End of the first quarter

Tomorrow marks 45 days since we left. If we stay for as long as we planned, that means we are 25% done with the trip. Blows my MIND! Time flies when you are having fun I guess. We're just about finished with China.. Just 2 more stops: Hong Kong and Macau. Macau is the Las Vegas of China, which I am really excited about. We are only staying 1 night, so I don't think I'll have enough time to gamble all of our money away. Maybe just half of it (OR, maybe I'll double our money). I am definitely looking forward to the next leg of the trip. We are heading to Thailand so I can get SCUBA certified as cheaply as possible. From there, I think we will make our way to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. That's the plan as of today, at least, but it may change tomorrow.

We hit up an amusement park yesterday and I have to say, I do like the way China does rides. There were some pretty crazy roller coasters as well as weird rides that would make even the strongest stomach a lil queazy (ask Hbf.. haha). One ride held us upside down for like 10 seconds and then twirled us around and then just stopped. We weren't sure what was going to happen until we were screaming and flipping through the air (ok, maybe I was the only one screaming). There was a roller coaster that we went on at least 4 times and it made me see stars every single time from the first giant drop that went straight down. Those are my kind of rides.. The ones where you may just black out. Exciting :D We were supposed to go to a water park as well, but it was closed. I hid my tears well and we had a wonderful day at the amusement park. The little chinese (cantonese?) children loved us and we were constantly being barraged by Hello! Hellllloooo! We even saw a magic show, a bizarre 4-D animated movie (um, aliens try to kill all the dinosaurs but the fire breathing dragon saves the day and takes down the mothership. Some dinosaurs end up living) and an action show called danger island. Good stuff. The funny thing was, most of the actors in the show were white. They had a taped dialogue so they weren't really speaking Chinese, they just pretended to. It seemed like a pretty good gig to me and the Chinese people seemed to love it. I wonder how much they get paid.. Maybe that can be my next job.

Number 1 I can understand.. But Number 2?

So. I got food poisoning. Oh the humanity! After about 2 days, I had my first (pseudo) meal of broth and toast. I fought to keep it down. Lemme just say, for the record, that I hate barfing. It's just so funny that Hbf eats things like river snails and beer fish, but I'm the one who gets sick off of porridge and toast. The irony is so thick it chokes me (and makes me puke). Alright, enough of that talk.. Let me transition to something a bit different: Poop. Reader discretion is advised.. If you can't handle poo talk, maybe you should skip this entry. But it's not my poo I'm going to talk about, so don't worry. I saw the most disturbing thing the other day.. I think it was in Dali. Before I describe what I saw, let me give a little back story.

Before we even came to China, a friend who had already visited told us a vivid story in which the children of China don't wear diapers. They have slits in their pants and basically pop a squat (or have a parent holding them over a garbage can/grass patch/whatever) wherever they are at the moment. I couldn't believe this story. No diapers! I scoffed. But lo and behold, those Chinese children had slits in their pants and there were no diapers to be seen. Hbf and I have seen children going pee in the streets numerous times, and we leaughed and laughed. We even sought to take a picture of the event because we didn't think people back home would believe it. But this all changed one day when we were walking to a restaurant in Dali. Dali has canals running through the streets and you can see people washing dishes and vegetables in the canal. That's probably where they get their running water from. As we walked, I spotted a little girl, perhaps 4 years old (old enough to know better) assuming the position over the canal. I started to point her out to Hbf, when I realized she was going Number 2! In the street! a BUSY street! I just couldn't believe it.. She was waaaay too old and she was doing it in the canal! My mind flashed back to the woman washing her vegetables.. Suddenly, it doesn't surprise me at all that I got food poisoning.

Ok poo time over. I have mosquito bites on the tops of both my feet, which has really hindered my shoe wearing abilities. I walked up moon hill in bare feet, which is like a zillion stairs, but worth the climb. We also went to the mud caves yesterday and I don't think I have ever been that dirty in my life. Check out the pictures on Flickr :) We are staying in Yangshuo a couple of more days in order to really pack everything in we can.

