year abroad

This is a post that is so far overdue that it must now be written before I go any further.  My first trip to Kunming was taken in late September 2013.  I had about 4 days off because of a holiday and it was such a great experience. I stayed at my first hostel, The […]

In December my grandmaw took a turn for the worse and her heart started really giving her some issues.  Near the end of the month she passed away.  I called my contact here in china to make sure that I could go, but however it was more of me telling versus asking. Anyway, in my

I’ll try not to bore you guys with all the details of the trip. Let the copious amount of pictures do that for me.  I’ll try and write the highlights and stuff I may have found interesting. Since I write these posts after the travel, I can say the following with confidence (even though I

I previous wrote about how my trip to XiShuangBanna 西双版纳  , xsb,  was postponed because of helping out the boss.  Turned out the people I was going to go with tried to go but the bus was all booked up and they didn’t even get to go. Not to mention the bus ride would have

This will be a preview post of my 3 day 3 night guided bus tour to xishuangbanna  county and JingHong the capital city.  I have 5-6 more clips but they seem kind of pointless. Just head over to flickr to see all the photos and I have CAPTIONS on these photos (not on facebook).  Oh, Ling was with

I’ve noticed a few jewelry fashion trends.  Of course in rich cities you will find gold bracelets, chains, LV/gucci bags etc but in poorer cities and honestly even the rich guys stick to the picture representations here. To start with, people like jade.  I’m no jade expert but like any precious stone, you can spend

Took about 3 hours to get to Daijie and that’s normal.  Her household was going to have a few extra guests, present company excluded:  the sister Charlie and JohnBo (the guy who helped recruit me here, he is friends with her family, his family is in Beijing and Chicago, and Charlie was last years translator).

China doesn’t really celebrate  Jan 1st.  Sure some people care, I mean it is the next official 20__.  What they really celebrate is the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival. This year it is from Jan 30- Feb 6th but it technically continues  to the 15th and it is the year of the Horse.   (I was born

Last weekend I started noticing randomly that if I cleared my throat it would feel a little mucous-y.  Since I got back I’ve been making an effort to reach my 15,000 step goal measured via this sweet armband called Fitbit. I was getting close for a few days but not quite able to see the

While adjusting a patient on a Saturday afternoon, I noticed 2 big trucks that had a big 8:20 on it.  It was driving slow and then I noticed what I thought was a tiger.  Yup, 3 of them in little cages. You know the kind, where they can take two steps then have to turn