Tuesday, May 31, 2005

the truth

hello all my friends;
Before I give you an update on our lives out here, I need to clarify a few facts!
1. We were not lost nor dehydrated. We knew exactly where we were, its just we didnt know which way the ferry was. We could get back to the road and ask directions, its just we were trying to take a short cut, which turned into a very hot long cut! We have agreed that the potty breaks from now on are the "dehydration tests!"
2. We are not addicted! (although addicts will never admit it). Yes we (the girls) do really enjoy an ice cold pop to share every few days. Other wise we are drinking gallons of water. I must add water is alot cheaper here as is pop at about 1/4 the cost.
3. Savannah is not being starved. Yes she is always wanting to eat. I think because the food is so good, and with all the exercize, we are eating a lot more food than at home.

Today we went and saw the Panda Bears at the Chengdu Panda Reserve. They were suprisingly slow moving adorable animals. Amanda we thought of you the whole time. We wish you were with us to see them. We took the local buses to get there which is always a fun experience. Saved us tonnes of money doing it ourselves. We also got there before all the tour groups, which meant we had the whole park to ourselves for almost 2 hours.
Tomorrow morning we are heading to Songpan for a few days of horse riding. Then off to Jouzhaigou National Park to hike around a few colourful lakes for a few days. So we will not be in contact with you all for about a week.
Thanks to Ronna for getting all of our comments to us! They are great! Please keep them coming everyone. Are there any Watkins' out there reading the Blog?
Thanks to modern technology we have talked to Skylar a few times and also spent time on the MSN chatting to him! It's so great to hear that he is well and going to teach when he gets back to Cherry Point! We are so Proud of you Skylar!!!!
We are sooooo excited today because we were on MSN with Terri, Aletta and Skylar. Terri and Aletta are going to meet us in Beijing around the 20th of June. Isn't that fantastic our first followers! okay who's next?
Happy Birthday to Douglas and Sarah! on the 30th!
China is so much better than I had imagined and definately worth the trip. If you ever get the chance you really should take it. I really worry that when the machine starts taking off, over here that China will fall apart. Now everyone is working, whether it is street cleaning with a broom or construction workers in suits. They seem to be obsessed with building walls (i think it is just to make more work for people).
Climbing Mt Emei was disapointing because we had no view. Im glad that muscles have memory other wise they would be carrying me off the mountain in a basket. " Why do Asians bother to wear dress clothes, high heels and makeup while climbing Emei Shan? I guess the same reason Kamikaze pilots wear helmets!!!" Lol!
Till next time and love to all
Maggie

