On Friday we said goodbye to our Seoul Couch Surfing host (he’s a great guy and we really hope he doesn’t upload the picture he took of us just after we rolled out of bed…). We hopped on the Limo Bus and enjoyed our ride to the airport; Richard was sleeping while I watched a remote controlled model airplane fly out over the highway and crash in front of a minivan; the plane got crushed under the van but the driver still slammed on the brakes nearly causing a multi-car pile-up. It was all very exciting. I don’t know what happened to the guy at the airplane’s controls – if he’s smart, he disappeared.

The Seoul airport was a nice place to kill some time. I’ve never before seen TV’s for sale in a duty free shop; big, wall mount, flat screen TV’s. You can get some really hi-tech stuff in South Korea.

And, not surprisingly, we’ve found some great technology in Japan too. We spent a few hours browsing in an electronics mall today. I thought Quark was a small laptop, but he’s not nearly as small as some of the Japanese laptops with the same computing power - or as light (under 2 lbs!?).  Naturally, discoveries like this can have a negative impact on a laptop’s self esteem, so we bought Quark a couple of accessories; a WiFi finder and a little yellow mouse on a leash. Neither was all that cheap, but then nothing here is…

We rolled into Osaka expecting to find a place to sleep without too much difficulty… but as it turns out, there aren’t that many guesthouses within walking distance of one another that advertise in English (meaning foreigners aren’t really welcome). And not very many people speak English here. But it’s even more complicated than that, because these people are very polite and will try very hard to help you, despite the language barrier. A conversation can last three minutes and go absolutely nowhere, at which point we ‘pretend’ that the person has been helpful and thank them very much for their time (people get the drift if you bow and smile; you could actually be saying anything, but for that matter – so could they).

We gave up on our hotel hunt without much of a fight and forked out a bit more cash than we would have liked. We’re only in Japan 9 nights and we knew it would be an expensive country, so 6000 Yen ($60) for a hotel room didn’t shock us too much, even if they did make us sleep on the floor. Actually, the bed rolls are quite comfortable.

Our hotel doesn’t require that you take off your shoes when you enter (as many do), but this hotel is very Japanese in other ways. My favorite thing about the hotel was the Japanese style shower room. (I think it would have been Richard’s favorite thing too if he were allowed to shower with the females). We were given a sheet of paper that described the ‘shower rules” upon arrival; turn off the water when you are not rinsing, wash before entering the tub, remove underwear before bathing – and my favorite, do NOT stand while showering. That’s right, you sit. There is a row of stools along the wall where you sit. Fortunately there was one half stall on the other side of the room where there was no stool, so I did stand while showering. I probably broke some rules, but I just can’t imagine that the stools are very hygienic. But I liked everything else – they provided towels, lockers, soap, shampoo, hair dryers, robes – even slippers and toothbrushes.

Richard wasn’t really happy about sitting on the little stools and showering with other men, so he got up really early to use the one private, and very popular, shower stall (just one for the whole 9 storey hotel).

Getting around in Osaka isn’t cheap, go figure. We ended up getting 3-day transit passes for $50 each. Expensive, but I think it will save us money, if we did the math right – at least we don’t have to worry about wasting money by going the wrong way, which we seem to do often.

Tomorrow we’re off to Kyoto, we’ll update you soon.

The first, and perhaps most interesting, thing we’ve seen in Korea is the demilitarized zone or the DMZ (all things military seem to have an acronym, and if you don’t know what the acronym is, just consult the BOA, Book Of Acronyms).  Rather than separating North and South Korea with a line that most countries call a border, a 4km wide zone is used.  This strip of land buffering these two hostile countries is known as the DMZ (the border is at the centre of this zone and is referred to as the MDL or Military Demarcation Line.)  You’d think a ‘demilitarized’ zone wouldn’t have any military, this is hardly the case; there are strict agreements as to how many and what kind of military may exist within the DMZ but ironically it is one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world.  Technically these two countries are still at war.

