happy may day

*** this is duffy writing, not kate***

hello everyone. kate and i are in lijiang, in yunnan province, in the p.r.c. right now. our may day vacation has seen a lot of time on the move.

we picked up katie and lindsay in macau, and managed to meet up with our friend nicole in guangzhou, pick up train tickets, meet up with meghan and another lindsey in kunming, yunnan, and catch an overnight bus to lijiang. thanks to a large amount of prep work by kate, this has all gone really well. if geography doesn't work out, she can always be a great travel agent.

kate and i have been travelling since april 26th, when we left wuhan for guangzhou, then went to macau to pick up katie and lindsay who were coming in from bangkok after being in india for 8 months. after a small amount of trouble trying to decipher the bus schedules in macau (they use traditional chinese characters, not simplified), we got back to the guest house and had some of the best dumplings i've ever eaten.

since it rains a lot in macau, we spent most of the next day indoors, drinking coffee and eating baked goods. this doesn't sound very exciting, but since mainland china doesn't offer these things many places, it was a nice treat. dinner was nice, too. blending portuguese wine making, southern european spices, and seafood from china is a great combination.

the next day, kate, katie, lindsay and i met with nicole (a woman who worked in my office last year), and picked up train tickets to kunming. the train was 25 hours and was one of my most memorable train rides. a group of chinese people in their mid 20s shared our cabin and spoke excellent english and managed to teach me a chinese card game called catch the king. while i was playing cards, a girl from two cabins down came with her mother and began to practice her english with kate. soon her father came over too, to take some pictures. it was a lot of fun.

after arriving in kunming, which is a lot larger than we expected, we met up with lindsay and meghan. the next day, we left on an overnight bus to lijiang. we arrived at about 5:30 am and wandered around, a little tired and a little in awe, until we found a noodle and dumpling stand that opened early. lijiang is a beautiful city in the mountains that has a remarkable old town that is really well preserved and not as touristy as other places like it in china.

that's all for now. today we are going to the village of shigu (stone drum) in an attempt to see more scenery and get into a really rural environment. kate or i will try to post again soon, hopefully with some pictures.