You can't hide true, deep, love... it lights up the face, it sparkles in the eyes, it curls the lips in unending smiles. The best families are made of these things, and blessed are those who create this in their world. 

Some days I get to hang out with angels =)

It's hard to find a better week to be Thankful than this one in the USA. Even if you don't do a joy list weekly like I do, this is a great week to sit down and think about a few things that make your life better (if you are at all feeling blue, or struggling in life I suggest you try it weekly even if you only write down one thing... heck, even if you aren't having a hard time.... it's a great way to find that positive spring in your step and remember how much you have to be grateful for. Or at least helps you keep dreaming about an awesome future). 

Super grateful for amazing friends and family, who constantly stick by me through thick and thin. This year we all decided on a Friendsgiving and I got to wake up with this little cutie saying "Aunt Sarah, let's draw pictures". 

We are still working on hand turkeys... I spent most of the morning laughing with Zach about the creepy hamburger helper face that was drawn in place of the festive bird... hey, we tried! 

I'm thankful for a wifey that will cook all day long with me... gotta love a good partner in the kitchen... (and for her husband sharing her with me) and an evening ending with teaching my niece Super Mario Brothers on a nostalgic recreation of a Nintendo. 

I'm grateful for a mother who not only got me addicted to Agatha Christie at an early age, but who was just as excited as I was to see the new movie, even though it got bad reviews. 

Thanks for the movie date Mom (and knowing that going to the movies is one of my favorite things... yep, I'm a cheap date). 

​PS: I actually liked the movie... 

I get overly excited about some things, especially work trips to cities of Jazz and seedy history! Some might find this extra sparkle in my eye, and little ways to sneak this excitement into conversation, a little annoying. I do work with some amazing people, however, that not only embrace my glee, but help enhance it.

Super grateful for my co-worker/ friend who surprised me with a count down clock after one of these conversations. Others in the group might have tried to squash my thunder but you always see the rose colored glasses I wear as a cool way to view the world. I love finding fellow minded people and am extremely privileged to have them to look up to.

​Thanks for getting excited with me! I can't wait for our trip (less than a month!) =) 

Lastly, something that brings me joy... watching old movies after making an epic blaze in the fireplace. Curling up watching Casablanca is an awesome way to go into a long weekend.  I love this movie, it's the reason I blush whenever someone calls me the nickname from this film. I swear I lived in the 1940's!

I hope you are bursting this week, not just from good food, but from an over abundance of love and joy! 

Though Asia is larger than the United States, it is still hard to believe that there are portions of the country that were just "discovered" within the last 35 years. Sure people lived in this amazing mountain nirvana for thousands of years, but beyond it's farming inhabitants, none outside of this area were aware of the wonder that was hidden beneath clouds and down huge valleys. 

I remember seeing pictures in National Geographic when I was a kid and being memorized by this land. It was hard to believe something so perfect was real. Like a paradise for birds, it seemed to be a place meant for soaring. It didn't surprise me when James Cameron selected it as the backdrop for Avatar.

Seeing it in person made me realize as spectacular as the movie was, it truly didn't do justice to the feeling of experiencing this Zion in person. 

Zhangjiajie (pronounced Jang - jaw- jee ... in a horrible american accent) used to be at the bottom of a shallow sea a million years ago. Deposits from that sea floor, and water cutting channels through these deposits as the continent slowly rose over time, left behind these 1,400 fingers of land. They reach up towards the stars, moldy with vegetation that stretches to the tip of their majestic peaks.

For thousands of years the people that lived here were mountain people, known for being able to climb these spires in search of rare mushrooms and edible flora. So protective of their land, and not very nomadic, they weren't discovered until the early 80's by a painter. When his artwork became famous, people were of course interested in this stunning landscape. 

UNAVCO stepped in quickly and a few years later the whole region was declared a national park for it's protection. Though locals would stroll along walkways slowly being built, it wasn't until James Cameron made this area famous to the world that the multitude of tourist areas were opened up. In true China fashion it's only been five years since the first hotels showed up in the region, but now they line the crystal stream waiting for all who plan to see it for themselves. 

It's hard not to feel like you truly see beauty when you are surrounded by it. 

Lanterns hang across the backstreets of newly formed villages of restaurants and tea shops. Tiny bridges cover small tributaries that pass right down the middle of the street, nature taking presidence over people. It's an outdoor lovers dream. Foodies are not left out, dishes from the area play on all that this lush landscape has to offer. 