Our tour of the DMZ started out like most tours complete with a tour guide and bus.  Things started to change as the road started to follow a river as we approached the DMZ.  Along the river were countless kilometers of razor wire fence complete with guard towers and guards.  We later learned that this river leads into North Korea and it is heavily guarded because North Korea has tried to use it to enter South Korea on many occasions (I’m sure that story gets flipped around if you take the North Korean tour.)  Upon arriving in Panmunjeom, which is the home of the Joint Security Area which is the only place that North and South officials are allowed to mingle, I realized this tour was very different.  Not only did we have to switch busses, I assume for security reasons, but we were also given a new tour guide who was a real US Army guy complete with camouflage pants and a hand gun.

After our briefing and signing our waivers, we were told where we could and couldn’t take pictures and that we had to follow our guide closely; this meant walking when he walked and stopping when he stopped.  We were then lead through a building right to the center of the DMZ.  There wasn’t much to see except a bunch of blue and grey buildings along with guards at strategic locations.  The way it worked was the blue buildings were South Korea and the grey buildings were North Korea (I think the colors should have been blue and pink but I guess there would be obvious problems with color assignment.)  The guards sort of stood facing each other all day long for the past 50 years or so!  (I later learned that the visible guards were there mostly for the benefit of us tourists but that’s a minor point.)  If you look closely at the ‘South Korean Guard’ photo you’ll notice a few things:  First of all he’s sort of standing half in the open and half behind a building (blue of course).  The reason for this is he’s a harder target to shoot at.  Also notice the sunglasses and tightly clenched fists, these are both to intimidate the North Koreans.  As we stared across into North Korea we could see their guards as well.  They didn’t have sunglasses or clenched fists but rather binoculars and cameras that they took our pictures with (in fact there were video surveillance cameras everywhere). 

We then were lead into one of the blue buildings (of course in two single file lines with our army guy leading).  In the building was a bunch of tables and chairs.  This was the room were many of the agreements between the two countries were hammered out.  The interesting thing about the building was that it fell directly on top of the border, half in the North and half in the South.  This line was even indicated on the table, also straddling the border.  Apparently during talks the North would sit on their side and the South on theirs.  We were allowed to move about in the room and stand in “North Korea” for a bit (felt pretty much the same as the South Korean side of the DMZ). This room also came with the guards wearing sunglasses and clenching their fists just in case any North Koreans stormed in.

For the most part there haven’t been many incidents in the DMZ.  However there have been a few.  One involved a group of tourists on the North Korean side (yes the North actually have tours as well, I’d love to know what they say about the South.)  During this tour a Russian tourist decided he wanted to defect to freedom and made a run for it.  In the excitement one South Korean guard was killed but the Russian did manage to get across.  Apparently now the North Korean guards are ordered to shoot any defectors before they get across.  Another incident involved the pruning of a yellow poplar tree.  Basically there was a large tree that blocked the view of the South Koreans.  The South decided to prune the tree which the north didn’t appreciate and there were axes involved and at the end of the day two South Korean tree pruners were killed with their own axes and the tree still wasn’t pruned.  Well the tree definitely needed pruning but obviously they didn’t want there to be any more fatalities.  So for the second attempt, in addition to the tree pruners and a lot of guards and army guys and martial arts experts, there were also fighter planes and battle ships deployed just in case the second attempt turned into an international incident.  The tree did get pruned and there was no more blood shed.

In addition to the DMZ tour stuff we saw above ground we also got to see some stuff below ground.  This came in the form of a tunnel.  Apparently the North Koreans built a tunnel under the border with the intention of invading the South.  The tunnel allegedly could accommodate 30000 soldiers per hour.  A North Korean defector, who helped survey the tunnels during their construction, informed the South which then began to look for the tunnel.  The South found 4 such tunnels.

There are a few other interesting things in the area.  The area contains a number of farmers.  The farmers that were in the area before all of this craziness started were allowed to stay.  However they now have to follow all sorts of rules including curfews and not being allowed to bring anyone new into their villages except by marriage.  There’s also a village that the North Koreans created (nicknamed Propaganda Village by the South.)  Apparently the North used to broadcast messages over loudspeakers aimed toward the South telling how great the North was encouraging the South to defect to the North and come to the village, touted as a paradise over the loudspeakers. It’s a very modern looking village although it is creepily deserted and obviously not a paradise.  Propaganda Village also contains the world’s tallest flagpole (with nearly the heaviest flag at 600lbs) which apparently was erected after the South put up their new flagpole which was taller than the North’s original flagpole.  Rumor has it that Soldier of Fortune Magazine has a 1 million dollar bounty out for a 1x1 meter piece of that North Korean flag. 

