Trevor Stone Explores the Middle Kingdom :: Travels in China

I spent a month in early 2008 traveling in China with my friend Molly. The trip spanned Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and Lantern Festival. Despite national travel chaos due to blizzards in much of China, our trip through southern China was full of blue skies and pleasant temperatures. This page will be a record of much that was done and said, but writing down a whole month's experiences is long work. So to start with it's got is a summary, a daily log, a list of 88 auspicious things I did, a list of what's hot in Xishuangbanna, and several hundred pictures. Most links (outside of navigation bars) on these pages will open in a new window or tab. Subsequent links will reuse that target, so you can easily follow the story and the pictures. Molly, Trevor, and Mama Naxi

Dramatis Personæ

Molly, Communications Officer. Dressed in a scarf.: A linguist by training and hobby, this Peace Corps veteran jumped at the chance to teach English, learn Chinese, soak up culture, and devour new fruits, all within an El Sobrante fortnight. As the story begins, she has lived in Xiamen on the Fujian coast for five months.
Trevor, Navigator. Dressed in a hat.: A software engineer by profession, Trevor has spent much of his life enjoying Chinese food, Chinese philosophy, and Chinese style. His desire to take a month off work and travel somewhere warm during early 2008 conveniently coincided with a guide with half a year of Chinese experience and a month of free time.
The People of China, The Locals. Dressed in coats.: With over 1.2 billion citizens, the Middle Kingdom happily provides a wide variety of supporting characters and extras from Han entrepreneurs to Naxi innkeepers to Dai monks to Tibetan drummers.
Several Small Furry Creatures, Comic Relief. Dressed in furs.: Dancing dogs, coy cats, and a masturbating monkey can't speak Chinese well either.

[ orbs bus fest fee et Trevor Molly Python Yunnan Xiamen Xishuangbanna pancake vise qi zi jiao fen wu Tiger Leaping Gorge up red did dirt Kowloon oddest China ]

Molly and Trevor met in Kowloon and did many things in China. The bus through Yunnan showed red dirt and felt like Peru. They hiked Tiger Leaping Gorge and ate orbs for Spring Fest. The pancake, like Xishuangbanna, was very fruity. At Yue Liang Shan, they paid a fee to climb up a karst tor. The bathroom cost wu jiao but they acquired some fen. Shi Hu Zi was the oddest looking person many Chinese had ever seen. In Xiamen they talked about Python and linguistic qi and hugged each other like a vise.

We're a little better for the wear.