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Leshan, Emei Shan

Well, after an 81/2 hr bus ride and an overnight train (in soft sleeper, which is really nice, but I think we opened a can of worms with this one. The girls may never go back to lower class....) we finally arrived in Emei at 6:30am. After getting a ride to the hotel we woke up the guy (who was sleeping in a little pink robe, yikes!) to give us a room. From there it was a 40 minute bus ride to Leshan where we saw the largest sitting Buddha in the world. It was carved into the side of a cliff 1200 years ago and is 71m tall. The whole little hill is a park now with a bunch of temples and such, making it a nice place to stroll around. We got there early so were very surprised to see all the disneyland style lines to go down to the base of the Grand Buddha when the whole park seemed so empty. Ha, well, when we were finally done with the park in the early afternoon the reason why became noisily obvious. There were thousands of them. Bus load after bus load after bus load of chinese tourists came and completely packed the place.
One thing I just can't grasp with these guys is how they all come into a place at the same time (and it feels like millions. Hmmm, I guess in China it could be.) but the rest of the time (usually when we are there thankfully) it feels like a total ghost town. I am becoming very afraid of the lines at the more popular places like the terracotta soldiers.
They are also so well dressed everywhere. They always wear dress pants and shoes. Imagine people in the rice fields or doing construction work wearing dress pants. Even the porters carrying people up the mountains are wearing pin-stripe suits!!! And they are always taking pictures of us too. They just can't get over the girls.
Okay, back to Emei. Leshan and Emei are totally covered in a damp fog. Horrible compared to the nice sun we had before. Emei is at the base of one of the 4 holy Buddhist mountains in China, called Emei Shan. We are staying at the base of it but can't see it. We just spent the last 2 days climbing it, but we still haven't seen it. I only believe it is there because my legs tell me so. The Golden summit of Emei Shan sits at 3000m and is supposed to be above the clouds. Well, when we got there today after hiking in the rain, it was definately in the middle of the cloud because it was a total white-out there. Couldn't see 100ft in front of us. We did manage to climb 2000m to get there though. All stairs. Last night we stayed at a monastery halfway up the mountain. I think if I ever become a monk I will do it at a monastery by the beach and not on top of a mountain.... The chanting and simplicity of the place drove mom a little crazy this morning too. Definately no convert there.
It was not a total waste though. We did manage to see a horse carrying bricks slip on the steep muddy stairs and start rolling back down the mountain. We also saw a monkey jump on a chinese lady's head (and man did she start freaking out). Well worth the climb. These monkeys are a well known terrorist group on the mountain. They basically sit on the path and scare people into giving them food. They are known to jump on people and slap them in the face if they don't give up the good stuff. We didn't have any problems but definately believe the stories now. There are tons of them too. Got some good pictures.
Tomorrow we are heading to Chengdu and then farther north to do some horseback riding in Songpan and visit a national park a little farther north of that before returning back to Chengdu where you will most likely hear from us again.
Bre, believe it or not is a tea junky. Can't get enough of the stuff, you should see her down it like there's no tomorrow. We still know she is Bre though because every morning we have to listen to what her dream was. Some things may never change....
Savannah is obsessed with food. All we ever hear from her is "I'm so hungry I'm gonna die if we don't eat". And then, when we give her food "I still don't feel like I've eaten anything." She is constantly trying to steal our food too.
Mom, well, she's the mom and still addicted to pop. Yes, she held to her promise that she would give up Dr. Pepper as soon as the trip started but that's only because the stuff doesn't exist out here. Asians hate that flavour. Instead she's gone back to Pepsi. I have tried, oh how I've tried to stop her, but I am outnumbered 3 to 1 and she keeps sneaking them behind my back. Everytime we walk past a little shop I see her eyeing those evil things. But I'm losing this battle....but the war's not over yet.

Breanna's

Yeah, I had my 18th Birthday in China!! That's pretty awesome. Then again I did spend the whole day on a bus and train. (That wasn't the best) First class is so much better!! Please send money so we can stay on first class because I know Ammon won't let us. It was a little disturbing to see the hotel owner wearing a pink robe ( I hope it was his wife's.). Man that was a big Buddha! Did I mention that I'm addicted to tea. That stuff is good. They are actually trying to be clean here now because there are garbage bins everywhere. They do a good job of disguising them as many different figures (pretty cute) we have lots of pictures of them. Oh by the way in Dali there were small garbage trucks that would drive around town all day every day blasting the song "it's a small world after all". Oh how that got annoying. Instead of saying "call 911" they say "call 119" Yup, were upside down. They also call bathrooms "WC "(waterclosets). So if when I come home and I start asking where the watercloset is, then you will know what i'm looking for. I'm a pro at using chopsticks!! The Gorge was tough, dry and dusty. Now I know what Ammon was talking about when he said that we could wash off out tans at the end of the day.
The last two days I swear I climbed a million stairs up Mt. Emei. My legs can't go on. I felt bad for the horse that did a back flip down the muddy stairs. Seeing the under belly of an animal that big was crazy. The horse hit its head on a tree. Poor thing was being worked too hard and its legs buckled. Saw some crazy monkies with rubber padded butts! It was so hilarious when that monkey jumped on that chinese chick's head and she started crying. The signs said to not scream and run away! I fed some of them.
There are some nasty WC around here, I took some pictures of the different kinds you guys. Savannah says the nice ones are the ones with flowing water and doors. The temple we stayed at was on the edge of a cliff and it felt slanted. No, it was slanted. Yes, I dream every night and live to tell about it! There was no view at the top, how retarded. On the way down Savannah and I slid down the railings! That was fun, except that there was some fresh green paint in some areas. Now we have green butts.
Don't believe Ammon about the pop issue, we don't drink that much. We only drink one every few days and we share it. Mom says that she is in total control.
I think Savannah has a tape worm! It's the only excuse, there is no other solution. Mom says that Savannah is just growing but we don't believe her. Mom is good at killing huge spiders and cockroaches while the rest of us are on the bed screaming. You could call her the exterminator.
Savannah: Over and out, time to eat!!
Till next time
Bre

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Tiger Leaping Gorge!!!

