Today was our first full day on the boat. We slept on the cruise ship overnight even though we had not set sail yet. Once Rich woke up, I watched a bit of The Incredible Hulk until the ship was off. The breakfasts here were not too impressive this morning.

After breakfast we got off the boat just east of Yichang to tour the three gorges dam. This dam was started in the early 1990's and will be completed in 2009; after which the landscape East of it will be forever changed. The main purpose of it is to prevent flooding of the Yangtze West of the dam and another benefit of it is the power source. It will be the largest dam in the world. The rising of the river caused 1.1 million people to have to relocate; many of the older generations not liking this idea.

Docking the boat there was a huge frenzy of people trying to sell very crappy products and poorly made junk souvenirs. They horded all of the people on the cruise and were super aggressive. I just smiled and made . . . Read More..

Today I woke up, had some morning tea and went for a 4 mile run on the treadmill. I have to stay in shape so I can run the great lakes relay a few weeks after I get back. I was sweating up a storm and was a bit late to breakfast. Some of my friends commented on me as I ran.

Breakfast was bad as usual, a combination of crappy American and some Chinese. I tried this very hot pickled stuff and it totally reminded me of Korean food.

We arrived at our destination port to get off for our excursion and found that we were unable to dock due to a large size fire that had occurred on a passenger ship. It was pretty crazy and it delayed our excursion into the narrow canals to see the . . . Read More..

Today I woke up a bit late because it was quiet and very dark. I checked my email and had my morning tea as well as headed downstairs to have breakfast. This morning at breakfast, Clare, my waitress taught me how to make a crown out of a paper napkin. Now I can make a crown for the kids, the bra for some laughs and the rose for my girlfriend (sorry I haven't created one for you yet). All in all... Good origami skill learning this morning.

Our morning excursion consisted of a small village which had a huge pagoda that we could climb. The foggy setting set a mystical and spiritual ambience appropriate for this location. This was the first day of bad weather and I certainly couldn't complain. I am glad I didn't take a shower this morning because climbing up this pagoda caused me to sweat up a storm.

Once again while getting off the boat, the tourists were bombarded by sellers mostly yelling "You like?" and "1 dollar!" There was a Buddhist band playing some music and dressed up in . . . Read More..

Here is the situation:

The Stalkers and the Renne's frequently would go to Cedar Point almost each year.

On this particular year toward the end of the day my Father and Kirt played this bowling ball game to get the kids these huge stuffed dogs.

The way the game worked was you would have to roll the ball up three small hills and not roll back so that the ball is in the farthest point out.

I vividly remember standing there in anticipation and excitement as Noel got his, Kevin got his and then Dan got his. But mine was more difficult to get for some reason.

And on top of that the moms came and realized the boys were spending all this money on a stupid dog and they told them they had to stop at a small crappy purple dog with hearts.

I dont remember the rest of the night for I was probably the most upset out of my life here.

The . . . Read More..

There's a place here called Port Arthur, which is like a little historic abandoned town, that is now a tourist destination because supposedly it is "haunted by ghosts". People come there for like a day trip, to walk around the town, all the houses and shops are open, but their like little museums...

Anyway. We were walking around the town, going from place to place, it was about 4PM, and we stopped into the Post Office. It was like a little house, with a couple of rooms downstairs, and an upstairs, but that area was cordoned off. So I walk into an office, which is just an empty room, with a desk and chair in a corner, and some old books on the walls.
Because by this time, I am so OVER walking around this town, I climb over the desk and sit in the chair, and wait for my family to get bored too so we can go.
I cant remember the specifics, but what I remember is feeling a hand grab me on my right shoulder. At first, I thought it was my brother playing a trick on me, but . . . Read More..