Farklempt in China

This trip has far exceeded anything that I ever could have imagined.  Every day is sensory overload.  

There are billions of people here.  They are friendly and beautiful and everyone is working.  They sweep the streets with handmade brooms 24 hours a day.  As soon as a leaf falls off a tree, a gardener rakes it up.  

Every time we turn around, the old world meets the new world.  Women are washing laundry in the river in the shadow of skyscrapers.  Farmers are riding bicycles into the cities that are laden with 100 lbs of fruit and vegetables just off their farms – next to brand new modern buses bringing millions of Chinese tourists into the cities.  Mothers pedal their children to school on the backs of their bicycles and a city like Chongqing has over 40 colleges and universities that have opened in the last ten years.

Last night, after a spectacular day in Chongquin we boarded the Yangzi Explorer – a luxury riverboat for a three day cruise down the Yangzi, stopping at small villages along the way and steering through the Three Gorges.  

I have a feeling the best is yet to come!