Another interesting site is the so called Bridge of No Return.  The bridge connects the North and South.  Apparently when the fighting had ceased POW’s from both sides were brought to the bridge.  They were then given a choice of which country they wanted to stay in.  The only stipulation was once they crossed the bridge they could never go back, hence the name.  We didn’t get any stats on the POW’s choices.  One other item of interest that we barely saw way over in North Korea was a radio jamming tower.  The North Koreans don’t let their people have any contact with the outside world including radio or cell phone contact.  Apparently the tower not only renders radios and cell phones useless but it will also erase the memory of a cell phone, no one tested it in our group.

The relationship between the two countries seems quite cold even to this day.  There are some indications of better relations however:  There is a program to reunite separated family members some of which haven’t seen each other for 50 years!  The only problem is that the North only lets a handful of people reunite each year which means a lot of people will simply die before their turn comes up.  There are also limited arrangements for manufacturing and raw materials to be traded between the two countries.  And finally a railway has been recently constructed between the two countries but I don’t think there are a lot of trains running just yet.

You can find more info and pictures at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone 

Seoul, South Korea is unlike any place I’ve ever been before. It’s civilized, clean and hi-tech, but it’s not quite like home either. It’s extremely safe, for one thing; I saw a guy leave his briefcase on the sidewalk while shopping in a convenience store – it was still there when he came back out.

The first thing we noticed was how great the bathrooms are here. They’re clean and well maintained, sure, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen toilet paper in a public restroom. Even better than that – we can flush our toilet paper here! We’ve also found toilets that have automated toilet seat covers. Many bathroom stalls (oh, by the way, I’m talking about stalls with doors and only one toilet in each), many have an unidentifiable electronic box on the wall that I haven’t figured out yet (I keep pushing the button, but other than a faint beep, nothing seems to happen).

After using the airport restrooms, we were leaving the terminal and a man spoke to us, “Would you like a taxi?” We both said “NO!” in unison. The man quickly replied, “Sorry.” Rich and I gawked at each other, completely blown away by the response. Politeness! Amazing!

Seoul has other things we like too. Like the transportation. The airport bus had huge leather seats that recline way back, extra leg room, huge arm rests, AC and reading lights, not to mention the seat belts. And the subway is great here too. You never have to walk more than a couple of blocks anywhere in the city; the subway system is very comprehensive.

We’ve really enjoyed just soaking in the local culture. I liked watching well dressed people shoot aliens and play drums at the video arcade. I had a great time at the post office too, it was so orderly and efficient. Plus, they actually make cardboard boxes right before your eyes; custom made to fit whatever you want shipped.

The electronics market here is huge – imagine a cluster of 9 multi-storey malls that sell nothing but computers, phones and game systems. It’s that big. And some of the electronics are really advanced; the Razor phone isn’t popular here because they have better phones here in South Korea.

We’ll be here a few more days and will post another blog entry soon! 

We shot through Beijing so fast that we didn’t get to see as much as we would have liked. It’s a big city with a lot to see and do, at least that’s the impression we got in the three days we were there.

We did the three things any Beijing visitor should do, starting with Tiananmen Square. We’d love to tell you all about the protests in 1989, but we don’t know anymore about what went down after visiting the place. What we can tell you is that it’s the biggest public square in the world, it’s popular with the locals and tourists and there’s really nothing to do there except watch the people. One thing that might interest you (or surprise you) is that many Chinese people don’t know anything about the protests and if you do a Google search within China , you won’t see any pictures of tanks (we tried it).

The next big thing we did in Beijing was a trip through the Forbidden City. It’s a really huge complex of parks, palaces and throne rooms. It’s 600 years old, but it’ll look brand spanking new for the Olympics next year. They’re laying new bricks, painting and plastering… I’m not talking about preservation – but complete restoration. The Forbidden city will probably end up better than new. I was really devastated. What’s the point of seeing something old if it looks like it was built yesterday? As we wandered through I couldn’t get this jingle out of my head: “Leave it to Tremclad…” But there were a few parts of the city that were still untouched and they were beautiful. There is marble work everywhere and the gardens are lovely.