Well....
It was pretty rough! For me at least but I'm sure mom and Bre will agree (Ammon too, he just thinks he's too tough to admit it!) The scenery was definately worth the walk. Filled with beauty! We met a few other backpackers that were really awsome. Max and Nat, we met on the bus and they tagged along or...maybe WE tagged along hehe! They were from California, great accents :) The others were Mathew, from that great place called Seattle and a girl (I didn't catch her name) the others claim it was Dalie. There was also a hottie from Iran I don't know his name either ( We decided to just call him purple guy) but I do know that he is a yoga instructor :D!!At one point all nine of us were treking together. Pretty cool! Those trails were pretty trippy at times! A combo of SKINY, dinky trails and a dehydrated,tired girl like myself just don't work lol. I swear I almost tripped off the shear cliff a couple times teehee (bye bye Savannah)! Bre had a huge blister on her heal so she walked in a boot and bare foot until Dalie lent her a sandle (noticing her limp disorder). After out voting mom we walked two hours longer than planned straight up hill!! On the first day we walked ten miles or so. The first night we stayed with Mathew and Dali and watched the full moon rise from behind the mountain. When the first sliver of the moon showed, Dali, out of the blue said " Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out to be just a chinaman with a flashlight" You had to of been there. It was rich! (Made me think of your new mega flashlight, Wade)
We had planned to only take two days to do the entire trek but due to AMMON'S malfunction we got lost! Yes folks, that's right, LOST!! In our confusion we slid down the rocky mountain side leaving the main road behind to catch a new dirt path. In search of the Old Ferry this "detour" cost us 2 hours and the rest of our water. After realizing we had roamed an endless goat trail, we decided to find the road in which we had originaly abandoned. There were no houses, water, people even animals in sight. That long walk UP the steep hill on a blind route was torture!! I'm telling you. The only thing worse than having NO water is having an inch of a bottle left to split between four people and looking up the side of a mountain in hopes to find where you're going. Keep in mind it was sunny AND windy the two most dehydrating things ever!! Once back on the correct route all I could think about was an air conditioned limo with a VIRGIN pina colada, chocaolate dipped strawberries with whip cream and Chip and Dales!! ( The heat must have been getting to me lol) But I think that at the end of an eight mile walk, a slushy sprite is better than all of that!! SoOOooOo refreshing :D ! Ammon's quote to that "Look how fast your priorities are changing already!!" We finally did find that stupid ferry ( more like a flat, iron platform with a motor) and got a horse ride up the other side. Mom and Bre went first, since there were only two horses, then Ammon and I went after! Ammon and I were just waiting for our horses to fall off the cliff. It was so incredibly steep off the edge ! Once we got there mom and Bre had already got settled at the tables in a guest house with a cold coke. It seemed as though they had attracted a crowd. Seven guys sat across from them STARING!! By the end there were at least fifteen of them, all guys just staring, half of them looking like complete, retarded goinks!
Ammon is right Granny is hilarious!! You can never get bored with her around. She's always doing something. For instence, she's swabbing flies right now haha! Great cook too!! So much facial expression. Anyways I better be off.
Miss you ALL,
Savannah
By the way, for those of you that don't know LOL means: laugh out loud
P.S. My new e-mail is TravelFantasy_In_TheReal_World@hotmail.com

Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge

So now we are back in Lijiang.
We left you guys back in Dali a few days ago so now I have to catch up. Lijiang is another 200 km north of Dali and is another nice town (nicer than Dali) with Naxi culture everywhere. Naxi's are a group of people derived from the Tibetans (sort of) and indeed, this area is in the foothills of the Himalayas really close to the border with Tibet. Lots of people come up this way for a taste of Tibetan culture if they can't make it to the real thing. Definately doesn't have that "chinese" feel as we normally think of it. Small villages up in the dry dusty mountains. Lots of domestic tourists as they all seem to be obsessed with the Jade Dragon Snow mountain area around here. You should have seen their joy when they caught their first glimpse of it from the bus. It's just a mountain with snow on it, but then I guess we are spoiled at home.....
After 2 days wandering around the old town of Lijiang we made our way another 2 hours north to do the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek. It's 30 something km through one of (maybe "the") deepest gorges in the world. There is not much in the way of vegetation around there (dry, windy, dusty place) but being squashed between 2 mountains that are just over 5000 m each makes for some spectacular views. Hot and sunny for the thing, we all have some sunburns and I am happy to report that my feet and legs are still functional unlike the others.... We only hiked 4 or 5 hours each day but we will claim to be still getting in shape and thus it was hard. Sigh.....
Despite what you may read in later posts by the girls, we were not lost........ only temporarily delayed as a result of a map malfunction.
So we ended up spending 3 days away doing the trek and have just arrived back in Lijiang to nurse our wounds. The places we've been staying at have been very nice little family run guest houses. Very cheap and friendly. The food is good. The granny at the place here in Lijiang is absolutely hilarious but I will let the others talk about that. Mom has full conversations with her despite neither one speaking any of the other's language. I have managed to learn a few words finally.
Tomorrow we will move again, heading to Emei Shan (near Chengdu) north east of here. It'll be another all day bus ride and overnight train to get there so plenty of time to "rest" on the way.
Ammon