Food for thought

I've been gone for a month now. Some people didn't think I would make it this long (I'm looking at you, El Dub). The most worrisome part of this whole trip has been the food issue. I'm what some call a 'picky' eater. I've been this way since I was able to communicate my opinions to my parents and I can't even remember the last time I had milk in my cereal (makes it soggy.. and sogginess is my mortal enemy). How have I survived without my daily bagels with cream cheese and cereal? In a 6 month period, I'd prolly have chinese food maybe 3 times and now I'm expected to eat it 3 times a day. Um.. no. I thought I would be able to get by eating rice and in Beijing, I learned that I don't really have much of a tolerance for tasteless rice. I also learned that I get cranky when I'm not fed what I want (Hbf learned too) and that basically I'm a slave to my cravings. This was not good news. In Beijing I subsisted on cookies, mostly. Delicious butter cookies, but cookies nonetheless. There would be an occasional meal that I could pick at some noodles, but nothing was really to my liking. The situation was worse than I thought.

Once we got out of Beijing and into the smaller, touristy areas, something wonderful happened. Cafes offered western food. And not just western food, western BREAKFAST food. Now, breakfast happens to be my favorite meal of the day and I often have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was delighted by what I found in every little town we went to, of course, but let me make myself clear. The food isn't up to par with a delicious breakfast restaurant in the states, but it is always edible to me. There were things about the food that I had to get used to..

1. The only way they know how to cook eggs is to fry them. If you say scrambled, they nod their heads like they understand but here comes the egg, fried. I've acquired a taste for fried eggs now.. And if you put them on toast, they are very tastey.

2. No syrup. Sad, sad, sad.. I miss syrup terribly. They give you honey or sugar, but it is really not the same at all. I've learned to cope, of course, and maybe when I get back I won't even like syrup. Right now though, I am mourning the loss of my precious syrup.

3. If they say pancake, beware. A pancake can be anything.. And it is rarely what you think it is.

Back in the states, I would maybe have eggs once every 2 weeks. Now I eat eggs daily, sometimes more than once. I've also taken a liking to oatmeal, which I would never touch back home. Hbf would always try to get me to eat oatmeal when we went camping, but I would refuse. The stuff was repulsive and I always had my bagels and cream cheese that I loved. In China, I can't get enough oatmeal! They call it porridge, and it usually comes with fruit. I'll prolly never touch it once I get back, but right now it tastes soooo good (see how my standards have lowered?). I also drink hot chocolate like my life depnds on it. I can't get enough of the stuff.

Anyways, I hope this answered some of your questions about how I am staying alive over here in China. I must go to search out some porridge. P.S. The Stone Forest was awesome. :)

Hiking is like walking, except when it's like going up 10,000 stairs

We hiked Tiger Leaping Gorge yesterday and the day before. Spoiler alert: I didn't see any tigers leaping anywhere. However, I did see amazing scenery along with some goats (sadly, they didn't leap either). The gorge is beautiful, complete with bamboo forests, waterfalls and a path right on the edge of a cliff. Everybody had warned us about a certain part of the trek called the 28 bends which consisted of switchback turns going straight up. I dreaded that part of course, but we passed it without any problems, chatting the whole way up about things we had seen here in China (a man with a squirrel on a leash. True story).

After a wonderful evening at the Tea Horse Guest House, we set about our second day of hiking, which had the best scenery as the views weren't obstructed by so much foliage. We could see straight down to the (unfortuantely) brown water very far below. I was done hiking about noon, but alas, we didn't finish until 3:30. The saddest part was that the most intense and physically challenging part of the hike was the last 2 hours. I think Hbf couldn't help but notice my discontentment those last hours.. But let me back up. We came to the official end at noon. I was stoked! We had done it! And it wasn't even that hard! Hooooold up there Booty, we aren't done yet. You can actually hike down to the water, which is a mile straight down. With the utter delight that lit up Hbf's eyes, I couldn't say no. Down, down we go, with A LOT of Chinese tourists.. We walk down for more than an hour and we finally reach the (disturbingly) brown river with very large rapids. While I am walking down, I am hoping there is some sort of elevator up.. There's not. We decide to go up another way, where there aren't as many tourists. This way entails ladders, so I'm thinking we just climb a ladder all the way up. I think something was lost in translation because there are only 2 ladders, and they only took us up about 50 feet. The rest of the way was filled with incredibly steep steps. Good times! There were times I didn't think I was going to make it.. I think I told Hbf to go on without me and he actually started to, but then I hastily yelled that I wasn't serious and please carry me. He wouldn't. Moral of the story is: the 28 bends are nothing compared to going down to the water and coming back up. Hikers be warned!

