新年快乐！

Happy Chinese New Year! Happy Valentine's Day! Since our last update, we've wrapped up our time to Chengdu, spent Chinese New Year's in Lijiang and made our way to Kunming!

We spent our last day in Chengdu at the best of the top four Taoist Temples in Asia, the Wenshu Monastery which is still active. Mom and I burned incense and ate at the only restaurant, a vegetarian one, on the campus. Fresh apple and watermelon juice, eggplant, fried tofu and sweet potato bread filled with red bean paste...it was by far the best Sichuan food I have ever had.

Lijiang is our favorite city that we've been to by far. For starters, when we arrived late in the evening, we could actually see the stars in the sky! I haven't seen the stars since September in Australia! Seeing the stars also meant clear skies, therefore, the air was much cleaner! The old city has three creeks running through it, cobblestone streets, Chinese architecture and the various ethnic minorities still wear their traditional dress to do their shopping, sell their wares, etc. The people are friendly and laid back...not in a rush to get somewhere or make the next RMB ($). We didn't see bikes, hear horns or dodge traffic the entire time - it was so relaxing!

We spent our first day in Lijiang wandering around the old city and through the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Park...the picture is of Mom and I at the Black Dragon Pool with the mountain off in the distance. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny clear day...Mom was in heaven and my forehead got sunburned. I am very excited to finally have color on my skin again because I have been pasty white since September! We had dinner at a nice little Naxi (ethnic minority in the area) restaurant on the edge of one of the creeks.

And that's about all that I saw of Lijiang. That night, Montezuma's revenge struck me hard and fast. I had a fever, chills, etc....it was fantastic (read: sarcasm). I spent Friday in bed and did not leave the hotel room until Saturday evening to feast on a yummy bowl of plain white rice (read: sarcasm). Mom was a trooper and kept the room stocked with flat, room temperature Coke, saltines and water. She also ventured out on her own to see more of Lijiang...I was proud of her for going it alone and not wasting her days watching me trek back and forth from the bathroom!

We did make it out right before midnight to celebrate Chinese New Year. The actual striking of midnight was kind of anti climatic as the city didn't have any sort of countdown. But, there were a ton of fireworks going on everywhere around the city. Everyone was happy, all the red lanterns were lit, red balloons were everywhere!

Sunday (aka Chinese New Year aka Valentine's Day), I finally felt well enough to venture around the city. We watched a bunch of kids in local dress dance on a stage in one of the town squares...they were adorable! I nearly fainted when a mouse fell from the roof and nearly landed on Mom, fell to the cobblestone and scattered away. My scream scared Mom to death and all that activity got my stomach upset all over again! I took a risk and ate noodles & "cheese" for lunch while Mom dined on Naxi yak butter tea, a Naxi potato pancake (aka hash browns) and fried goat cheese. And she wondered why her stomach was upset.

After arriving in Kunming last evening, we went for a walk near our hotel and stumbled upon a couple, both blind, who were doing back/shoulder massages on the street. We got massages while sitting on a stool on the side of a busy road with people, bikes, cars and buses passing us by. Despite the lack of atmosphere, mine was still very relaxing...the lady did a great job on my shoulders, neck, hands, back, scalp, etc. When I asked Mom how hers was once we finished, she said, "that guy beat the crap out of me." So much for Mom and blind massages.

The following is contributed by Mom (aka Pat aka Likes Fried Food and Doesn't Like Massages by Blind Men):

Ni Hao...(I like saying that because it's one of the four Chinese words I can say and people here actually understand me...:)

Like Jamie said, Lijiang is our favorite city to visit and the most unique. The population there is about one million vs the other cities having 7-20 million people. It was wonderful to be in really warm weather with hot sunshine (didn't need our coats during the day). It was so relaxing to meander through all the narrow alleys and lanes, people watching and enjoying the warm weather. I'm so glad Jamie felt good enough to get out on Sunday and see more of The Old Town. The best part of our entire time there (besides the blue sky and sunshine) was watching the children. They are just precious all over China.

We both feel normal again and we're ready to explore Kunming. Also, my next massage won't be done by a blind man on the side of a busy street, and I'm not going to be eating fried food....period.

Zai Jian, (Goodbye...one of the other 4 words I know...:)

[Editor's note: Mom said 'zai jian' to the flight attendant yesterday when she handed Mom water, instead of xie xie (thank you)....she sometimes gets confused about when to say one of those four words. Also, I had to write how to say happy new year (xin nian kuai le) on her hand so that she could remember it!!]