beijing, china

i mean. Apparently we're going to station in the 'jing for a little bit. We have good reasons for this, part of it is waiting on a permit to get through Tibet. Well, one permit gets you to Lhasa, Tibet, and the other allows you to leave the city. Apparently it's a bit of a prickly situation, that you should look up more about. That's nice of them to offer a permit so that you can leave their city. And you thought Branson Missouri could suck you in---

But, it's given a good chance to see the sites around Beijing which there's a few to offer. The biggest being the Great Wall. I'm not confident in my history, but I'm pretty sure the Chinese built it around 600 to keep the Mongolians from getting to their sweet alpine slide on the China side of the wall. Video should be below. Yes, I got to hook up with the Combs' brothers (Ping Chi Ling and La Dudsa, though I ended up taking over the aka La dudsa for reasons you will discover if you find out the interpretation). We also visited Summer Palace which is basically the old Emperor's summer gig and puts anyone on MTV's 'Cribs' to shame, went to a water park, and they even properly lived up Beijing by getting bamboozled by a crafty taxi driver who took advantage of his foreign passengers.

We made a great contact here in the 'jing, Bo Yee, through Emma's endless network of Asia who is uber helpful and entertaining to stay with. That would be her in what an American would think is pajamas, but is actually kung fu attire as she's being filmed doing her kung fu for a reality show about a day in the life of someone who lives in the 'jing. I think I'm gathering that if you're a "half" (half Chinese and half American) you are a valuable commodity for the entertainment industry. I'm able to learn even more about the culture since Bo Yee is just about as familiar with China as she is America.

So, all's well, and my next goal is to expose some of the entertaining idiosyncracies of Chinese culture.

shenyang, china

you might notice i'm getting a little technological on all y'all. i'm currently contemplating foregoing the old school form of typing and just throwing you video feed. that probably won't happen though. but, i feel like i'm riding the wave of the future here, so bear with me.

the story behind these is emma looked up things to do in shenyang since we had like 15 hours to kill and had already walked around the city and snuck into three hotel lobbies for internet. so, we find ourselves hunting down this mystical "magic slope" via taxi that henry and justin from the grand century hotel hooked up for us, only to find out it's about as good as those freak shows you would go to at the carnival when you were a disappointed cotton-candy mouthed kid. i should have shot footage of the slope itself, but to be honest we weren't even sure we were on it when we were. that's how much it blew our 'mystified' minds.

shenyang in general is pretty rad though, so don't let the slope leave it with a bad rap.

check this out---

My friend pointed me towards this site here, and I feel pretty good about it. It's still a bit ghetto but I hope to expand it a bit. I'm horribly visual, so if you float the same boat as me, it should help you get an idea of my path as it unfolds.

Let me tell you about this girl---

Many of you have heard me at least talk about this girl that I am traveling with. In Asia she has taken on the moniker, Emma, which I am still getting used to. Her quick background is that she grew up in Denver and went to Baylor in 2000 I believe. From there she left for Nepal for 3 months, which has now stretched out to a strong 3 years. Fair enough, it happens to the best of us. Her resume to the best of my knowledge and memory is as follows:
-working in the red light district of Bangkok, while living with prostitutes
-becoming the surrogate mother of 6 Nepalese street kid thugs, arranging every aspect of their new lives including their home, finances, and education
-earning a master's degree in international development
-becoming involved in the politics of the most oppressive country and situation in our world today including protesting and increasing awareness, which is what her goal is today

As you can see, her impact reaches all realms. However, last night at a coffee shop she said, "No matter what you do on this earth, it still doesn't matter because if you don't do it, somebody else will, and this earth is only temporary." That could almost make her sound flippant until you hear her reflect on a prayer session that she attended regarding that aforementioned political situation, "For 6 hours they prayed and talked about the situation, but not once did they say what action we should take." This really annoyed her. She hates it when people hear and then turn a deaf ear to pretend that they didn't. She hates it when people "feel compassion" but follow with zero action, and do nothing about what they have heard or seen. -I think a man once talked about some people who saw a person in need and just crossed to the other side of the road.- While over here, she is clear that she is not trying to convert anyone, but rather is trying to merely live out the gospel. She is currently working on writing a book to increase awareness of this political situation, which she has covered strong ground work by interviewing people directly involved.

