What has happened in the last week part 1

Last weekend brought many different experiences to our group. Some climbed (or drove) up mountains, one visited an orphanage, others went shopping and Keith celebrated his actual birthday with a small party. Carisse and I were invited by Mrs. Fan (last year's exchange teacher who lived with our family for 5 months) to go to a specatacular national park located less than 60 miles from Xi'an. There were two families who drove - Mrs. Fan's family (husband and son) and Li Liaoshi - a math teacher at GaoXin No. 1 High School with her husband and daughter. Also joining us was Carisse's host sister.

Though the distance is not far we were delayed by road construction and endless trucks carrying building materials to Sichuan to help rebuild from the May 12 earthquake that killed so many and destroyed whole villages. We climbed into the Qingling mountains where we visited the Qingling Geopark. It is a place of incredible beauty! We took a long trail to see a waterfall. The trail had many stairs and followed, for much of the way, a stream. Along the way there were smaller waterfalls and beautiful bridges. Signs along the way explained the Chinese myths that "explain" the scenery - including a drunk dragon who caused mischief... Due to my food poisoning I couldn't travel far without stops, so Mrs. Fan and Mrs. Li stayed with me while the others continued to the top. We met them about 2/3 of the way up and all came down together. Other than one westerner (from Oregon) who spoke Chinese Careese and I were the only foreigners on the trail. I think tourists who miss this spot are really missing something extraordinary.

When we returned to the bottom of the trail the group ate noodles (cooks by local people) and had a huge picnic with enough food for a small army. Since I couldn't eat I spent a good part of the afternoon lying down in the back of the car while the others sat by the river to talk. The 4 kids played cards. Even weak I enjoyed looking up at the BLUE sky and trees. No camping is allowed because of the wild animals including bears, wolves and others, but there is a lovely hotel inside the park gates.

Mrs. Fan, her husband and son at our picnic



On our way home Carisse's host family invited us to dinner in a a new golf club. Though not a golfer I think the course looked lovely. The group ate barbecue and lots of other dishes on a private deck overlooking the golf course as the sun went down. We returned to Xi'an by 10:00 p.m.