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

R & R

DaLi is a fantastic spot for rest. It is a beautiful, very clean and cheap place to wonder around and visit. Ammon is trying to recover from his cold and very sore throat he is on antibiotics and starting to feel better. You can buy antibiotics over the counter here its great and inexpensive.
China is alot better than Ammon or I had anticipated. I am so impressed and amazed at the usage of the land. Everywhere you can see the land has been cultivated for hundreds of years, and we have seen alot of land so far. I am just in awe of these hard working people.
We feel very safe with the friendly although pushy people here. Pushy in the sense of they're trying to sell us everything. Friendly with their smiles and HELLO (in English).
Savannah and I just realized that we have been on the trip for 2 weeks already! It only seems like a few days ago we left Vancouver. I am very proud of the kids and the way they are getting along with each other, much better than at home!!! amazing!!! oh Savannah says shopping/bartering is good fun. Okay Savannah speaking: The bras are awsome over here and cheap! Only 5 bucks or less muah haha so we're gunna stock up and send 'em home. Over and out!
Any way we will stay here for a few days and just enjoy the peace and quiet, play cards, get a massage and see whatever is near by.
Wish you where here with us. So think about joining us somewhere in the world!!!!!!
Maggie

Bre's Thoughts!

Hello Everyone! I'm having a great time. My family hasn't driven me crazy yet. Can you guys beleive it, I'm in CHINA. wow. It's pretty cool. I never thought this would actually happen but it did.
I guess you all heard about the caves we went to. You should have seen my face when I heard that there was a mud pit in an underground cave. "Count me in." Being fully covered in thick mud in an underground cave in China has got to be one of the coolest things ever. It was awsome. Savannah and I never wanted to get out. Seriously it was so thick that we were able to strech flat out on top of it, never touching the bottom. To crawl in it was something else! Hardly moving, I felt like a snail. Who cares it was so much fun. Pure mud monsters.
The other day we visited a middle school. Ages 13 to 15. I felt a little shy at first because all kids were staring at us and whispering to each other. Soon to figure out that they were the shy ones. Out of a group one of them would have enough courage to say hi. Then when I said hi back they all blushed turned around and hid there faces. It was pretty funny. Once in the class room they were better. Mom, Ammon, Savannah and I introduced ourselves infront of the class and told them a little bit about us. It was so funny. I found it a little hard to speak to them because there English wasn't very good. I felt like a superstar or something because I signed almost all of there books, took pictures with them, they asked a lot of questions and they loved the colour of my eyes. All of them were so curious, and in awwwwwwwwww when we talked to them. They don't see too many white people and no one the height of Ammon! There was this one cute kid who looked like Tyee. The school had a running track, a place to play basketball and pingpong tables out side. The pingpong tables had a line of rocks acoss the middle for the net and the table was of stone. Thats being creative or using their resources. There were so many bikes lined up, I swear every kid there had one maybe two each. Trust me there were alot. We talked in two classes of 50 kids for about an hour in each class.
We even got a chance to go biking. I don't know why they have lines on the roads because no one uses them. Everyone just honks at each other to get out of the way. It's madness. For example, there will be a bus passing a bus passing a tracktor passing a bike which is passing a pedestrian and this is no lie. This all happens on a wide two lane road constantly! As strange and dangerous as this sounds they seem to know what there doing and its not scary.
The over night bus was something i've never done before. They had three rows of bunk beds running the length of the bus. Of course we got the back. It was so bumpy that there were seat belts to hold you in place. Mom says that it looked like a traveling hospital because everything was so clean and white. I loved it. Even Ammon thought it was cool because he hadn't ever seen one. The over night train was really hot, I thought I was going to die Because I was on the top bunk of three. I hate how heat rises. It was 36 degrees and very humid.
I think I might get lung cancer from seccond hand smoke in this country. Everywhere I go people are spitting. HAH I'd never catch some of my friend using these squatty toilets. We avoided it as long as possible by looking for the nearest McDonalds. Unfortunately we ran into a dead end. We were giggling like little girls the whole time, even mom. It was so funny and embarrasing at the sametime.
Its amazing how hard these people work. They have a hoe, few have arcaic plows but most use water buffalo for all there farming. It's amazing how that use all the land available. These people aren't huge and muscular like you would expect, they are tiny but they must have super strength.
I'll have to tell you guys more later. Were having a great time.
Ps. I was loosing at cards but now I am tied with mom at the bottom. eeee.
Over and out.
Breanna