And last, but definitely not least, we managed a trip to the Great Wall. And it was great, once we got there. Visiting the great wall isn’t as easy as you think. First you have to pick a part of it to see (it is 5000 kms long, afterall). Some of the wall is restored (no Tremclad – but new rocks and mortar everywhere) and that didn’t appeal to us very much. And some of the Great Wall sites are really crowded, which we also wanted to avoid. So we picked Simatai, which is a little farther away. We tried to catch a bus at 6AM, but never found it, so we caught a different bus that took us halfway and then paid a ridiculous rate for a taxi. But we got there and we nearly had the place to ourselves. It’s not a very popular site, but it still has a cable car, which we took (but it only goes half way up).

Once you are actually standing on the wall, you realize just how great it really is. It’s built on some of the most ludicrous mountain ridges where a wall is simply redundant. Since it was a relatively clear day (we were far enough from the Beijing smog) we could see the wall twisting off into the distance tens of kilometers away. We walked a good portion of it before making our descent, which by the way was really fun for me because I took the flying fox. It’s a zip line from the wall to the lake below. It wasn’t scary - but that’s not to say it’s safe, though I think it was ok. Rich walked down, but since I had to wait for a boat at the bottom, we arrived at about the same time.

Anyway, we liked Beijing, but we had a plane to catch so we had to say good-bye.

I am currently writing this from the top bunk of a hard sleeper train bound for Beijing.  A hard sleeper, as opposed to a soft sleeper, isn’t actually hard.  It’s more like a soft sleeper is first class and a hard sleeper is second class.  We actually don’t like the soft sleepers because you share four people to a berth (with a door) and you never really know who you’ll end up sharing with.  The hard sleepers share six people to a berth (they stack the beds three high) but the berths don’t have doors which makes for less privacy but you’re also not sort of stuck in a little room with strangers, it’s more like being out in the open like you are on a bus.

When we get to Beijing we don’t really have a place to stay but surprisingly I’m not freaking out like I probably would have at the start of our trip.  I think my travel coping skills have come a long way.  We might have a place to couch surf but our host was traveling herself and hasn’t responded to our confirmation email (she’s probably in transit or something).  At the very worst we’ll stay in a hotel…provided they’re not all full because of the start of the summer vacation season.

We’ve spent the last few days in Xian.  Xian is a large Chinese city, I forget exactly how many million but you get the idea.  There are people everywhere and they seem to be getting pushier the farther north we go…or perhaps my patience are running thinner the further north we go.  Anyways, it’s not really that bad just a difference we’ve been noticing as we move along.

In Xian we couch surfed with a couple.  He (Gareth) is from England and she (Beth) is from Canada (it’s crazy that you have to travel half way around the world to meet fellow countrymen).  Gareth and Beth were fantastic hosts and we had a very good time with them including a couple of 3;00am nights.  It’s not to say that we really did anything very exciting with them rather we just spent time eating and drinking and watching movies and talking about stuff.  After a while of traveling and site seeing you start to miss human interaction (aside from your loving and wonderful spouse).  They also introduced us to some of their friends which included some of their students (our hosts are teaching english here in China).  It’s always interesting to meet local people but its usually difficult, language being one of the main reasons.  Of course their students are taking english and were very proficient with it.  I also have to mention our hosts’ dog Gumpy.  We’re not exactly sure what kind of dog Gumpy is but it doesn’t really matter.  She’s about the size of a large cat and a bundle of energy.  We had a lot of fun with her.

The one mentionable tourist thing we did in Xian was see the Terracotta Warriors.  Basically, about 2000 years ago, an emperor decided to construct an army he could take to the grave.  They’re not exactly sure why he did this but he had several thousand full size warriors and horses sculpted out of clay.  They were then buried and stuff (I didn’t see the entire introductory film so I missed some of the story).  There were a few details, apart from the sheer enormity of it all, that I found really interesting:  The site wasn’t discovered until some farmers in 1974 stumbled upon it while drilling a well.  This means that in the short time period of 34 years, thousands of these warriors have been excavated, restored (many were broken and had to be reassembled) and a huge tourist facility has been constructed.  No two warriors look the same, they all have different facial features.  In addition to the warriors being sculpted, they were also painted (unfortunately 2000 years has pretty much removed all of the paint).

So here’s a bit about Chengdu.

It’s a big city, not unlike any other big city in the world. But of course, every city has its quirks and we managed to find a couple.

