The first email

Hey everyone!!

Sadly the blackberry isn't working and the cell phone is not allowed, so my communications are limited. I don't know how much email access I'll have for the next month as I am backpacking through the western portion of the Yunnan province, but I wanted to send something out to everyone just to say hi and let you know that all is going well. I really want to tell you about my last two days.

I'd just like to start out by saying that I absolutely love China and I never want to go back home. Maybe I'll stop by home to eat a good steak, but I could live in this country forever. The views are breathtaking and the people are amazing and generous and the food is so good. Things happen to us everyday that we never would have imagined, and wouldn't be possible if I were traveling in a bigger group (6 students, 3 leaders, though we leave the leaders behind a lot).

Yesterday, we arrived in Tengchong after a 12 hour sleeper bus from Kunming. The hostile we planned to stay at wasn't open yet, so we wandered around the city and found an elementary school. We decided to pop our heads in and see if they wanted us to teach English and they welcomed us into their school. We spent a few hours with the children, I taught a class of 10-11 year olds with another guy on my trip. It was really hard and exhausting and so much fun.
Later on we took a bus to a village nearby on a mountain to just walk around. We agreed to meet back at the entrance in about 2 hours and split up. I went with Dean and Ben (two other students) and started hiking up as high as we could get in the time. We went through the village and then came to a white temple/sacrificial monument of some sort, and then later came to a Taoist cemetery. We hiked almost all the way up the mountain and the views were breathtaking. According to Dean's GPS, we were only 38 miles away from the border of Burma, and we are making plans to take a trek to the border, leaving all of our belongings (aside from a sleeping bag, water, and a jacket) in Tengchong. Believe it or not, the leaders are actually up for it and we will make the trek later on this week. The others found a guesthouse while they were wandering and what looked like either a wedding celebration or a restaurant, so we followed them back to the place. It turned out to be a home and a funeral celebration, and the family invited us into their home and fed us a dinner. It was truly amazing. Where else does that happen? They offered us the best they had and tried to stop us from helping clean up. Their only request when we asked to take pictures was that we send them copies (they don't have email, actual physical copies). Also while we were out wandering, the leaders talked to other families in the village and arranged for us to do a home stay. Tomorrow morning we will move into 3 houses with families for a 2 or 3 night stay.

So that was just one day. Today was completely different. We spent a few hours in the morning wandering around the city without the leaders, trying out our Chinese and generally fending for ourselves. We managed to order breakfast and bargain in the market place :). Dean, Trevor, and I broke off from the group so that we could look around a residential area. We regathered at the hotel and checked out and moved to the guest house in the village that some of the other students found yesterday. We then piled into two vans that took us an hour down an unpaved, very bumpy road to a local volcano. This was a little more touristy than we usually plan, but we were the only ones there. We climbed straight up 600 steps (if you haven\'t ever done that before, it\'s a lot. I went with a cross country runner and bulky Greek and we made it up first, but I thought my heart was going to explode). After we poked around the volcano and even hiked down into it, we drove off to this place by raging river far down a cliff to get a bite to eat and keep exploring. We climbed down MORE stairs to walk along the river. While we were hiking, we found a cave next to the path and climbed into it (well, most of us did). It went down into the earth for a bit and then there was a shaft the led straight back up to the surface. We did a bit of muddy, dark (it was pitch black at this point) rock climbing to get out the other side. We kept walking and found a calmer pond next to the river that had clean and cold water. A bunch of us jumped in in various states of undressed to wash ourselves from the cave adventure. That was COLD. We continued our hike soaking wet until we got back to the vans and began the trip back home. Tonight we will stay at the guest house in the village just outside of Tengchong and then tomorrow morning we begin our home stay.\r\n\r\n \r\nWow, that was a long email. I hope that\'s given you some sense of what we have been up to. So far it hasn\'t been too terribly rugged, but once we leave this city it will be pretty much wilderness backpacking from village to village. It\'s only been a few days, but it feels like months because of everything that happens. I\'m going to have a hard time adjusting to home after this. I haven\'t used a fork in forever and the food I eat is fresher than anything I can get back home. I try everything and so far the only things I haven\'t enjoyed are the 1000 day old eggs (duck eggs uncooked and buried until they solidify) and Japanese tofu. We eat fruit from the market and food from whatever tiny restaurants we come across. My favorite is a spicy meal followed by a cup of cold, unflavored and unsweetened yogurt, which I can also eat with chopsticks. The people I am with are all great and as excited about traveling through China as I am. I don\'t think so many amazing things could happen to us if they weren\'t all willing to put themselves out there. I think my favorite thing about this trip is that we have a month to travel and no limits, as long as we make it back to Kunming by Oct 10 or 11. We go where we want, when we want. As much fun as traveling is though, I am also excited to begin my 5 week home stay in Kunming and really get to know an area. I want to go to the market and shop for food and learn to prepare it. I want to settle down and have a life so that I can become a part of a community. I can\'t wait to know enough Chinese to really talk to the people and hear what they have to say. Sometimes, if we are lucky, we can get them to talk about the Cultural Revolution.

