Howdy, all! I'm alive and well in Kunming, China.

The trip, so far, has been a blast. I adjusted pretty well to the jet lag (partially because I couldn't sleep at all on the 23 hour flight over here), and the altitude issue hasn't really been a problem so far (albeit I'm only at around 2200m, and not the 4000m I'll eventually hit in parts of Tibet).

One problem I hadn't anticipated while visiting China is the fact that every Chinese person approaches me in Mandarin, and I have this look of shock and confusion as I can only muster back an "Engrish?" Fortunately, the one line I can say in Mandarin ("You have beautiful eyes") has yielded a few chuckles and has been quite usful (just kidding).

Kunming is an old backwater city that's being modernized as a part of China's new "Go West" initiative. Strategically, it's a pretty important city (it's in the south-west, which controls the trade with China's south-western partners. The climate here, much like San Diego, is almost the same, year round. Parts of the city are being modernized, but there are still huge chunks, which to me, scream "Communist architecture!" For example:

The water is filthy (both in smell - what you see in the water is actually crap that's growing in there). I'm sure in the next five years they'll clean this up, but for now, Kunming seems to be a transition state between its past and its future. That seems to be the recurring theme of this trip: some places are REALLY brand new and look fantastic - Beijing Capital International Airport, being one example:

I'm currently staying at Hao's friends place in Kunming, and it feels like staying at an awesome hostel. It's a three bedroom place, but it seems that everybody is traveling through here this week - Hao's friend also had a friend from Beijing staying, and her other roommate (Israeli) has two friends staying over, too. Languages keep switching between English, Mandarin, and Hebrew. Very cool. The food here has been great - here we are enjoying a meal for four that cost less than $4:

Does that beer stand out to you? Well, it SHOULD. It's ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY BEER:

Game over for the Americans, man.

I thought taking two weeks off was a lot, but the Israelis (both who just got out of military service) are in the midst of a six and nine months traveling pants trip. Holy smokes! Jealousy abounds. I also learned a bit about their Birthright program, which apparently sponsors American Jews to go on a trip to Jerusalem to meet up with other Jews with the intent of marrying one of them - they give you free booze, and basically want you to hook up. If you end up marrying somebody through the program, you get a free wedding. That is pretty awesome (although I hear their success rate is pretty low).  

Last week, a coworker (Mike) took pictures of himself on the Great Wall of China in a MindTouch t-shirt. Aaron persuaded me that I should do the same, cause that'd be cool for MindTouch. I begrudingly accepted. So here are my pictures, just for you, Aaron:

This is me, in a MindTouch shirt, by a Chinese dumpster

This is me, in a MindTouch shirt, by a famous Chinese restaurant called "McDonalds." Every day, it feeds the labor engine of China for its peaceful rise to power.

This is me, in a MindTouch shirt, in front of a KFC.

I hope to bring you many more exciting pictures of me in a MindTouch shirt in front of important Chinese landmarks!