Dali

Well, I think I've been one of the most miserable people in China these last few days. The cold has hit me pretty bad and I am a totally wreck. The girls are doing much better. As I mentioned before we took an overnight train to Kunming which was actually only 21.5 hours. We were in the hard sleepers with the beds stacked 3 high and all the compartments open in the car so there is a lot of people, noise, smoke, etc. There is no air-con either so the train was about 36 degrees for the entire ride. Combined with the fact that we didn't really have any food or drink with us..... We are still in the learning curve but getting better. I actually went through a stretch there where I didn't sleep or eat for 3 days I think. So much for my mommy taking care of me......
We arrived in Kunming early in the morning of the 15th and went to see the "stone forest" at Shilin, some 80km away. We made a day trip of it with some crazy chinese tour group that kept making stops at Jade stores, and then at a huge Buddhist temple complex before finally getting there. The stone forest is a protected park that has lots of sharp and jagged rocks sticking straight up out of the ground and narrow pathways to wander around between them. There are also little ponds and picnic tables and such to make it a nice place to hang out if you can get away from all the chinese tourists. We haven't seen many western tourists really but there are lots of chinese ones everywhere so the actual sites are still pretty busy. The minority group called the Sani also live in the area and act as guides while dressed up in their traditional costumes.
We spent that night in Kunming and then the next morning took the train north-west for about 7 hours to get to Dali. Dali is a relatively small town again, well known as a good place to hang out and relax. There are mountains and a big lake nearby, the town is a walled one with a more traditional architectural style and things are really cheap. We are staying at a place for $2.5 each, including free internet and laundry. It also has a really nice courtyard with little covered huts, ping-pong table, restaurant, etc. Anyway, we will be staying here for a few days so I can properly recover.
At this point I must say that I am quite surprised with China. I thought it would be rougher but it is not nearly as dirty and unorganized as I was led to believe. The train stations are spotless, the streets are pretty free of litter and they don't actually smoke or spit as much as I thought they would. Maybe it's just this part of the country. It is much drier here and the soil is very very red. Coming in to Dali here we were reminded a little of Lake Chelan with the look of the mountains on the other side of the lake though there are rice fields everywhere on this side. Temperatures range from low 20's at night to mid 30's during the day though we are at a higher elevation now so it is a bit cooler.
Ammon

Friday, May 13, 2005

Savannah's Version of Yangshuo

Well, Ammon's definitely right! I won't admit to having any fun LOL :D The atmosphere around here is completely different. An unusually but somewhat soothing feel to it. Even though the houses are decrepit and run down and I fear they might collapse any second the town and streets are very clean. I feel safe around here and there is nothing to be threatened about! The roads are a bit chaotic and why they even have street lines is beyond me. Everyone does their part in the family to provide what they need. Nice people here but the men are slobs cause they hack and spit and they are complete chain smokers. It's kind of gross!! There are no rules or boundaries. Just simple people living life.
Today we went to see the rice terraces which were about 3 hours up north from here. They were absolutely incredible. When I looked down from the top I couldn't imagine the work put into them. Still there since they were started 700 years ago! 300 or so years to complete and there I was standing above all, looking out into the scenery with a long hard gaze. The history and effort behind these man-made glories amazed me more than words can describe. The exhausting walk up hundreds of stairs was definitely worth a sight I will never forget!! Even though I ended the day with sun burned shoulders and I nearly passed out lol!!
I have experienced a load of cultural differences among the people and I have been learning a lot from their hard working abilities. The hard labored women here put so much effort and long hours into their family and farms that I couldn't even imagine living their lives for one day! Although it gets quite annoying when they come up to you and refuse to stop trying to sell you their goods. They are very persistent in their work! The scenery outside of town in the farm lands is so wonderful. It gives a special twinkle in your eye of dreams you never thought would come true! The beauty OUTSIDE the world I knew only as home is so much more exhilarating than any one person could imagine.
I'm learning and experiencing something new each day. So far I've experienced and appreciated the world as others see it and I am curious to see what each new day will bring! Updates soon. Keep in touch!
Miss you all Savannah xoxo

