I guess I should start where I ended in the last journal in saying that last night Terry actually did call and we talked about random stuff for a while, but Brett didn’t (shock). I stayed up until like 12:30 waiting for him to call and that boy didn’t! Oh well, maybe he’ll call some time today. Anyways, Terry talked with his parents for the first time since they left for China…isn’t that interesting…usually it’s the people on vacation (parents) calling the people at home (Terry), not the person at home calling the people on vacation.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention before that we’re staying in room 3214 at Hunan Pipaxi Hotel.

Well today was extremely tiring as I expected it to be. After waking up and going to breakfast, we got on the bus to a sort of park (like Bryce Canyon or Grand Canyon in the US). We walked for hours looking at different sites such as the highest point in the entire range, and walking down Golden Whip Trail and seeing various rock formations…I saw the Monkey King in a rock, five fingers (I covered 4 of them and made it look like the mountain was giving us the middle finger), two turtles sitting atop another, a scholar praying and a giant eagle. In order to get to the peak, we took a cable car with 3 cars attached together each able to carry 17 people. The view was amazing. Although visibility was poor because of all the fog from the rain, it only added to the beauty of it all. The ride was short, but the view and other sites I saw at various times throughout the day made those paintings of mountains in Chinese painting seem very realistic and less like a figment of someone’s imagination.

After lunch we went to another part of the park to see two other rock formations, the imperial pen and the flower fairy. In order to get to the mountain top to see these rock formations, we had to take another cable car ride (this time they were single cars carrying 6 people each). This time, the cable cars moved fairly slowly (a 5-minute ride), but that only allowed for one to appreciate the view even more. As we traveled higher, we passed through a thick layer of fog. It was all very serene, as when we passed through the fog and were able to see nothing around us, it seemed as if we were being transported into a whole new world.

When we arrived at the top, there was still even more mist in the air (and it was clean…meaning I took advantage of it and inhaled deeply over and over again). The air! The air! The bottled cold crisp water! The water! The mist! The mist! The mint The mint! There was this bridge we had to cross from the cable cars to the trail, and because of the mist, it reminded me of the ending scene in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon when the girl jumps off the mountain in order to achieve peace with herself. Although the fogginess of it all brought a different sense of beauty to the area, it also impeded what we were able to see as we couldn’t see the two rock formations (the fog was extremely thick). However, we did see the formations in the pictures that people were advertising =).

By around like 4pm, we were free for the rest of the night (except for dinner of course). Therefore, I spent my time watching women’s volleyball, table tennis, and sleeping…being that I was extremely tired. However, I couldn’t sleep because I had to wait for my mom to get back from her massage at like 10pm so I could give my parents their anniversary card (today was their 32nd wedding anniversary…and I’m still looking for a present for them). Now I want to get plenty of sleep (I’ve been running on reserve energy…yawn…). Good night.

Eric's Commentary:

“Terry, Terry’s dad wants to talk to you…”-me idiot

"Ah well, it's his phone bill" - kfang

It is now 10:48 and I just forgot what I was gonna type. Kfang is sleeping now and was doing sketchy (bad sketchy) stuff in his bed…bad Kevin! IE: humping the bed… tsk tsk

Lol jk I bet ur gonna erase this hmm? That did not happen...at least I don't think...*snicker*

O yeah we finally found out, 25 years! (parent’s anniversary) Bad Terry!

Time to organize everything, eat, and sleep.

Need to get online…