We went to the People’s Park. We really like the parks in China for the most part. They’re full of great plants, flowers and waterways. A lot of parks have small amusement parks in them too, which are just a little weird compared to what we have at home. But the best thing about parks in China is that they’re full of people! Canadian parks are deserted by comparison. Here you can go to any park at any time during the day and you’ll see dancing, Mahjong playing, tea drinking and paddle boating. Not to mention the music! Actually, I’d rather not mention the music, it isn’t very good for the most part.

The people’s park in Chengdu is even better than all that. Under the park is a network of air raid bunkers and since they’re obsolete, they’ve been put to good use… in a way… You can pay few Yuan to go down into certain areas to see some really strange things, like a woman dancing with a snake, for instance. They’ve also got some haunted house type stuff in a few tunnels; robotic skeletons and zombies, that sort of thing. They are really hilarious for the most part, but we found just being down in the air raid shelters (pitch dark in places) to be creepy in itself.

But what we liked most about the creepy tunnels and horror shows was the company; the Chinese people that were down there with us! We ran into a bunch of people that clung to us (we - the laughing westerners) and followed us down every dark corridor without letting go. We had a small flashlight, and that didn’t hurt any. We befriended one curious little girl that wanted to see everything but was afraid to go alone – her mother absolutely refused to go any farther. The little girl had her hands on my back, pushing me ahead, hoping to get through as quickly as possible. We had a blast. We got a couple of pictures to give you an idea, but since we had to use the flash, we can't give you a sense of how dark it was.

Also worth noting about Chengdu is the Panda Breeding Center. I think it’s the World’s best, or at least largest, panda breeding facility. We spent a few hours there and I was absolutely shocked to see so many young pandas - including one that was less than two weeks old. It’s good news because they are extremely endangered in the wild. After the video we watched about how pandas raise their young, it’s surprising to us that they’ve managed to survive this long. They aren’t the smartest animals in the world. We took a few… ok more than a hundred pictures of pandas, but we just posted a few of the best ones. They’re so cute. You can actually hold one for something like 200 Canadian, but we never found the “Hold A Panda” location, which might be a good thing.

And that’s about all I can say about Chengdu, except perhaps that IT’S HOT. 36 Celsius and so humid we can’t get our clothes to dry. They’re starting to smell funny. Or… maybe we’re starting to smell funny.

We’re in the Qingcheng Mountain park, not far from Chengdu in the Sichuan province of China. We met some people a few days ago who recommended this place – specifically the back side of the mountain, where we are. They told us it was beautiful, the accommodations were cheap and nice and that it was nearly deserted since it’s less popular than other destinations in the area.

So we came, and it is lovely, but I have to admit – when we first got here, I wasn’t all that convinced that this place was that great. It cost quite a bit to get here and enter the park and it wasn’t a very nice bus trip. Then we were attacked by guesthouse owners and taxi drivers the moment we pulled in. I don’t think this place gets enough visitors to keep the businesses going, so when someone does arrive, everybody wants to sell them something. We looked at a few guesthouses and were extremely disappointed by the look of the first few. They were tiny and grungy and the owners were quoting rates that were twice the price we were hoping for.

Eventually, we managed to shake our entourage and check out another hotel up the street. The room is just ok, but clean, and we got it for half the rate the first place was asking. And the ladies that run this place are really nice (and patient, which is important since our Chinese is almost as bad as it was two weeks ago).

Perhaps the weirdest thing about this town is that whenever we go to a restaurant to eat the waiter removes the tablecloth when we sit down. There’s always a tablecloth on the table when we arrive and it’s always removed the minute we get seated. One place they put down newspaper. Perhaps they’re making some assumptions about our skills with chopsticks?

Today we did some trekking/walking on the mountain and now I can admit that this place is great and worth the time, expense and frustration it took to get here. The mountain has a huge hiking loop that is paved with concrete over the entire route. It makes it easier, but it’s still a 7 hour trip. Some of the pathways are really spectacular – running through rivers and clinging to the edges of cliffs. There are a lot of steps up, or down depending on your direction of travel (we cheated and took a cable car part way up), but one thing is for sure, we got a lot of exercise today. At one point, I was standing and looking up at the sheer rock wall ahead (because it gave me a chance to rest for a minute) and I thought I saw a small, mammal like animal at the top. I said, “Hey, I think I see something up there.”

