Snapshots of Time and Space

12/14 and 12/15/2000

The train ride experience: 28 plus hours...snoring men above, sleeping parents below...lots of talking...cute women that clean everything...Food on carts..Fruit (Beijing Pears) being skinned with a knife by Xiangyuan...All one peal curling spiraling down towards her feet...beer...pictures of mountains and fog...lots of countryside...Zeppelin's Kashmir...ears popped...Tunnels in rythm to the steel track...more tunnels under, between, through sharp pointing peaks...snow...farmers... railroad workers dirty faces grin and eat noodles...Joy in new unknown love...learning Chinese... Chinese medicine technique has me fearing combs for the first time in my life.

Chengdu is the transport and communication hub city of southwest of China. Placed carefully in the fog of the high mountain basin, Chengdu is a cultural relic in wet grass. It is surrounded in every direction by mountains that meet the sky like high walls. This must have been one reason that the city was a capital to many dynastys as far back as 2,400 years.

Staying at the Tibet hotel (4 stars). Cyn's uncle set us up on the 11th floor with 2 rooms.

On the train ride here, the subject of fair skin was raised. It is said that the people of Chengdu have fair skin because of the moisture in the air that adds to their skin and protects them from the sun.

I also learned on the train that Bush is the president of the U.S.

Cyn's father's family were all employed in the R.R. business. Now her uncle works for real estate. (note that is incorrect, I was very confused about Chengdu and the family situation there, her uncle is still with the railroad)