China Part Two

What an incredible last two days I have had. It is difficult to explain in words what I have experienced. Thursday we travelled to the most remote area I have ever been in my lifetime. The roads were incredibly bad as we travelled through the mountains. At one point I had the thought that the entire Cremeans clan could get wiped out here…but Jerry did a great job of driving and navigating.

We were introduced to some minority people who have their own distinct culture and customs. They have some incredible costumes and headdresses and their hospitality was off the hook. We could really learn hospitality from the people here. I believe it is becoming a lost art in the US as our lifestyles continue at a mad pace. To see the way these people live and work was humbling to say the least. I wish I could say that I was more adventurous in the area of culinary culture, but I just couldn’t do it. Jerry joked with us that we were going to have to eat Yak testicles! So far my stomach has held up well and I will probably gain some weight before this trip is over.

On the way back into town we saw some guys playing basketball and pulled off to play a little hoops. We ended up playing 3 on 6 and we represented our country well (we were also about 2 feet taller than the guys we played against). About 20 minutes into the game I asked Buddy and Jerry if either of them had the same burning lung sensation that I was experiencing and they didn’t reply (now I know it is because they couldn’t talk). The elevation was about 6500 (felt like 10,000) feet high. We gave high fives, thanked our hosts for losing, and headed home but the burning lung sensation turned into one of the worst coughing fits of my life. I went through 4 cough drops and a couple of bottles of water to get back to normal. Buddy is still coughing…says he has “red lung”…he can be a wuss at times…

Yesterday I toured a Buddhist temple and was invited in for lunch. Again, I politely declined but I sure did appreciate the hospitality. It was surreal to look through the temple and see their statues and altars. This was a new experience for me as well. On the way back into town we saw a giant (and I mean giant) Buddha statue on the side of a mountain. It had nineteen hundred and ninety nine steps leading up to it. After some serious consideration of getting a closer look I decided to just take a picture instead.

Last night we enjoyed dinner with some of Kristin and Jerry’s western friends in the city and had a great time. It’s cool to see how people adjust to the culture here. Speaking of culture…it seems like every other word I hear in Mandarin sounds like sh** or the N word. Crazy! I’m having the time of my life and can’t wait to get home to see you all.

I called home and found out that Michelle and Emmy are down with the flu. Alli is away for the weekend babysitting so that bummed me out a little. I hate for them to be struggling while I am away. I am really blessed to have a wife who supports me the way Michelle does.