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Hong Kong, Yangshuo

Well, here we go with the long awaited update.
First I must send out a huge "Thank You" to Sandra for meeting us in Hong Kong and being a most excellent host and guide for the 3 days we were there.
Hong Kong is a very cool city and we totally enjoyed it. We went all over and hit many of the main sites: Stanley Market, Avenue of Stars, Temple Street, Cheung Chau Island and spent one of the days in Macau. It is a very busy place, and quite amazing that it operates on so many layers, literally. The sidewalks are above the road, the highways above that, and the buildings so tall..... Stuff like that. The coolest thing was seeing the laser light show with fireworks where the buildings downtown are involved and actually change all their lights and shoot fireworks off the top. Quite the sight to see!
After the 3 days in Hong Kong we crossed the border into Shenzhen where we spent the day wandering around (much of it lost) before catching an overnight bus to Yangshuo, where we are now. Had never been on a bus with beds until then and I must say it was much better than reclining seats, even though I'm just a little too big for them.
Yangshuo is a quieter town of 300,000 people just south of Guilin and is well known as a backpacker hangout because of all the amazing scenery surrounding it. It has all the Karst peaks sticking up our of nowhere along a nice river valley. I say quieter town but it is all relative as China is a total mad house. I don't think any of us have figured it all out yet. I am having a lot of south east asia flashbacks though. Anyway, we took the lazy way out and booked tours for the area over 3 days. The first day we did a little boat trip along the river, and yesterday we did some biking, bamboo rafting and went into the best cave ever. It is a very wet cave with lots of formations, with quite small spaces to squeeze through as you follow the underground river through it. Bats flying around added to the effect. It even had a mud pool that the girls jumped in and got totally covered with a thick clay mud. I hope we can get the pictures up some day for you to see. Today was our day off so we went to a middle school with a guy that works with our hotel here. He is an english teacher at the school so we went and had a surprise guest lecture. We had a lot of fun with that. The kids are so shy and well behaved. Most of them are 14 like Savannah so they were quite shocked to see how much bigger than them she was. We did 2 classes of close to an hour each and just talked with the 50 or so kids in each class. Such a different set up from home. Hopefully we can do it again somewhere.
Tomorrow we are going for a ride 2 hours away to see minority villages and some impressive rice terraces. The following day it will be 24 hours on the train west to Kunming where some other adventure awaits us.
We are all doing well though our health is somewhat questionable. Bre had a cold just before we left so Mom and Savannah are now getting over it and it looks like I am finally succumbing to it now. We have had rain and overcast skys with a lot of haze every day except today which is sunny. The humidity is insane and the pollution a killer, I think my lungs are going to fail......
Mom is loving all of this,
Bre is having a good time though I suspect she has no idea where we are, she has spent more time reading than any of the rest of us, which if you know Bre, proves that we are on the other side of the world.....
Savannah still refuses to admit that she is having a good time and she is conquering her fear of um, foreign toilets.
Yeah, things are pretty good here.
I hope this finds you all well,
Ammon

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Touch Down in Asia

We have finally arrived (though we have yet to get out of the airport). Wicked thunderstorm here to welcome us in Hong Kong last night. Very muggy and overcast. Well, let's go see what we can find......
Ammon

Well guys,
Yesterday was officially the first day of the "New Beginning". The start of our long and prosperous "journey". The day all hell breaks loose and we are open targets for adventure. Only time can reveal the secrets that lay ahead.....
Savannah
p.s. Wade that comment made my day lol

That was the longest freakin flight I've ever had to deal with.
Breanna

We all look the way you would imagine after 37 hours in the airports and planes.
yes we did sleep/rest in the airport last night as planned.
Maggie