Large chunks of seaweed float in boiling hot pots, freshly pulled from the river only that morning. You can see the diligent farmers gather it early in the morning, wading up to their waste in the fresh - unpolluted - stream. They use large nets and floating buckets to gather their crops. It adds so much flavor to the soup, bursting in the mouth once bitten, it's warm and crisp on the tongue. 

The smell of Matcha drifts from steeping teapots. It promises warmth, a balance to the cooler mountain air. 

The park pass allows people in for three days, which is hardly enough time to take in all that it has to offer. Busses leave from a central location, the only transportation on wheels allowed in order to keep everything as pristine as possible. They crawl like busy ants, black spots winding up narrow roads. Though they speed along with eagerly awaiting passengers, the truly epic way to climb towards the sky is via gondola. It's the closest thing to flying through this landscape built for birds. 

The cabs soar past these natural skyscrapers, pulling eagerly waiting passengers towards the playground in the sky. Walkways, made to look like tree branches, cling to cliff sides in monkey nesting areas. The signs here, translated so poorly - or so literally- they seem less cautionary and more like life lessons or jokes. 

Saying things like:  "Thunderbolt striking area" (apparently this is the house of Thor) or "Monkeys are wild, don't tease feeding" (now this I understand, either feed them or don't ... no one needs to be teased about food te-he-he) and "You are obligated to cherish the grass". Some make me stop and pause, playing over in my mind how zen a simple warning can sound. 

But it's not just the areal view that is amazing. Taking a glass elevator down the side of one of the spires, people are deposited below the towering giants where walkways galore offer pleasant strolls for as long as your feet will carry you. 

It's lush, peaceful, and home to some of the most rare species of insects in the world. This untouched paradise, never dozed down to make houses, has trapped a piece of the past amongst it's leaves and clear waters. Local artists dress up and play traditional music on authentic Chinese instruments and it almost feels like a scene at a Disney park. Local lovers stroll hand in hand, kids play in the sunshine, it is an amazing place to find your center again and be grateful for all the good qualities you have. 

Though you can walk for days the national park doesn't end with Avatar land. Amazingly China has it's very own grand canyon. Maybe it isn't the size of the one in the US, but this 1100 ft valley houses something so unique it's almost impossible to explain without experiencing it. 

It's hard to know what to expect when you hear the words "Glass Extension Bridge Over A Grand Canyon". It's even more surprising to learn that these large transparent pieces are so sensitive they won't let you bring anything heavy (no water bottles... and I certainly wasn't allowed to bring my good camera- hence the cell phone photos below) and they make you wear booties so you don't scratch the surface. 

It's even more mind boggling to believe what you are seeing when you actually stand on this fairly new structure (it's a baby, only 1 year old). People dot the landscape below, looking so small it's would be hard to tell they are anything but rocks except for the fact that they are moving. Asians cling to the metal frame, some women crying as their boyfriends protectively drag them along as fast as they can manage. Most lay down for the "perfect selfie", or shuffle along with shaking legs, booties keeping everyone on the edge of slipping. 

The bridge is only the start of a long journey down to the valley floor below where waiting waterfalls, and more twisted tree walkways greet you. A Turquoise river snakes it's way between the hills on either side adding a tranquil trickle for ambiance. More dragon boats wait at it's mouth, like a cherry on top of a perfect sundae, caping a long day with a smile on everyone's faces. 

Who doesn't love a slow boat ride through Asian bliss? 

It's hard to leave Zhangjiajie. Somehow the city gets in your bones and becomes part of your marrow making it feel as though an important piece of you is left behind when you leave. The last day with feet dragging I did my best to beat the clock and slow time. I think everywhere I've ever visited has taken a little piece of me. Sometimes they are pieces I never miss and other times it feels as though a small chunk of heart stays, Zhangjiajie for sure has a small bit of my heart. 

The X-games park sits just outside the airport on and around the Tianman mountain (known as gate to heaven for the large arch in it's center). Every two years sports stars from all disciplines, wing suit specialists, sports car racers, parquet experts, compete in various activities either down the famous 999 steps at the base of the arch, jumping from the 4,000 ft peaks above, or speeding along the 99 curves on the narrow road leading to the foot of the mountains. It's an adrenaline junkies dream, and was the most awesome way to say goodbye to such a wonderful place. 