I'm alive though, and after thinking about it, that hike was nothing compared to Yosemite's Half Dome (HELL Dome I lovingly like to refer to it). We are back in Lijiang, which is prolly my favorite place in China so far. I have actually found some very delicious food, western style, of course. The rooms here are cheap and nice and have a real toilet! It's kind of sad to think that my criteria for a nice room is that it has a toilet, but that is definitely what it has come to.

If it weren't 20 lbs, I'd carry it everywhere

Dry your tears people, I'm back. Sickness got me when we were in Chengdu, but it was a nice enough place to recover from my sick bed. It even had a giant statue of Mao giving the Heil Hitler salute which cheered me up a bit. Nothing like commy sentiment to raise the spirits. I was also swept up in PANDA-mania! Those guys are just freakin adorable and if Hbf weren't so tight with the cash, I would have held one. The adult pandas seriously look like guys in panda costumes eating bamboo. They've got the pseudo thumb which makes the costume theory even more plausible. It was a lovely day, filled with my favorite things: animals.

We flew to Lijiang and everything went smoothly until we picked up our luggage. Or rather, Hbf's luggage. Mine didn't arrive. Can you say instant puddle of tears? Let's see.. no one speaks english and everything that I have for the next 6 months of traveling is missing. When Hbf tried to talk to me about logistics (what was irreplaceable, what I could buy again), I lost it. The thought of losing everything just like that was too much to bear at 9 in the morning and I withdrew to a chair in tears and alone with my miserable thoughts. I'm so thankful Hbf held it together and took care of everything. His patient way with the Chinese people got our message across, and we were able to find someone in town who spoke both very good english and mandarin to help us even more. Moral of the story: I got my bag back, miraculously.

Apparently, we are celebrities here in the back country of China. People come up to us and want their picture taken with us. I'm not quite sure if they really think we are famous or if they've never seen a white person before. And I'm prolly like the whitest white person they have ever seen, since they don't let pasty people on TV. Anyways, it's nice to be adored for no apparent reason at all and they are all so grateful once they have their snapshot. There is also a lot of staring from everyone, maybe because we are just so beautiful, or maybe because we are just so white. Since I don't speak mandarin, I'll prolly never know.

We are leaving for a 3 day trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge the day after tomorrow. I think I am going to wish that I had a horse to carry me.

A sack of wood chips and a second story bathroom

We went on a 3 day horse trek to a place called Ice Mountain. The scenery was amazing and riding a horse seemed waaaay better than walking up the mountain. Basically all we had to do was stay on the horse and our guides did the rest. That proved difficult enough sometimes, as the trail was often muddy and we crossed a river about 20 times. However, no one fell off and apart from just generally freezing our butts off, there were no injuries either. Supposedly during the summer time, people usually stay in tents. We were fortunate enough to get to stay in a Tibetan home in a small village about 3 hours from Ice Mountain. We were soooo thankful that we would be out of the cold that we really didn't expect much in the way of beds. We figured we would be sleeping on the floor, which was fine with us since it was shielded from the wind. Imagine our surprise and utter delight when they showed us to our beds! We couldn't believe it! I was practically jumping for joy because I wouldn't have to sleep on the ground. We started to get into our beds, and that's when we noticed some interesting details about our bedding...

Hbf's bed was actually a piece of plywood with a layer of carpet on it. I fared a little better, as mine had a 1 inch mattress on the plywood. My bedding consisted of a light sleeping bag (Hbf wasn't lucky enough to get one), a Tibetan coat (think long, heavy jacket) and the canvas bags that doubled as saddle bags on our ride (read: it wreaked like horse). My pillow was a crumpled up piece of canvas. Funny thing is, my bed was voted the best. Hbf also had the same bedding as me minus the sleeping bag, but his pillow was a sack of wood chips. The English guy with us didn't even get a pillow. But hey, the beds were warm, and I even had a kitty curl up with me through out the night to keep me extra cozy.

