of people were still living in those temporary homes with only very basic furniture and appliances in them. There were still tons of ruins haven’t been cleared up yet. New houses are being built though. We saw some very nice new houses on the way up there. Some people moved into the new houses already and seemed quite comfortable living there. However, they’ve lost so much during the earthquake. The scar in their mind will never go away.

I went to visit another good friend’s hometown Leshan and stayed with her parents. We were so taken care of by her parents and cousin. Felt like we were kids again The giant Buddha was very impressive even though I have seen so many photos of it before. What’s lovely about it was that grasses were growing out from its head J From the Buddha, we had a great view to Leshan city. The city and the nature were separated by 3 big rivers, Qingyi River, Min River and Daduhe River which meet right in front of the Buddha. The rapids of Daduhe ran in and created big swirls in the middle of the joining point. We could also see three different colors of the three rivers joining and turning into one. That was quite something else.

Now it’s time to go Tibetan! I’ve been always looking forward to this part of the journey. The Tibetan Sichuan – Khampa area was a very spiritual route according to many blogs. After being in Xiahe, I was very eager to learn more about Tibetan culture. West and northern Sichuan were once part of Tibet in history and were deeply influenced by its culture and religions. It seemed to us that many Tibetans were just born to become a Buddhist. Some small towns like Tagong seemed to be built FOR the monasteries around it instead the other way around. I together with my new friends Jesus and Sole from Argentina had a wonderful chat with the head of a Buddhist school in a Monastery in Litang. It was very inspiring to me. Although we were from very different cultures and speak in different languages, we showed a great deal of respect to each other and communicated in a super friendly atmosphere. The more I saw and heard about it, the more I was interested in Buddhism. Although Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism were from the same root and follow the same philosophy and principles, the way how Tibetans show their sincerity and dedication to it just make Tibetan Buddhism seem so much more “authentic”. The Tibetan monasteries were very quiet without hundreds of people yelling and burning incenses like most of the Chinese temples. They were for sincere Buddhists to pray and monks to study. They were holy. I felt very peaceful being in them. The monks were leading a very simple life style- study, follow the doctrine and seek for emancipation. Looking at the smiley faces of the monks also made me believe studying Buddhism could bring people inner peace.

The road condition being horrible is also very “famous” for the Khampa area J Well, I was not disappointed about that at all! The roads we took through Danba, Tagong, Litang and Daocheng to Shangri-la were mostly in the mountains. They were most of the time very winding. Often we passed parts which were flooded or muddy or with serious landslides. I was more excited than being “scared” to be honest. Since tourism is getting more and more developed in these areas, villages started to get enough fund to repair the roads. In a few years, travelers who take the same route might not have the chance to experience the adventure and excitement sitting in the crowded minivan, gasping at some turns and thinking “OMG, I am going to die! I am going to die!”

One thing must be mentioned and it’s one of the most unusual experience I’ve ever had. We went to a sky burial in Litang. Litang is the place for sky burials for 3 or 4 counties around it. So people sometimes can see up to 10 funerals in one day. Many people especially westerners are very curious about this traditional ceremony. The owner of the Potala Hotel in town who seems to have very good relationship with everyone can help to arrange the visit and sometimes people are even allowed to take pictures at the funerals. Normally sky burials will be held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We arrived on Thursday and went with some people from the hotel to the site early next day. The site is on a hill about 30 min walk from the town. I have heard about it before but never knew how it actually was proceed. But there was no funeral when we arrived. So we just wandered around and waited hoping there would be one later. We saw about fifteen to twenty vultures staying on top of the hill. The grassland had patches on it where black soil was exposed and no grass grew on them. The soil seemed to be a bit “greasy”. Later we found out it was because the human body’s acid and grease contaminated the soil so nothing would grow on it. Vulture’s feathers could be seen everywhere as well. They must be fighting when eating the bodies. We were a bit disturbed when suddenly realized there were many small pieces of bones scattered on the ground. At the same time, we felt a bit puzzled when we saw some big rocks, knives and scissors lying there. Well, we found out what they were for later. A few Tibetan guys arrived with a Lama when we were still wandering around. They told us there wouldn’t be any funeral that day but they were going to have two the next day and we may come and watch then. The Lama was there to help them pick the spots. So we stayed and watched how it went. At first the Lama walked around and picked a spot. Then he sat down starting to pray for about 15 minutes. After that, the guys marked the spot with a thick stick they brought, and a little sticky barley cake with yak butter on in front of the stick. So, the next morning in the rain, all of us went there again. When we arrived, the first funeral was about to finish already. We were told it’s ok to watch but no photos. We were standing about 20 meters away from the spot. We couldn’t see it very well, but could tell the “Cutter” was smashing the bones on the rock with a hammer. I felt very odd to be there. I felt even with respect and distance, we were definitely interrupting the funeral. I didn’t feel I should stay any longer after the birds started eating the bones. Jesus and Sole felt the same way. So we left before the second burial started. We went to the monastery to see the monk’s debate. Abram and the rest of the group stayed and saw the whole thing. The body was laid down on the chest naked. The “Cutter” cut the body open in the back so the birds can easily get to the organs, then once the “Cutter” walked aside, about 20 birds immediately flew down and covered the body. Abram said they couldn’t see the body at all at that time but they could smell the strong smell from it. In a very short time maybe less than 10 minutes, the birds left the body which now was only a bloody skeleton. All flesh was gone! Then the “Cutter” went over and dragged the skeleton to the rock and started to smash it into very small pieces, then wrapped them with sticky barley cake. After that, the birds came again. Again, in about 10 minutes, most of the bones were gone! There were some bigger pieces left so the “Cutter” redid the smashing part again until the birds ate almost all of it. Some of the people who had watched the sky burial described that it made them feel that’s what our human bodies were at the end, just food to the birds and it didn’t mean that much to the nature. I suppose it is only natural that we return to the nature after we die. Our flesh and bones could still contribute to the birds this way. However, I’d rather to have a cremation instead of sky burial when I die. One thing occurred to us later that there were no women at the funerals. A British girl, Sole and I were the only women there. I wonder if it’s the tradition that women were not allowed to attend the funeral.

In many ways Tibetan culture is fascinating to me, from what we can see from outside, such as the way they dress, their beautiful houses and their traditions to their internal world like their believe, religions and how they pursue the truth in their own way. I admire those people who live in a harsh environment, have limited supplies or so called luxuries in their lives, maybe are poor in money, but they are truly happy and rich in spirit.

* for more photos please go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621786068483/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621910873188/