Noticing a pattern with numbers here? You should, the emperors believed that 10, 100, or 1000, were the numbers for heaven, so they made everything they touched just one number below (9, 99, 999) so they could show they were just 1 under those in heaven. 

Our bus driver must have wanted to be in nascar because he cornered our vehicle it like it was on rails, whipping us around hairpin turns and under small ledges. Everyone cheered or sucked in their breath as busses passed us with less than an inch of space, our crazy driver never slowing. Looking down at the twisted road I worried I'd be sick on the ride, but luckily - due to summer heat- the windows in the bus opened and I sat in the back, hanging out the window for pictures (having to quickly pull myself back in so I wouldn't be creamed by busses as we passed reminded me of a close call on an Alaskan train ride), with my hair in the wind and a grin plastered on my face.

I loved every minute of it. 

If you ever get to China, first ... take me with you =) ... second, make sure you check out this beautiful area of the country, you won't be disappointed.  

X'ian is the smell of boiling sweet potatoes, tossed noodles, and frankincense. It is the first memory that comes to mind when the city's name is spoken (pronounced She Anne). Though it is a city built for kings, past and present, it's not the 9 miles of impressive 2000 year old city walls, nor the large street markets (that were once part of the silk road) where merchants still peddle their goods today, or the Terra-cotta Warriors, not even the impressive mountains that come to mind first... it's the food. The glorious, tongue stimulating, mixes of spices, fruits, and veggies, that make this place a must visit. 

Don't get me wrong, as you will hopefully see- all the other things are so enchanting it's amazing that I can pick one thing to stand out among the rest. So why don't I back up and start from the beginning and you can decide for yourself what you would love about this Asian wonderland. 

The bullet train deposits commuters at the X'ian station late in the evening, as the ride is just a bit over 7 hours, even at 300 mph. It's hard to imagine something so far away from the prodigious Forbidden City and peaceful Summer Palace, being so immensely important to any of the numerous Emperors that would call this home over the years. It's not until the city emerges, a low valley flanked on all sides by towering impassable mountains, that the strategy behind this impressive location materializes. 

If you were constantly worried about being invaded you'd build your home inside the protection of colossal natural roadblocks. For good measure, you might as well build a man made wall just for that ability to really sleep easy at night. 

X'ian is just that, a city that can only be breached if those inside want you to join them. 

Today the ancient city fortification is known for it's bike rentals, as the 9 miles is a breeze on two wheels and gives you an amazing view of all the new mixed amongst the old. It's also an incredible walk at night, lanterns lighting the stones in amber hues. But I'll get to that a little letter. 

Let's get back to protection, and for that we need to look no farther than some warriors, stone warriors, 10,000 to be exact. 

Though X'ian has been known for a lot over the years, yes the food being one of those things, it became that much more renowned when a poor farmer unearthed a behemothic treasure. Digging for a well in his garden he uncovered every jogger's worst fear... a human head. Lucky for this country man, the face was made of clay... even more fortuitous, the skull was not alone. Not only did it come attached to a life sized body, but this warrior frozen in time was surrounded by 10,000 of his favorite friends.

The farmer had unearthed the Terra-cotta Warriors, one of the best known archaeologic finds in China to this day.  

Though the earthquakes that rock this region of the world frequently have knocked these protectors down over the years, hundreds have been put back together by skilled archeologists and stand proud and waiting just as they did when they were buried outside the Emperor's tomb thousands of years ago. 

There are so many the space they are contained in looks more like an airplane hanger than a museum (and that is just one of three buildings). Though the farmer has passed away, his sons still visit the site frequently and even sign pictures or copies of the guide book in the visitor center on days they are feeling extra friendly. 

Though the mountains provided great feng shui, and security for the Emperor to enter the afterlife in peace, these warriors (4 different types in all, ranging from infantry man to general) added that last big of armament for the life beyond death. 

It's hard to wrap your head around the scale of the project even when you stand amongst them. Each with a different face, finger nails, and tendons, the massive undertaking it would have been to create them seems to be a norm for an area where borbdingnagian is a norm. Doing things to titanic scales seems to fit in a landscape surrounded by lofty peaks. 

Just like the skyscrapers standing as sentries amongst cabbage fields, and in pomegranate plantations, the mountains seem to pop up out of no where. Unlike the gradual buildup of the Rocky Mountains, the Huashan range erupts abruptly from the Earth - from zero to 4,000ft without warning. 