I figured the house didn't have a regular toilet, so I tried not to think about what I was going to have to do to relieve myself. However, I was the first who had to go and the boys made me ask where the bathroom was. The host pointed to a door, and I bravely walked in, expecting the worst (a pile of waste maybe?) The bathroom was an enclosed deck on the second floor and in the middle of the deck, there was a hole cut out. And that was the bathroom. I flashed my light down the hole and sure enough, it went straight down to the yard with no pipe or chute to guide it to a destination. It was just a hole. It was actually one of the nicer squat toilets because the products were so far away (2 stories below) and there was no smell. I was quite happy with it until the next morning when I saw people had missed the hole. There was no light in the bathroom so I think they had difficulty with their aim in the dark.

All in all, it was a good trip. The last day was quite rough on me but I survived. Maybe someday I'll even be able to talk about it.. We're off to Chengdu at the crack of dawn tomorrow to see some pandas. Hooray!

Does sunblock come in soap?

We conquered The Jiuz today. Jiuzhaigou is known as China's Yosemite, and it lived up to its name. The place was just amazing, with the clearest water I have ever seen. The lakes had every shade of blue and green in them and would not have been out of place in the Caribbean. The Juiz is long though, about 20 miles. We didn't walk all of it, but we prolly walked about 15 miles. I have my withered up feet to prove it.

We've started the malaria pills since we are moving on to more rural areas. The pills are an antibiotic, and they have the following side effects: skin is more sensitive to sunlight, yeast infections, may make birth control ineffective, oh aaaaaand, it may give you nightmares. The side effect I'm mainly concerned about is nightmares, so we have started taking them with breakfast in hopes that no scary monsters will chase us 16 hours later. I have my share of night terrors without the pills, but so far so good. As some of you may know, I am very very white. Some call it pale, I call it pure. Anyways, I was out in the clouded sun for not even 5 minutes yesterday and lo and behold! My cheeks are aflame come night time. I got sunburned in like 2 minutes because of these pills. Ok I know some of you aren't very surprised, but I am! And I'm pissed! I'm going to have to bathe in 50 spf every day before I can step into sunlight. Maybe I should become a vampire. But I'll leave that career option open until I get back from this trip.

It's been 10 days now. What ever family member had 10 days in the 'How long will Booty last' pool loses! I'm not coming home quite yet and I just had a delicious dinner of toast, eggs and hot chocolate. I can find beige things to eat everywhere! My stomach may be a mess right now, but it will even out. I bought some medicine today and communicating with the pharmicist was a bit rough. I'm either supposed to take 1 pill at 6 in the morning, or 6 pills through out the day. I hope I choose the right one..

We're off to Songpan tomorrow for a horseback riding trek. I know my sister would love this and I wish she could be here! Apparently the guides set up camp for you and cook 3 meals a day. Basically all we have to do is stay on the horse and we are golden. I can't vouch for Hbf but I'm pretty sure I can handle that. I'll make sure to get pictures when he falls off. Or when I throw things at him to startle his horse and then he falls off. ;) I kid.

And I thought Hbf could be disgusting..