Richard replied, “My coronary?”

We weren’t the only people huffing and puffing. Remember how this place was supposed to be nearly deserted? Ha! I’d hate to see what the popular places are like! This place is crammed with tourists (Chinese, every single one of them, but tourists just the same). Most of them were breathing really hard at the top of the steep sections – and I couldn’t help but notice a certain odor. I commented, “I didn’t know that garlic could exist in those concentrations in a human being.”

“Without being toxic?” Rich laughed. I’m not kidding. This guy’s breath could have killed a man at ten paces. I’m sure we’ve eaten a few Chinese dishes that left us in a similar state.

Actually, we were impressed with the fitness level of some of the Chinese people, considering most of the men are heavy smokers. But, as it turns out, Chinese cigarettes are made with herbs that supply your body with vital antioxidants - Rich read a pack that had some English on it; no warnings, no pictures of black lungs, just a happy message reminding you that smoking could improve your health.

I assumed that the cigarettes were the cause of all the lung problems we “hear and see” in the forms of coughing, hacking and spitting, but we hear (from a very unofficial source) that Chinese people are plagued with lung infections since their tendency to spit everywhere and anywhere promotes the spread of germs. The bug never goes away; it just spreads, mutates and spreads again. Maybe it’s true.

The large cities in China seem to be quite clean; decent water sources and toilets, but the smaller towns concern us both. Toilets seem to go without cleanings and the streets smell like urine (that makes sense, we see people urinate everywhere). The most disgusting thing we see is the lack of respect for water sources. The town we’re in now has small creeks running though it (common for old Chinese towns). These people use the creeks to bathe, wash clothes, chill beer, mop floors, wash fruits and vegetables and wash their kitchenware. It’s the only water they’ve got, so they use it for everything, but they don’t divert it, they take their stuff to the creek to wash it so the dirt, grease and bacteria end up in it. I can see washing your clothes in it or rinsing off your feet, I suppose, but people are peeing in that water upstream, so I don’t really want to eat any carrots that have been scrubbed in it. At one restaurant we were asked if we wanted a raw vegetable dish; Rich and I shouted “No!” in unison.

We’ve also seen people spit in the creek… it’s just wrong.

After our Gorge trek, we arrived back at Jane’s Guest House expecting to get another good night’s sleep. We were thoroughly exhausted and our eyelids were getting heavy by 9:30, so we decided to jump into bed and leave our repacking for the morning.

I closed the windows and jumped into bed just before 10 and I expected to pass out as soon as my head hit the pillow. But for some reason I couldn’t sleep. I was wound up and my muscles were tight and I just couldn’t relax.

Rich went to bed a little later, but he brought Quark with him. Shortly after that, the power went out. Neither of us cared much, I was pretending to sleep. Rich was still using Quark on battery power.

We each had our own single beds. They were comfy and clean and we had big fluffy duvets. The duvets were wonderful a couple of nights earlier, when the air was cool. But on this particular night, they were nothing but a nuisance. It was hot in the room – but I didn’t dare open the windows because I didn’t want to let the mosquitoes in.

It was the weekend. There was a party going on upstairs. It seemed to get louder and louder with each passing hour. I still couldn’t sleep.

After a while I heard Quark’s battery alarm declaring he was almost out of power. Still no electricity in the room; Rich packed it in.

I must have drifted off because I woke up when something was tickling my leg. I swatted it and tried to resume my sleep, but my leg started itching in several spots and it kept me awake.

I think about 20 minutes later the itch was starting to subside and I was close to sleep once again; then I got buzzed. The most annoying thing in the whole world when you’re trying to sleep is mosquitoes flying around your ear. I swatted and told myself it wouldn’t happen again. But it did, about five minutes later.

I pulled the duvet over my head, but that only lasted a couple of minutes, it was too hot to stay under any longer.

“Rich,” I whined. “I’m getting buzzed.”

“Put your head under your pillow.”

“I can’t, it’s too hot.”

“Well, I don’t know what to do.”

I discovered three more fresh mosquito bites and the itching had me fully alert. At that point, I realized I’d left a window open. I decided the only solution to my problem would be hanging the mosquito net. But – still no power, no lights.

“Rich, can I have the flashlight?”