With her I am reminded of a story about a guy who visited his friend late at night because an unexpected traveling guest showed up on his doorstep, and he had no bread for him. His friend was in bed, and did not want to get up, and would not have gotten up merely because it was his friend that was asking. But, since his friend was insistent and continuing to ask, he did get up and get him the bread. Persistence goes a long way, and she seems to know this.

To say that her way of life is challenging to me and surely others is an understatement.

And, she's going to hate that I posted this.

What I like least about her is how fast she likes to walk.

tumen, china

Amazingly there is a vocational school here that is able to house us. In exchange we hope to do some work that will support this 'school.' You should look on the map of where it is, because it is conveniently located very near a location of high controversy. The country's border is that river that there is a picture of...

The city is great, it is a breath of fresh air away from the fast pace of Seoul and the tackiness of Dalia. It is full of real, simple people that just make their living and seem to enjoy the people around them. It does not take sharp eyes to be able to see people enjoying their leisure time around here. I do not know how long we will stay, it is quite undetermined. Part of the time will depend on how much help we are able to do while we stay.

The principal of the school moved here from the states to start this project. The school also serves as a hq for many projects in the country directly to the east. He was a very interesting man, clearly believing very deeply in helping people who really need it and have very few options. I really enjoyed a few of the students that were around the school. Despite the language barrier I worked alongside them doing physical labor at the school, played soccer and pool with them, and maintained a level of friendship which is difficult when you can't talk about anything really. But, that's the great thing about work and play.

ps- sorry I wasn't able to post this before, but because of the area of controversy it was best to wait a bit.

pss- remember i can't see my blog, so if any of the links are broken i apologize, i'll see it for the first time when i get to nepal---

dalian, china

thank goodness these guys were able to pick us up from the airport. I do not know what we would have done without them. I mean, we would have figured out lodging and a train ticket, but it would have been muy difficult. Good gravy. The train ticket was such a hassle especially with the people of the country we are in being stereotypically very very very pushy, even physically. Of course, it is normal for their culture, but drastically different to the one I am used to.

Dalian is the Chinese version of England's city of Blackpool. If it wasn't the rocky beach it was the constant amusement park that made me ready to leave. Thank goodness, because I can't think of anything else that would cause me to actually welcome a 21 hour train ride to northern China.

ps- If you ever have the need for complete over-the-top, thorough , quality hospitality shown to you, visit someone from Nepal. These Nepalese guys, Rakesh (sunglasses) and Santosh paid for everything that they could, cooked us a traditional Nepalese meal in their apartment, and did more for us than I though humanly possible. Their motto was "This time we get for you, next time, you get." Hopefully I will get the chance to reciprocate to these life saving Hindu medical students. Someday.

did I mention that we had never met them before, and they were just friends of friends of Emma's?

seoul, south korea

Getting off the airplane was very nice. Part of being on the airplane was nice because to no surprise John Rhodes was able to hook up a system upgrade which left me in business class. It made me want to make like a man I saw on tv once and "brush that dirt off [my] shoulder." (also see baller) The beef was a little sketchy, but the wine made up for it. Probably because I know a lot more about beef than I do wine. I am always confused when I first get in business class because I am baffled that they are offering me drinks before the plane has even left the gate, and that one of those drinks is champagne and I don't have to pay for it. I took the orange juice.

The surprise Pamela (heretofore referred to as Emma) had for me in Seoul was really nice and educational because I had never stayed in a Buddhist monastery before. The monks treated me very well, made delicious food (thanks to 'cooking monk' (far right), and were great to talk to. The mosquito net did not work as well as I had hoped after the first night, but I think I tucked it under my blanket better the second night. I enjoyed the tour of the palace that Panya gave me (to my right), and I even rolled to a spa for a therapeutic morning with 'head monk' (far left) the next morning. So good.

I quite enjoyed walking around the city with the monks. I figured it was an interesting picture for the locals- the only white person around walking around with a monk. The conversations we had were beyond interesting, partly reminding me of my days when I contemplated monkhood. More than anything I noticed how youthful and peaceful the monks themselves were especially in contrast to the hardened faces of the laypeople of South Korea. It made me wonder if there is a way to retain at least a level of peace and introspection in our lives as laypeople. I hope so.

I think I was a little disappointed to leave Seoul without seeing much of the city itself, but there are greener pastures ahead---

ps-I'm playing a bit of catch up as I was not able to set up this account before I left. We will be up to date soon. so, if it posts for august 4, pretend that it says july 30-2.