It's no wonder they are known as the stairway to heaven, they look just like they were built for just that ... a path to reach the stars. 

So reverential and peaceful Buddhist and Taoist monks quickly etched steep stone steps, with nothing but chain handholds, so they could build temples amongst the tops of clouds on the flat points of the highest apex.  People can still walk the 25 miles straight up today (if you have the two days they say it takes), or if you are crunched for time and want to see as many of the five peaks as possible you can take the gondola. 

The small glass cars weave up and over ranges, dropping at times 2,000 feet and still not reaching the valley floor far below, before they climb again against the face of giant sandstone mountains. Fall explodes all around and due to the low elevation of X'ian itself, trees creep to the very tip top points, painting the landscape in a rainbow of vegetation. It's almost too beautiful to believe it is real, sunlight streaking along thin ridge lines dotted with prayer flags and path markers. It is truly an experience at your own risk kind of place, inhabited only by the monks that keep up the temples still found amongst the cumulous. 

​Thousand foot drops in all directions are almost lost on those who have found this diamond in the rough, as the prayer flags and lovers locks - mixed amongst stairways that should really be called mountain ladders for their steepness- quickly over stimulate and take over the senses. For those truly brave you can plank the Chinese way by traversing small sections of the mountain on planks shackled to the sides of the south (or north) mountain. With the valley being deepest at these points I was told before making my way along what is most famously called "the world's deadliest hike" that this point was actually 7,000 ft above the floor below. 

It was worth the price of the harness and the small wait =) 

After experiencing heaven, and the 10,000 soldiers waiting to defend it, it's hard to believe that anything else about X'ian would be so powerful it would arouse the senses in a way that would steal the show. Yet as those who visit this wonderful city learn, X'ian always has one more thing up her sleeve. 

Just like everything else in China, the fusion of old with new creates a magical stage for some truly foreign and awe-inspiring experiences to be had. Though the importance of the silk road is often lost on people in modern times, the energetic atmosphere of the Muslim Market will give any who visit a quick glimpse into what a crazy world it must have been back in the day.

From one end of this gigantic block to the other street vendors peddle their wares, from bicycles, to store fronts, even booths set up on the sidewalk. Sweet potatoes boil in pots fixed to two speeds, while noodles bowls sit waiting on heating dishes for people interested in a quick bite, fried octopus on sticks, cream puffs of all the colors of the rainbow, spiced teas, and steaming dumplings scent the air with all the allures to keep your tummy interested. Men pound what looks like taffy into submission while women cover a section of the already hammered goodness with nuts and shredded coconut. Young boys grind up pomegranate seeds in a machine that produces instant bottled juice right on the spot. Finger painters sit next to noodle makers who toss their stringy dough into waiting simmering water. 

It is truly a place to get lost in your senses, to taste, try and enjoy. It's also the best place to buy knock offs if that's your thing. 

As you walk around China you might notice everyone wearing North Face jackets, or adidas shoes, which seems crazy since they are some of the most expensive brands in America. For a country so poor, it's hard to imagine how they can afford such name brand stuff... that is until you find the Muslim Market. Though North Fake might not be your thing, let's be honest, if it lasts just as long and it does what it is meant to do, does it really have to be an original? If you are cool with spending 1/10th the price, this is a shoppers paradise. 

For people like me, where shopping for tea is much more likely than "name brands" this will also be your mecca. But most importantly throw caution to the wind and taste the amazing flavors that are truly original to X'ian... you won't regret it. If you didn't already hike the glorious mountains don't worry, you can work off all your extra calories by taking a sunset stroll along the city wall, or bike ride if that's more your style. Watching the moon rise over ancient guardhouses as the day bleeds into night, belly full of yummy Asian noodles, is my suggestion for how to end your last night in this o=wonderful city. 

​But that's just me =)

To be continued... next up: Zhangjiajie (the land that built Avatar).

A few years back I was asked why I love to travel. It might seem like a silly question since the internet is rich with images of people exploring new places, or memes of people taking about saving to adventure all over the world, but in the moment I was awe struck by the answer that first popped into my head.

It wasn't a sarcastic remark about how travel is for everyone, it wasn't even a poignant reply of how traveling makes me a person of the world, it was an honest and raw emotional response inside that I never really put into words before.

