Heading Out

Haven't been blogging for a while, and now it's time for the "big trip." Going to the Northwest of China for the entire May. It's a bit unreal, but it's finally happening!

I won't be able to keep in touch through the Internet much. Expect lots of photos - and stories - when I return. See you in a month!

19 and Counting

You just know that sooner or later I will come up with another traveling number to impress you. :-) Here are a few examples:

• Flying across the Pacific Ocean 74 times; the one coming up in a couple of days will be the 75th.
• Having visited 25 out of the 34 regions at the province level in China; my goal this year is to add one more.
• Last year (2008), I was in the sky 51 times from 26 trips. 23 out of the 26 trips were personal. All three numbers were probably records.

So what's up this time? Again, something you'd expect, sooner or later: After this past weekend's trip, I've been to the NW 19 times. Here is a summary:

• 4 times between 1997-8 for business trips
• 1 time in 2002 to Urumqi, personal trip
• Since 2003, 6 times to an orphanage every year
• Since 2005, 4 times to teach English every year
• Since 2007, 4 other times to visit friends or do other volunteer work

The orphange trip and the English teaching trip will come up again in July, but that won't be my 20th to the NW. Instead, the Silk Road trip in May will be my longest trip yet to that region.

Xining Impressions

Three things surprised me during the weekend trip to Xining:

1. The weather was really nice and warm, esp. during the day. I was prepared for low temperatures, and for a moment I thought that my charm of bringing good weather returned! Seriously, among all the trips I've taken - and you know that I travel often - very few times I ran into bad weather, and often the weather turned better upon my arrival. (I am not afraid to say this to jinx my next trip; I want to experience something more challenging! :-)
   
   
2. The city was bigger than I thought. About 2.5 years ago I visited Xining for the first time. As I walked up and down the downtown area, I thought Xining was just that big. This time I was able to see much more of it, and the city showed many signs of real growth.
   
   
3. Umm, this is almost embarrassing: I didn't expect many thieves in this city. Refer to #2: I thought the city was small and most people were local and stable. That was quite far from the facts. Lo and behold, my cell phone got picked on a packed bus; I didn't feel a thing until it was too late. This was my second phone left behind in the NW within half a year. If I have such a knack for leaving marks in the NW, I should consider low investments on my cell phones - and other gadgets.

Psalm 100

Yesterday I got up at 5 AM in order to catch a flight going back to Shenzhen. There was time for my morning reading, and I opened to Psalm 100.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

(New International Version)

I quote it here not just because 100 is a nice, round number, but this is a great poem. It also marks 100 days in a row that I have been doing the reading (mainly in Chinese Union Version). I don't recall any of my previous attempts as consistent, and I feel good about this year!

Route Map

I printed out a copy of the following map and visited a friend a couple of nights ago; it was the same friend that I mentioned in a previous blog entry who knew Gansu province inside and out. I went again to ask for more tips on traveling the Silk Road.

Once again I wasn't disappointed. He gave tips on what to see and what can skip - so that I could spend more time on the worthwhile sites. The trip is a whole month away; I am getting more and more excited. :-)

I mean, look at the map! Actually this is only the first map. I needed 3 maps to show the whole route (marked in red).