Before I begin my shining reviews of all the things I've seen and places we've been, I need to take a turn to Negative Town for just a minute. There are some things that have just been bothering me and Hbf tunes me out when I start talking about them. Debby Downer, he calls me. And I say Hey Positive Pete, someone needs to keep us real. My first gripe is with the beds. They are sooooo hard! It's like sleeping on pavement with a sheet laid down on it. There's no way to sleep on your side unless you want hip dysplasia in 2 days. Good thing they have massages for cheap here or else I think I would be stiff and sore until we get to Vietnam. The second problem I have is with the Chinese people and their seemingly never ending need to hock loogies and shoot snot rockets WHEREVER they are. Outside, in a restaurant, on a train! There's no place where you won't hear or see someone spitting, blowing, or coughing whatever the hell they have in their throats up. If I ever get hungry, I only have to wait about 2 minutes and someone will begin hacking up a lung right next to me. Instant appetite suppressant. I guess the government is trying to discourage the behavior, which scares me. What would it be like if they weren't discouraging it? I shudder to think. And throw up in my mouth a little bit. That being said, there is one more thing that disgusts me more than the loogies. I have what some would consider a freakishly good sense of smell. For better or worse, I can smell almost everything, and do, especially before eating it. Walking around China, especially Datong, I have smelled the worst possible smells ever known to mankind. Now, I know my little brother is thinking, no way! We once smelled this toilet in Spain that was really bad. We crawled around on the floor gagging and coughing, trying to spit out any remnants . But to him I say, um yeah.. this is like a Billion times worse. That's a capital B. At first Hbf didn't notice it, which proved my theory that he had no sense of smell. I thought for sure no person on earth could ignore these smells. Each time I got a whiff, I wanted to throw up, then curl up in a little ball and die. But then the next second it would be gone and I would decide that I want to live after all. In Datong though, Hbf started to notice the smells. We went on a walk through the town, only to find out we were on the foulest smelling street in the city. I had my nose in my shirt, breathing through my mouth and I could even taste it. Luckily I just ate or I don't think I could even be writing about this stuff. I'm not sure what the hell those smells are, but it may be a mix of dead animals, poop and rotting food. That's just a guess though. Apparently the Chinese have no sense of smell because no one notices. I didn't see anyone gagging or covering their noses like we were.. These smells must have singed off their nose hairs and destroyed their odor sensors by the time they were toddlers. Alright, enough of my detour. I've got that out of my system and I am back on track. We are in Xi'an now and so far, so good. Tomorrow we see the terracotta warriors and we will also be enjoying some hot springs. I'm hoping there is a no spitting sign in the pools..

Where are all the big dogs?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.. There were a lot of firsts yesterday. Don't fall out of your chair, but yesterday I ate my first authentic Chinese meal... wait for it.. with Chopsticks! I actually got some in my mouth too! We were on a tour at the Great Wall and they fed us this extravagant lunch with 9 different dishes and I actually liked 4 out of the 9. I couldn't get any of the rice in my mouth with the chopsticks, so I ended up using my soup spoon to shovel it in. However, I ate everything else with chopsticks although my form fell apart early. I adapted well though, and I give myself 4 out of 5 stars for effort. I lost a star for using the soup spoon for something other than soup. Another 1st came about 12 hours later and I lost the bet as to who would get sick first. They call it Montezuma's Revenge in Mexico.. I guess here it would be called Mao's Revenge.
We bought our first souvenirs yesterday. Or rather, I begged hbf to buy me an I <3 Beijing shirt and a watch that has Mao waving on the face, and he conceded. It wasn't easy, but I'm not one to give up when it comes to hbf buying me things, ESPECIALLY when it's a watch that has Mao waving to me whenever I look at the time. The I <3 Beijing shirt was the only shirt I found with Chinese characters on it so I just had to have it.
Sunday morning we went to a park where tons of people gathered to sing, dance, and squat thrust together (no joke). It was like walking into the book 1984, except everyone had a smile on their face and seemed to enjoy the camaraderie. Since they were all speaking mandarin, I couldn't distinguish if they were actually talking in Newspeak, but it wouldn't surprise me.. Actually, that park was such a pleasure to be in. Happy noises filled the atmosphere and all the dancers and singers looked like they truly enjoyed their craft. But of course, Big Brother is always watching.. Right?
We are leaving Beijing today for the west and hopefully it will be less expensive. A cool wind has blown the smog away for the last couple of days so we were able to actually see the sun! We didn't think it would happen, but apparently the wind gods had mercy and did us a favor. It really is a beautiful city even though you can't see 100 yards in front of you. I have noticed an alarming trend though. There are only small dogs here in Beijing. I have seen probably 20 dogs, and none of them have been bigger than a miniature poodle. Is that because the small ones have no delicious meat on their body? They are all tendon and bone and not worth the effort to cook, apparently. I had read that over 120 restaurants took dog off the menu for the Olympics, but we couldn't find out whether they had put it back on the menu yet. I suppose they have.. I should probably be memorizing the most important sentence in our phrase book: I don't eat dog.