I love to travel .... to find myself.    

Yes, I know it sounds like something that belongs on a spiritualist's bumper sticker, or a response from a yoga master on the cover of "Believe In Me" magazine... but when the thought popped into my head it was with a lot less grace and a lot more messiness. 

Though I do believe at an early age our life experiences, things we learn from our parents, and major events, shape us into the core things that we are... I think the living of life can soften those well defined edges, or sometimes make us deviate from them all together. We all tend to get stuck in ruts sometimes and lose sight of the best parts we developed. Maybe we make these trenches ourselves with the wrong jobs, or friends, or family that over time wear down the greatest versions of who we are. Maybe a series of compromises push us so far off center we don't realize how much we've watered ourselves down until the viscus is so murky we don't recognize it anymore. 

Maybe you are one of the lucky ones that has stayed true to yourself and has found the right people and places for you. I think even in this situation travel will still enhance these qualities. I like to think in life my core qualities are pretty strong in some arenas, and yet it is amazing how quickly someone else who doesn't know me - in a land I've never been to- will pick up on the essence of who I am. Yes, I'm sunshine and happiness... one of those annoying people that wakes up enjoying the morning and is ready for what the day will bring. And yes, not everyone enjoys traveling with me because of this. Those who I travel well with hold a special place in my heart.

It is a great gift to be near someone who appreciates the depths of your ocean. 

For me, away from the day to day routine I'm used to, in a foreign land where I'm back to basic instincts: survive, explore, learn, in a culture that might be vastly different or crazy similar to the one I grew up in, I tend to quickly settle back into myself. The true Sarah shines through.

Now I've promised you a post about my trip, and thus far I've rambled about what draws me to planes, trains, and automobiles- what drags me through different time zones - across oceans and continents, but I wanted to start there for this post simply because I think every travel experience I have is tainted by my rose colored glasses. The experiences I have with places, come from who I am and where I am at in my life at the moment. While some might see my way of viewing life as overly optimistic, I'm grateful that where some may see the smog of a city first - I see the history and beauty. 

I hope you enjoy this journey with me, and that you one day get to visit this beautiful country.

Everything is so much larger than I imagined.... 

Stepping off the plane in China I'm smacked in the face with scale. I knew the country was known for it's over population size, and yet somehow that didn't translate in my mind as the immense architecture that would make up this Asian land. 

Everywhere skyscrapers are climbing towards the sky, not one or two, but thirty or forty being built at once. They reach like stalactites towards the outer edges of the atmosphere, so tall they seem to kiss the clouds. They are cities within buildings and I'm transported to a Blade Runner like experience of new technology meets third world country. 

Rickshaws puff along with customers holding cell phones more capable than my own, weaving in and out of traffic that rivals the worst rush hour in Colorado. Bikes holding entire families wiz by and people dance between vehicles as we join what feels like the rest of the world in the middle of a cluster at the center of an intersection, waiting for our turn to go. It's chaos but somehow it's organized, each group understanding their moves in this foreign stream of transportation. The driver of my car explains that no one waits in China and it is important as a pedestrian to have confidence but to also look all four directions when crossing streets.  

The bumper of a van edges centimeters from my window and I wonder how in the world I will join this mess when I do have to step out into all of it. 

​Beijing is a city trapped in time, old temples and forbidden cities mixed in with KFCs and fancy hotels. I stay near the Beijing train station on a floor high enough to watch the business go on below me. People hustle wherever they are going, forever seeming to be in a rush. At first many might seem unfriendly, heads down, and in a hurry, but I quickly find the Chinese to be hospitable and overly nice. Most are caught up in the worlds on their smart phones since these little devices do everything from pay for their food to call their friends and family. Yet when asked a question, even in my horrible pantomiming way, not one turns down the chance to help the foreign girl with porcelain skin. 

I'm quickly noticed most places I go. I wonder if I am a circus freak to them, as they gawk and try to snap pictures with me. Some are brave enough to come up and ask me to pose with them, while others try to politely hide the selfie they are taking with me purposely in the background. I begin to feel like a Barnum and Bailey side show exhibit, I can see the marquee now: the strange white girl with really long legs. 