He groaned, annoyed because he was trying to sleep, but he passed me the flashlight. I dug out the net and was looking for a hook, but the flashlight flickers and it was hard to hold the button down while searching with just one hand.

I got buzzed again and dropped the flashlight while swatting at my ear.

“AAHRG!” I yelled. “They won’t leave me alone! I can’t find the hooks! Stupid flashlight! Where’s the good one?”

“Doesn’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Battery is dead.”

I groaned.

“Give me the flashlight, I'll hold it,” said Rich. I did and he aimed it as well as he could from his bed. It wasn’t really helping. I never found the hooks. I ended up using a paper clip. I had to take the flashlight back in order to hang the net.

By this point I was really hot, itchy, tired and frustrated. I was getting angry.

I got buzzed again.

“I can’t take this!” I yelled in a whisper. “Aren’t they bugging you?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t want to sleep in the net?” Rich hates the net and I was hoping he’d say no, since the beds were small and we couldn’t possibly share one.

“No,” he groaned. Oh, good, I thought.

I tried to hang the net from the ceiling at the head of the bed, where it’s supposed to go, but with the paperclip, there was no place to attach it. I decided to hang it over the foot of the bed and sleep the other way. No reason that shouldn’t work.

The next stage of net set up didn’t work. You have to tuck the ends under the mattress or the bugs will find their way in. But the mattress was just a little bigger than the bed frame and the net didn’t seem to want to stay under the mattress.

I tripped over a pair of sandals in the dark. I was about to yell at Rich for leaving his sandals in the middle of the floor, but as I grab them and throw them aside I realize, oops, they’re mine.

By this point I was really irritated and I wasn’t about to let Rich sleep while I couldn’t.

“This sucks!”

Rich just groaned.

I was almost done tucking the net in when the bed broke.

“Noooo!” I cried.

“What?” asked Rich, irritated.

“Bed broke.”

“What do you mean?"

”The plywood sheet fell through at this end. Now what?”

I got buzzed again. I swatted with both hands like a crazy person. “How can you sleep?” I asked. Dumb question really, since between me, the heat, the mosquitoes and the raging party upstairs, there was no way he was actually sleeping.

“I can’t,” he said.

“Maybe we should share a bed? I could move the net to your bed.”

“There’s a hole in the wall beside my bed, I don’t want to sleep to close to it. God knows what’s living in the wall. Is your bed that bad?”

I thought about it. I really just wanted to crawl in and sleep. “I can try.” I climbed in – a complicated process of squeezing through a small opening and tucking everything in while sitting on the mattress. I spread myself out and discovered that the blood was rushing to my head. “I’m sleeping downhill,” I remarked. And I was hot. I got up and spun around so that my head was at the other end, but it wasn’t much better; the mosquito net hangs very close to the bed at the foot end and it’s on my face. I was still really hot.

“Can I have the flashlight back?” asked Rich.

I considered my tucked in condition. “I doubt it,” I said.

“Thanks,” he said sarcastically.

“It’s so hot in here. But I left the window open by accident,” I confessed.

“You did?”

“Yeah, but it’s still so hot. Could we open the other ones too?”

“Sure.”

So I untucked myself and got out of bed and threw the flashlight at Richard. I opened the windows. I encountered a wonderful waft of cool air.

Rich said, “Wow.”

Now, I thought. I can sleep. So I climbed back under the net and tried to curl up on the edge of the bed where the mattress had the most support. I imagined that I was floating in the cool clouds with nothing but the hushed sound of a breeze around me. My imagination wasn't enough; the cool breeze wasn’t getting through the net. I was still hot. The party was still raging on above us. I gave up after only five minutes.

“I’m going out,” I exclaimed.

“Where?”

“Out.”

I spent a couple of hours outside, covered in repellent with mosquito coils burning around me, reading by candlelight. It was great actually. There was a breeze and not a single mosquito seemed interested in me.

Eventually, I realized I was really tired and I would have to try to sleep one more time.

The party was more or less over, the air had cooled a bit and I went back to the room. I squeezed through the small opening under the net and tucked everything in. I managed to jam a pillow under the foot end of the net to keep it away from my face.

So, there in bed I lay awake thinking how I had to go to the bathroom. The bathroom is outside, across the deck, up a ramp, through the dining room, down the stairs, across the courtyard and up the stairs. And I’d probably want to take a candle. I figured it could wait ‘till morning.