So that was just one day. Today was completely different. We spent a few hours in the morning wandering around the city without the leaders, trying out our Chinese and generally fending for ourselves. We managed to order breakfast and bargain in the market place :). Dean, Trevor, and I broke off from the group so that we could look around a residential area. We regathered at the hotel and checked out and moved to the guest house in the village that some of the other students found yesterday. We then piled into two vans that took us an hour down an unpaved, very bumpy road to a local volcano. This was a little more touristy than we usually plan, but we were the only ones there. We climbed straight up 600 steps (if you haven't ever done that before, it's a lot. I went with a cross country runner and bulky Greek and we made it up first, but I thought my heart was going to explode). After we poked around the volcano and even hiked down into it, we drove off to this place by raging river far down a cliff to get a bite to eat and keep exploring. We climbed down MORE stairs to walk along the river. While we were hiking, we found a cave next to the path and climbed into it (well, most of us did). It went down into the earth for a bit and then there was a shaft the led straight back up to the surface. We did a bit of muddy, dark (it was pitch black at this point) rock climbing to get out the other side. We kept walking and found a calmer pond next to the river that had clean and cold water. A bunch of us jumped in in various states of undressed to wash ourselves from the cave adventure. That was COLD. We continued our hike soaking wet until we got back to the vans and began the trip back home. Tonight we will stay at the guest house in the village just outside of Tengchong and then tomorrow morning we begin our home stay.

Wow, that was a long email. I hope that's given you some sense of what we have been up to. So far it hasn't been too terribly rugged, but once we leave this city it will be pretty much wilderness backpacking from village to village. It's only been a few days, but it feels like months because of everything that happens. I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to home after this. I haven't used a fork in forever and the food I eat is fresher than anything I can get back home. I try everything and so far the only things I haven't enjoyed are the 1000 day old eggs (duck eggs uncooked and buried until they solidify) and Japanese tofu. We eat fruit from the market and food from whatever tiny restaurants we come across. My favorite is a spicy meal followed by a cup of cold, unflavored and unsweetened yogurt, which I can also eat with chopsticks. The people I am with are all great and as excited about traveling through China as I am. I don't think so many amazing things could happen to us if they weren't all willing to put themselves out there. I think my favorite thing about this trip is that we have a month to travel and no limits, as long as we make it back to Kunming by Oct 10 or 11. We go where we want, when we want. As much fun as traveling is though, I am also excited to begin my 5 week home stay in Kunming and really get to know an area. I want to go to the market and shop for food and learn to prepare it. I want to settle down and have a life so that I can become a part of a community. I can't wait to know enough Chinese to really talk to the people and hear what they have to say. Sometimes, if we are lucky, we can get them to talk about the Cultural Revolution.

I hope everyone is having an amazing year. I miss you all so much, but I have to say I am quite happy where I am. Dean, Trevor, and I are planning to continue our travels through Burma and other nearby countries after this program is over. If I could, I would spend the entire year just traveling through Asia. Don't forget about me, I'm still thinking about all of you!

Love,
Megan,

PS Write back and tell me what is going on! I can\'t guarantee that I\'ll get it or be able to reply, but I want to hear from all of you.