Back in Xi’an Once Again
After 11 days gallivanting through Yunnan, I find myself back in cold, bleak Xi’an. The temperature is 37 F, the sky is a blanket of gray (a lovely combination of clouds, smog, and dust, I’m sure), and now the hot water in the foreign teacher’s apartments are turned off during the day. This is quite a jarring transition from the blue skies, sunny days, and nearly-constant 60 F temperatures of Yunnan. Why exactly did I come back?
When I last wrote here, I was in Lijiang resting up after hiking the incredible Tiger Leaping Gorge. From there I was planning on continuing to write throughout the course of my journey, but unfortunately things did not work out that way. Dali was great but my hostel did not have the capabilities for me to write a blog post. Not a major loss, I think.
Dali is a fantastic little town and I enjoyed doing a whole lot of nothing for four days. I spent a lot of time on balconies reading books and sipping beer on bright, sunny days (which was every day). And the food. Oh, the food. Dali is apparently home to an endless string of Western food, cafes, bars, and the like. Normally I don’t go in for that sort of thing when I’m traveling, but for some reason it just seemed totally appropriate in Dali. I gorged myself on Western-style food and had my fair share of milk shakes.
Unfortunately the food in Dali was my downfall. I must have ate something bad which resulted in the worst case of diarrhea I have ever had in my life. I was confined to my hostel for my entire time in Kunming (three days). I didn’t see a single thing while there; I couldn’t even make it out to view the eclipse. At one point I tried taking some medication for it, which I must have had an allergic reaction to because it caused me to vomit twice. Quite annoying, really. It was a big disappointment to me that I didn’t get to go see the Stone Forest.
But on the other hand, I have seen a lot of stuff in China and I’m totally OK with passing up one or two things along the way. At this stage in the game, it’s just not as important to me anymore. Yes, I would like to see all these really cool sites, but if I don’t make it, no big deal! There’s still plenty of other things I can go see or do.
Now that I’m home in Xi’an, I am just exhausted. Coming off my latest sickness, as well as my recent bought of swine flu has left me tired, weak, and missing a few pounds (I’ve gone down over two belt loops since the beginning of the semester). I feel like I just don’t have the energy to get out there and travel for the remainder of my time in China. And how little time I have left! I leave on January 29, only eight days from now, to return to the US for good. My one year of teaching English in China is up. I would have liked to stay longer working as an engineer, but it didn’t work out that way. Oh well, life goes on I suppose.
I will be sad to leave China, but I will also have an exciting new stage in my life to look forward to. Where I will end up, I have no idea, and that’s kind of a cool feeling.
I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with myself for my last week in China. I’m considering taking a quick two- or three-day trip somewhere. But like I wrote, I’m exhausted. And I’m a bit traveled-out. Despite my significantly slower pace of travel in Yunnan, my illnesses over the past month have really taken their toll on me.
But you know what? Despite all the trouble I’ve been having over the past month; despite my terribly swollen ankle and my stomach “issues,” there’s one thing that made it all totally worth it. Tiger Leaping Gorge:
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