Finally, I was drifting off when I heard, “Bry? Can I come in?”

“Mosquitoes?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

So he squeezed under the net climbed into bed beside me. The bed creaked under the extra weight, but it held. We managed to find enough space for ourselves to sleep, just the odd elbow to the face or ribs, me jammed up against the wall and Rich clinging to the edge to keep from falling to the floor. It was still to hot to cuddle. We slept. For a while.

Then there was a guy banging on a door somewhere. We don’t know why – the screaming was in Chinese. It didn’t last too long.

Then a mobile phone… Answer it!!! Why do you feel you need to listen to the whole song?

Men yelling at each other…

Wide awake again, I thought, will this night ever end?

Quiet. For a bit.

Cat fight! Cats howling and running… but running away. So I thought that was ok. Then they were back. They were so loud, like they were in our room. Eventually, they left.

I wake up to a creaking door and feet pounding heavily against the deck boards. It happens again in reverse five minutes later, somebody must have made the trek to the bathroom.

I woke up – again. Felt something and swatted. I felt an itch on my knee. I thought maybe my knee was up against the net and the mosquito was on the other side; poked me through the net. The bump on my knee was huge and hot. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep.

Then I got buzzed.

“No,” I moaned. “There’s a mosquito in here.”

”I know.”

I looked at the window. Still no sign of daylight. I couldn’t believe that was possible. The sky starts to lighten at 4:30 AM and I’d been up for hours and hours. I found Richard’s flashlight and sat up looking for the mosquito. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to see them against the net because our net is black. But I tried. Then gave up.

I got buzzed again. Fortunately, the air was cooler, so I pulled the duvet over me and managed to sleep a little more.

Sometime after dawn, after the longest night of my life, the mosquitoes disappeared and we managed to get some sleep.

Neither of us slept very well. Both of us are covered in bites.

But we’ll sleep tomorrow and the bites will heal.

Our marriage is still intact.

We’ve just spent a few days a Tiger Leaping Gorge, just north of LiJiang.  We spent a couple of days hiking along the gorge and the scenery was spectacular. We took lots of pictures.

The hike itself wasn’t technically difficult, but there was a lot of uphill walking. It’s about 20 km from one end to the other plus a few to get to the trail start – plus a few more km’s going the wrong way and backtracking (we didn’t read the directions very well). The trek didn’t feel all that far, but the elevation gain is over 800 meters on the first half alone, then you go all the way back down. It was, at times, rather strenuous. We took our time and did the hike in two days, stopping at a guest house just over half way.

The guest houses along the trail are great. The Naxi people that live in the area a very friendly and their food is amazing. And what a view! We also made a bunch of friends, (we keep bumping into them day after day, which has been terrific).

Our second day of trekking was easier, mostly downhill. After our hike, we – oh, sorry, I should specify the we – me and two of our new friends descended into the gorge to see it close up. Richard decided it wasn’t “his thing” and he stayed behind to watch our purses. The decent was impressive; the path we took was constructed by a local man and I have to say, it would have taken me 20 years to cut and move all of that rock, sink the iron posts, string up the cables as railings and construct and mount the ladders. It was a steep trip down and the path alone was impressive.

About halfway down, we ran into some Chinese tourists that tried to convince us to turn around and go back up. One man suggested that we needed mountain climbing experience to proceed. We were told it was still a long way down and we still had a couple of vertical ladders ahead of us. Another lady was actually crying, she said it was scary.

I don’t think it was all that bad, but Richard would have hated it.

It took about 40 minutes to descend the stairs and ladders to the bottom. I don’t know the vertical depth, but it felt like a long way down… I kept thinking “how am I ever going to get back up?”

At the bottom, everything seemed really huge, bigger than it looked from above. Some argue that this is the deepest gorge in the world (nearly 4000 vertical meters), but apparently the definition of a gorge isn’t very clear cut… oops, pardon the pun.

So, the trip back up! Well… that was remarkable too! I managed; I didn’t need to rent a mule or get a couple of locals to carry me up in a chair, but then I didn’t even have the option since it was getting so late – the mules and men had gone home. I have to admit, a mule would have been tempting. It was quite the climb out (but totally worth it).