Blog post #3: As I sadly made my way into Chongqing I met with a very nice family who gladly showed me to their home. There house was ugly, little and sad. I wish that I didn’t come on this trip. But luckily this is the last place I will be then I can eat lay on the couch and sleep as much as I want to and I don’t have to eat all of this disgusting food that these people are making me. They had things hanging up on a line outfront. When I walked inside of the house they had wooden benches with a blanket on them. Why would someone put a bench in their house. They showed me how to prepare a dish called  DanDan Noodles. What you need to make DanDan Noodles are preserved vegetables, chili oil, minced pork, and chopped scallions. Then they have sauces and all of it is disgusting. The sauces are really spicy too! I wanted to run away and sit on my couch and eat chocolate with Kale, but since I couldn’t do that I just spit it on all of the food so that no one else had to eat it.

Later that night after the awful disaster that they ate, they did some weird ritual thing where they all said the same thing and put their hands together. It also looked kind of fun so I joined in.

The next morning we went to the market. The wife, Bo showed me around the market and what she buys. I couldn’t understand what they were saying but whatever it was they were saying a lot of it. She bought this really scary looking thing. It looked like it could be a fish but there was no skin on it. What was it supposed to be? It looked really scary. She didn’t get much and I asked her why and she said that they didn’t have a lot money and her husband worked on a rice farm and didn’t make much so they didn’t want to buy too much. Which to me seems very very stupid  because if they want to make more money they should just sell their kids or cookies. Finally it is time for me to go to bed and leave in the morning I don’t know how much more I can take of all this. Everywhere I went I pretty much had to sleep on something very very very very very very very uncomfortable! Can’t wait until I am back into my own house and bed.

Blog Post #2: Now I have to go to Shenzhen which means that I have to do more walking. Apparently it is known for being the most important special economic zone, which was created by some chinese dude named Deng Xiaoping sometime in the 1970s but I don’t really care because it isn’t about me. Unfortunately the walk is way too long so we have to take a train. Which I am more than happy with because I can sleep on the way there instead of walking. I am going to be so so so so so so so happy because I get to sleep for 5 hours! I don’t know who I will be staying with when I get into…. Wait where am i going again? Hold on let me think about it…. I don’t know who I will be staying with when I get into SHENZHEN. When I get onto the train the people start bowing to me which is odd. Some people are making their hands really stiff and putting it on their foreheads and pushing it down which is freaking me out I think they have a fever. I put my hand on one of the person’s forehead and then they freak out at me so like any other person would do I run off. I find where my seat thing is and I sit down and I feel a little bit tired I was already planning on sleeping so I am just going to clos…..

So five hours later I am being awoken by this person who is like yelling at me and I was like whoa chill out man. So I get my stuff and get off of the train. I walk out and there is a family lined up and they are all staring at me, I walked over and said “I know I am beautiful but don’t look at me so creepily” They were like taking my hand and pulling me and I am pretty sure they were kidnapping me. Then they gave me some food so we were all good. We walked for a long long long time. Until we got to this little ugly thing I wouldn’t even call it a building it was really tiny and ugly. They led me inside and took my stuff and put it down next to what looked like a cot. Am I sleeping on that? Oh well better than the bench thing I slept on last night. The woman lead me into kind of a kitchen and motioned for me to sit down. She started cutting something and stirring something it looked like she just cut up an animal! She set this ugly looking thing down in front of me it is called Yuezi. The ingredients are pig feet sweet vinegar ginger and boiled eggs!! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! This sound even worse than what Bo made me at least it didn’t look so bad! I don’t think that I can eat this. I hate my brother why is he making me do this!! What did I ever do to you?! I took the bowl and said that I wanted to eat ALONE outside so I took whatever the heck she made me and threw it on this statue thing. The statue moved…. It started screaming! Oh no. Turns out it was their little brat that I threw it on, oh well. Another catastrophe.

After that happened they taught me the different ways to greet people and they even showed me what the weird stiff hand forehead thing means. Apparently it is called soluteing and you do it when you are greeting somebody they taught me other ways to greet people but I forgot. Finally I can go to sleep now! I barely got any sleep today. Tomorrow I am heading to my third and final place thank God which is….. Chongqing.

Blog Post #1: Today is the first day of my journey ugghhghghg and I am already thinking about when it will be over. I am starting in some place called Wuhan. According to the world it is one of the biggest cities in China. Also according to the people it is famous for a revolution that happened in 1911 which was called Xin Hai Ge Ming. Everyone here who I have met says that I have to try, I don’t know if I will because I really only like three foods which is Kale, Chocolate, and Kale chocolate. This woman greets me and leads me into a weird like wagon looking thing. I fell asleep in the wagon thing until she woke me up. We went inside this little hut and she sat down on her knees lit a candle and said something that I couldn’t really understand then she like hit my arm. So I hit her arm back and she gave me a scowl so like any human being would, I growled at her. She just kind of laughed, what a weirdo. She said that she was going to make a famous dish of Wuhan. The first one was called hot dry noodles. It doesn’t really sound appetizing but she is going to make it anyways. The ingredients are; Thin spaghetti, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, sichuan peppercorns, vegetable oil, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame sauce. To me all of that sounds disgusting. The dish isn’t that bad but it isn’t amazing the only part I like is the noodle part the sauce is just weird. Then she took my hands and lit a candle again and did another thing I think she was praying. I am not super religious so not sure how I feel about it. She puts down some like mats for me to sleep on which is just rude I deserve plenty more than that but oh well.