Don't Get Crabs*

*Parting words from my mom on my first phone call to the rents from Beijing. Wise words from a wise lady, indeed. I can definitely say with all honesty I will do my best not to get crabs. But things happen, ya know?

We made it to Beijing unscathed. I thought for sure there would be some sort of hitch in our travel but it went very smoothly. I popped my pills and slept blissfully through the flight, finally waking up to the rich aroma of a Cup o' Noodle with chopsticks shoved in it. Apparently this is what passes for a hot meal on Air Canada, but I can't complain. Who doesn't love Cup o' Noodle? If it's beige, I'm into it. As far as meals go, I haven't had the best luck. The first night I had butter cookies and jerky (Thank you lord for hbf bringing the jerky!). Yesterday, meals consisted of sweet rolls, rice, minestrone soup (spicy tomato water?) and bread. I am still alive and I still have energy so I am calling that a success.

Beijing is a hot mess of buildings, people, cars and bikes. We decided we wanted to flirt with death so we rented bicycles and rode all around the city yesterday. I think my mouth was gaping open 95% of the time. It is just so different from anything I have ever seen before. There is old world, chinese architecture side by side high rise buildings. There are motorcycles in the bike lanes, along with scooters, rickshaws, and people walking. Luckily all the bikes come with an annoying bell so you can incessantly alert people to your approach. Not that they move out of the way or even look back, but if they get in your way, you don't have to feel bad because you rang your bell.

We toured the Forbidden City yesterday, which was truly amazing. It's HUGE! I kind of want my house to look like the Hall of Supreme Harmony. There were rich greens and vivid blues, along with gold dragons painted everywhere. If it's good enough for some emperors, it's good enough for the princess. We walked all over the Forbidden City, and hbf didn't need to drag me around once. It's early though.

So, just a side note. Both facebook and my blog site are blocked by China. No facebook you say?! I don't want to live!! What will I do without Mafia Wars?! But then I remembered that I'm traveling around SE Asia for the next 6 months and I came down off the ledge. I am emailing my blog entries to a certain Venezuelan yogini and she will be posting them for me. Thanks a bunch, my dear! I hope to be back on facebook and posting my own blog entries when we get to Vietnam, but that isn't for awhile.

Packing, Unpacking and Packing Again

It's the calm before the storm. Tomorrow morning is the beginning of possibly the greatest adventure in my life, but I'm hoping there will be more opportunities like this in the future. Hbf finally made it to Oregon, sans his beautiful dark curls, but his hair was getting so long that my mom thought he looked like a terrorist. I guess it was best he cut them off because I don't think he is a fan of cavity searches (I think?).

I've gotten a lot of the same questions while seeing friends and family in the past couple of days. Am I nervous? No, I don't think so. I mean, my insides are constantly quivering with anticipation and there's always a lump in my throat. But nervous? No. Way. What am I going to eat? Well, I'm not sure. Hbf likes to laughingly tell me I'll eventually eat dog, but then I slap him in the face and he stops laughing. I think I'll eat a lot of rice. I'll also search out any kind of bread I can find. But, there is a slight chance I'll open my mind (and mouth) and taste something different. It really depends on how hungry I get and how desperate I am. Never say never, I suppose, but I really want to say I'll never eat bugs, dogs or innards of any kind. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. And finally, what is our first destination? Beijing! The Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Beijing has it all.

The rest of the day will be filled with packing, my least favorite thing to do. There's something about trying to choose the 4 shirts I will live in for the next 6 months that makes me want to take a nap. Our plane leaves at 7 AM and I don't really think I will get much sleep tonight. My mind doesn't like to quiet down when there is something epic on the horizon. Don't worry though! I have pills to force sleep on the plane. Everybody wins!