I thought they were excited by my height, though surprisingly in Beijing I didn't find myself much taller than women, and very much the same size as men, able to blend in most of the time in a crowd. Much to my surprise it was my face. On my third day in Beijing, while walking casually through the forbidden city, I found myself joking with a girl who forced me into a series of photos with her. "I'm really tall aren't I?" I ask her. "You really pretty," she answered, "We no see girl with your beautiful face 'round here. Are all American pretty like you? Celebrity pretty?" Taken-a-back I blew her off with a smile, a peace sign for the next picture, and gracefully excused myeslf towards the next viewing area. 

It was a theme I would see most of my trip, very very few Americans, lots and lots of Asian tourists. If you've ever wanted to feel like Tom Cruise (this never has been on the top of my list) I would suggest heading to China... where even the most average of Americans is a model. 

I guess it makes sense, with a country as large as China, and a vast majority of the population still below the poverty line, many haven't even seen outside their own province. Loyal to their history and culture, when they get the time to travel they tend to visit other places inside the country they love so much. 

I can't blame them, and from the first day I am so grateful I did all the research I did and that this is the time of year I got to visit. Trees streak the landscape in a blend of colors ranging from gold to burnt rouge. It's a constant sunset backdrop to every ancient wonder. Climbing the stairs along the miles of Great Wall I'm surrounded by fall leaves threatening to breach over the stone edges. The alpine slide that deposits you from this 7th wonder of the world passes through changing foliage, showcasing the beauty that is Autumn in Asia. Amazingly nothing is over crowded either. Everyone has gone home for the season, with winter threatening to show it's bitter face any moment. 

The weather hangs on the edge of perfection and only the thick smog from large coal smoke stacks takes away from this paradise. I was lucky, as an asthmatic, that only one day in Beijing is bad enough to make me feel a bit queazy. The one thing I didn't plan for was the one thing that probably made most of my Beijing stay as pleasant as it was. Due to a Communist Party Conference, day one and two of my three days in the Capitol of China were blessed with factories shut off and only a minor haze. It wasn't until day three, when the political leaders went home and they turned back on the coal plants, that I experienced what people talk about when they mention the severity of the pollution that China experiences.

Smog, and the fact that so many people are still smokers in China (yuck), were my only 2 grievances about this Asian land of goodness.  I had been warned about the food... which by the way is MIND BLOWINGLY AMAZING... and about the toilets (which yes ladies, you must learn to aim because they are holes in the ground, but very sanitary porcelain holes... nothing like Peru where dirt holes are a real thing)... but it would be the smoke that was my only complaint. 

Climbing the stairs to a Buddhist temple at the highest point in the Summer Palace I feel my lungs begging for a filter to block the particles I suck in from the soup of pollution around me. I can hardly see across the lake that sits at the center of this ancient escape from reality. All around serenity and peace ooze in architecture and perfectly manicured nature, while dragon boats glide gracefully across the smooth water far below. Despite my minor headache and slight wheezing I'm captivated by the history I'm enveloped in. Emperors used to walk these same stairs, with concubines or perhaps the Empress in toe, used to take boats across this same lake, hung their own prayers from the branches of trees. It makes me feel small in such a delicious way to be passing along the same road 2,000 years later. 

Yet these historical relics are now parks and locals sit and knit or work on their calligraphy as though all of us get to hang out in places that were around during biblical times every day. I wonder if I would be as nonchalant about such places if this were my usual life. Instead my eyes stay wide as I take in the modern culture in such an antediluvian world. 

I knew at some point during my trip I was going to place a prayer ribbon or lock on one of the many holy sites I would visit, and though the Great Wall was amazing, the Forbidden City was massive, the many temples were reverent, and the Summer Palace was a place built for a queen, none of these places felt like the right place for me to leave my wish for the future. I passed through all of them in awe, capturing many amazing memories, but they were not my favorite places on the trip. 

On my final day I head to tiananmen square to see if it is open after the conference is over. It's still closed and lined with Policeman standing near fire extinguishers. I comment to someone that in America we use paper spray to subdue a wild crowd, and how much nicer it would be to get hosed off with foam instead of tear gas. I'm quickly corrected that it isn't for the crowd but for protestors that light themselves on fire as a demonstration. I think I'm quiet for a good twenty minutes contemplating such a display. I think with the violence we've seen recently in our country it is easy to forget that in other places of the world horrific acts are also still taking place, often self inflicted. I board a bullet train headed for my next town so overwhelmed, in such a good way, by all I had already experienced in such a short time. 

To be continued... Next up: X'IAN 

China, you beautiful thing you....