I am Mrs. Cluck Jr. and I plan to travel the Yangtze river. I am decieding to only stop at four different towns along the way. I am starting my journey in Shanghai.  The Treaty Of Nanjing has just been signed allowing the British to come into the city. I am a Brit myself and I am very excited to be in this city so far from home but I really can afford to chip a nail because I don’t think they have mani pedi’s here. Anyways I will be spending my time here in Shanghai with a Chinese soldier and his family. Autumn is just beginning and a typhon may hit! I don’t know what a typhoon is but it sounds bad so I need to find this house. Do you think they have maps here? Found it! I walk closer to the house  and smell something very unusual. I don’t think it smells very good. Liver maybe?  I smile and knock on the door. The door that falls over when I knock. A fume of dust comes up from the floor. I scream that then turns into a cough. There goes my perfect pink nail! Inside A family of four is staring at me. Then a one armed man comes up to me and starts yelling at me in some unknown language! The wife then comes over and tells me in perfect english that it happens all the time. I smile in relief. I pass on dinner and get to bed early so that the man can show me what he does in the morning. I am sleeping on a log with termites in it but it’s better than that ship I was on. Don’t ask! I next morning am I woken up at 5! A girl needs her beauty rest! I reach in my bag for a hair brush…… Ahhhhhhh I scream my bag is gone! I stumble downstair my hair looking worse than the donkey outside! Without  a word I am lead outside by the man. Apparently he was in a rush so he marched behind the house and I followed. He raised a gun with his good arm and shot a bullet right through a barn door. I jumped back surprised. Then he marches back inside a shuts the door. I take it my time here is over. I slowly walk over to a man that look like he is selling noodles. I must look homeless because he just hands them to me and then I walk away. Songhu railway looms above me. I walk in it’s shadow. I get on the train and let it take me where it wants to go. I end up not to far from where I was before. I find myself on the banks of the Yangkingpang creek. There is one building for miles. As I get closer to it joy overcomes me. It’s a hotel! I am so happy! I ran to it squealing with joy! I wonder if the have a spa! A big sign said Astor House Hotel and above that we another sign but it was in chinese. I stepped inside and walked up to a desk. I very young man that looked no older than 16 eyed me suspiciously. Then he walked away without a backward glance. Then another man hurried over to me. He was much older than the last and his shirt said Peter Felix Richards on it. Through troubled english he told his name was peter and that this was the grand opening of his hotel. He was also proud to tell me that it is the first Western hotel in all of china. I told him my situation and he told me I could stay one night and have one meal here but then I had to go because he was not very happy when I handed him my british dollars. I was hungry but I was also very tired so I went to my room and instantly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. I was still sound asleep when I heard a knock on my door. Groggily I got out of bed and tried to wake up a little as I walked towards the door. I was told that I had to leave in two hours so I wandered over to the closet to find some clothes to put on. Then I remembered that I did not have my bag so I wrote myself a mental note to get some clothes. When I made my way to the lobby I was brought some tea and some soup filled with an unknown substance. The tea was delicious! It was so much better than in England! I learned that the soup was called Wonton soup and that it was really good. Eventually two hours passed and I had to go. I got back on the train and set my route to Meijiawu tea village. This village is known for making fabulous teas.  The railroad has to stop for the night at a small village near Meijiawu so I have to spend the night there to. I watch the beautiful scenery as we pass by.  Eventually I doze off to the gently swaying of the train. I wake up to the sound of the train coming to the stop. Looking out the window I see maybe ten buildings, twelve tops. I sigh, no spas here. Tonight I am staying with a large family of eight. Loun, the housewife's husband left the family a few years back so Loun has raise money for the family and take care of her seven children all by herself. I don’t think she needs any more mouths to feed but she insisted. Dinner had already been served when I got the their house so I sat do and looked at the great array of food, Mapo Tofu, Sweet and Sour Pork, Dumplings, and Spring Rolls. I tried lots of new foods at dinner most of which were delicious! Eventually night fell and we all went to bed. I woke up to the sound of a train approaching. Ohhh my I said jumping of from bed. In the process I chipped another nail. Grrr I said frustrated. I hurried out the door and ran towards the train. The train was delayed so I took a walk down to the banks of the river. I peered into the water and saw my reflection in the ripples. All of a sudden I was pushed. I fell forward, my hands reaching for something to grab on to. I fell into the deep river. My vision started getting darker and then all blackness. That was my last breath.