Mindful Preparation

Eight and a half more days of work. 43 and a half more days until we leave. AAAHHHHHH There's so much to do! Hi, my name is Booty and I'm a list maker. {Hi Booty} I have a list in the family room and a list in the bedroom. I now have a list that goes with me everywhere and it's three pages long. I even made a list for hbf of things he is responsible for. He just laughs and shakes his head at my lists, but I love them! They bring order to the chaos that is in my mind and it gives me a small sense of accomplishment to take my pen and violently cross off the things that are done. [Cancel the cable] Hbf claims that 90% of my To Do's could go undone and I would be perfectly fine. I maintain that if 90% of my tasks went unfinished my head would explode. [Put Law & Order episodes on my iPod] I prepare now so I can be at ease when we travel. I am what you would call 'worry wart' (thank you mother) and I dwell on every single itty bitty detail until I drive myself and everyone around me crazy. [Find my camera] So, good thing work is uber slow and I have enough time to stew about everything I need to get done. Otherwise, I don't think I would sleep for fear of not completing my lists on time! [Book a hotel in Beijing]

With all this list making, I haven't had time to think about the actual trip. [Learn how to use chopsticks] Maybe my lists are a coping mechanism because I would poop my pants if I started to dwell on the fact that I may have chronic diarrhea for the next 6 months. [Put together a 1st aid kit] Also, I probably wouldn't get much done if I were fantasizing about all the perfect beaches I was going to lay on. My lists keep me focused, and they keep me from freaking out. [Make copies of our passports]

Enough about lists! Hbf wanted me to mention our other blog that will actually tell about the places we have been and what we have done. the url is www.mytb.org/gabanie [Register trip with the US consulate] That blog will tell about our adventures: this is what we did and this is where we have been. [Get Rxs filled] My blog will kind of be the same thing, but written with my slant on it (the princess slant) and will probably focus on my inability to try new foods or be OK with soggy things on my palette.

The world calls this neophobia and it generally only applies to children, but I say I have an over developed sense of taste. I really can't believe anyone would eat a cooked carrot if they were actually tasting and feeling what I taste and feel when I eat one. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. [Change my address] Texture is even more important than taste. I love cereal way more than the average person. It's one of my food groups (my food groups are: bread, bagels, cereal, milk, eggos and any other breakfast food). However, if you pour milk on the cereal, I won't touch it. The milk makes the cereal soggy, and sogginess is my sworn enemy. [Print out travel insurance policy] There are few things more unpleasant to me than eating something soggy (no, that is not a challenge). Soooo, needless to say I have a few worries about finding things to eat when I am over in Asia. I guess it could mean I'll be on the best weight loss diet for the next 6 months.

And So It Begins..

Ok so we haven't left yet for the big trip, but I wanted to introduce myself for those readers who don't really know me. I'm a female in my mid-twenties and I am already tired of my 9-5 (more like 9-4:25 but who's counting?) 'engineering' job. My hot boyfriend (hbf from now on) and I have decided to throw caution to the wind, along with all responsibility and probably basic hygiene to embark on a once (hopefully more) in a life time adventure on the other side of the world. We've been saving for the last year or so and once we get to our destination, we figure we can last about 6 months with our money. The itinerary includes: China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Zealand and possibly Australia. D-Day is September 17th and it is rapidly approaching. Tomorrow marks T-50 days until I leave everything I have ever known.

Some people may see this itinerary and ask why? Or, what the hell are you thinking?? Or, how are you going to survive without bagels? But, I see this itinerary and ask why not? Friendly people, radically different cultures, pristine beaches, low cost food as well as lodging. I admit there will be an adjustment period which will probably (definitely) involve tears, fits a 2 year old would be jealous of, hunger and more tears, but this too will pass. I have faith that my adventurous spirit will propel me onward through these next 6 months. That, and the fact that hbf will drag me around because his energy knows no bounds. He will have to drag me though since I will be so emaciated from lack of food I won't have the strength to walk anymore.

All that being said, I am so freaking excited I can hardly stand it. This trip is something that I never really thought about doing until hbf came along, but I'm so glad we are making it happen. I think it's gonna change my life in ways I can't fathom and challenge me mentally through out the whole trip. This is good though, since I have almost gone retarded working at my current job. I need some sort of mental stimulation stat! And this is just what the doctor ordered. If you have any questions, post them in the comments section and I will be sure to answer them.