My Four Blog Posts

Blog Post #1:

My name is Moonbeam II, but my nickname is Moonie and I have a feeling that we will be getting to know each other pretty well after this journey, so you can just call me Moonie. I am traveling along the Yangtze river. I am 23 years old. I will be traveling a total of 194 hours. I am starting my expedition in Chongqing. I will be finishing my trip in Kunming. It will be a long and hard journey but it will be worth it. I will meet people of all different types. It will be an amazing experience. I have just began to walk in Chongqing and I came upon a village. There were lots of people roaming around with their families. They were all surprised to see someone like me wandering around their town. Once they got over the fact that I was there, they all looked so kind hearted. I continued walking until I got to my first destination. For the first night, I was staying with a large family that lived on the banks of the river. They agreed to feed me all of my meals and give me a bed to sleep in. Chen and Bai were married with two kids named Bo and Lei. I got there in the late afternoon. They welcomed me and introduced themselves. For the next few hours, I contributed to helping prepare dinner. What they prepared was a traditional Chongqing dish called “a hotspot”. It’s a broth that includes beef and vegetables. It was kind of gross, but it’s not like I was going to say that. They served a drink called Baijiu. It is a white liquor that is similar to white wine. The family I was staying with was so nice. We talked for hours on end about our dreams and our lives and we just got to know each other so well. After that night, I felt like I had known them forever. Once we were done at the dinner table, I helped clean up and I wondered off to bed, excited for my journeys the next day.

Blog Post #2:

The next day, I awoke to Chen making a breakfast of yongchuang bean sauce. It’s a sauce made from beans, sticky rice, and purified strong liquor. I had a long day of adventure ahead of me, so after I ate, I had to leave the house. The next city I am going to is called Guiyang. It is a beautiful city, not too far from Chongqing. Once I leave, I begin to walk to my next destination. I come across lots of friendly people while I was walking. I was already starting to get sore. The streets are very busy and people are flowing in and out everywhere I go. After so many hours later, I finally decide to stop somewhere, and I thought that maybe the Guizhou Museum would be a good place to do it. I walk in and see such a beautiful museum. There are SOO many different types of art in front of my eyes, I can barely take it all in. The art is so beautiful and breath-taking. There are sculptures, paintings, maps, artifacts, and so many more! I weave in and out of all the rooms and hallways in the museum until I feel like I’ve memorized the whole place. I go back outside to continue my journey. I keep walking for so so so so long and my whole body is aching in pain. It’s starting to be around lunchtime, so I think of where I could stop to eat. As I’m thinking, I pass a shed right along the road with a sign that says “中国菜”, and I have absolutely no idea what it means. I walk inside the tiny room and see that there is one  worker there who is a man at the counter, waiting for customers. His eyes seem to brighten when he sees me enter. He seats me at one of the three tables in the room. He starts talking in Chinese to me and I can’t understand him whatsoever, so I just nod my head. When I nod my head, he runs behind the counter, into what I assume is the kitchen, and begins to cook something. After about 10 minutes of waiting, he comes out of the kitchen with a large plate filled with food that smells and looks so delicious. His smile is so warming that it makes me so happy inside and I think it shows on the outside because he starts nodding his head and talking in Chinese some more. He watches over me as I take my first bite. As my teeth bite into the food, my taste buds are bursting with flavor. It might have been one of the best bites of food I have ever tasted. I try to show him with hand movements how amazing the food he made for me tastes. Once he understands, he starts jumping up and down in excitement. We exchange excitement and then he goes back behind the counter. Before I continue,  I finish my meal and pay the kind man for everything he did for me.

Blog Post #3:

I have been walking for sooo long and I’m about to fall apart. My head hurts from the heat and my body aches from walking. Ugh, this is hard work. It may be hard but I know that I have to keep going or I will never achieve anything. I am now heading towards Kunming, my final destination. I have always heard that Kunming is very beautiful and I’m so excited that I get to finally see it in real life! There is still so so so so so much more walking to do but I am so excited to be able to say that I’ve walked this far.

After a very very very long time of walking, and I’m not even sure how long it’s been, I arrive in Kunming. I am planning to go to the Yunnan Ethnic Village. It is a theme park that offers productions and shows, wax museums, ancient architecture, and so much more. I walked around and watched lots of performances. As I am watching a traditional Guiyang dance performance, suddenly people from the audience start joining in, and I wonder what they’re doing. Unexpectedly, I get pulled into the crowd of people going on stage, and I’m not even sure who pulled me, but I know that I am on stage and I am dancing along with everyone. It is so much fun to be with all of these people. I think it’s so amazing that I got the opportunity to laugh and dance with these people, and all of a sudden I’m thinking about how much I’m going to miss this when I leave.