Leaving on a jetplane???...not any time soon! AKA World's Longest Post... sorry

John has had much fun since his last post... so much fun, in fact, that he has started talking in the third person... 

After my night at "Club Bud" it took a bit of time to recover... not going to lie.  I finally got my feet under me (but my wits were still not about me let me tell you...I felt like the beijing smog - ummm I mean natural phenomenon - had invaded my inner cortex)... I did not have to report for duty until later so I met up with my friend Ethan (who after several weeks of insane hours was finally given a reprieve due to good behaviour) to show him some of the sights (as he had seen none up to this point).  Because it was already the afternoon and the previous night was so hectic, I decided to take him to one of my favorite places - the Lama Temple (still no llamas).  

I have no idea what it is, but some kind of serenity washes over me when I enter that place.  My pace slackens and as I breathe in the intoxicating incense that permeates the air, I become calm (for me anyway) and quite introspective.  It is nice to escape the hustle and bustle.. somehow the outer walls of the Temple seem to block out all of the noise and chaos that threaten the hallowed space from the outside.    Ethan really liked the Temple (thank buddha - because I accidentally took the LONG way on the subway and added 45 minutes to our trip) and I just explained what I knew from teaching Buddhism to my grade 7's and 8's, as well as what my local hostesses had explained to me on our previous outing.  I know that I have already posted on this place, but I am going to add pics anyway because I like them and it is my blog. Skip ahead if it seems excessive.

Ethan at the Temple

Young boy praying (or playing) on the prayer wheel

My inner pyro has always been drawn to fire

Prayer flags

Following the Temple, Ethan wanted to get some tea to take back home to his family.  The street leading up to the Lamasary is lined with little vendors and tea shops.  This was the perfect place to do this.  It was a weird and funny experience in the tea house.  We were obviously playing the roll of dumb foreign tourists or something that day because the 2 shop workers eyed us suspiciously as we poked around the store... every time Ethan picked something up to examine it, one of the staff would as sneakily as possible follow right behind and put everything back in its exact spot.  I started asking Ethan to just randomly move something to see what would happen... sure enough, she was not far behind silently reprimanding him with her eyes...

Me on the other hand, she outright told me what she thought (as the Chinese often do with me!).  Ethan wanted to bring home good loose leaf tea to his mother.  I asked the lady what her favorite tea was.  Now, it may have been my hand gestures but we were not communicating as clearly as I thought. As I pointed at her and said "you like what tea?" "what tea is delicious?" As I said this part, I also said mmmm and rubbed my now shrinking stomach... Her eyes flashed and I knew I had explained myself perfectly - we were speaking the same language...she got it. She immediately whirled around and led me straight to what I thought was her favorite tea... then I saw the box she was shoving into my hands... it was WEIGHT LOSS TEA!  Good lord.  What is it with this country??? Ethan almost wet himself on the spot as the entire jet set team now knows about my random interactions with the Chinese public.  

Instructions at the cash register on how to make the proper cup of tea...

Ethan got an assortment of tea and brought it with him, as I left my dignity and ego behind in the shop.  At this point it was getting late and Ethan wanted to go to the night market.  Now, it has also become common knowledge among the staff that I 1. frequent the night market and 2. that I will eat almost anything.  Ethan wanted to know if I would come and try the scorpions again with him... sure, why not.  Off to the mayhem of the night market we went.

I am not going to go into too much detail and let the pics speak for themselves... I have been over my thoughts of the night market already.  Suffice it to say, we ate tons of stuff and there was no need to grab dinner after.... in fact, some of our dinner tried to grab us!

Ethan and his sea horse and small scorpions

The sea horse was looking right at me with nothing but accusation in his eyes.. i couldn't do it... Ethan did though. 

Had to try the smoking tea.  It was just tea with dry ice after all.

Ethan and I with the Large scorpions - taste just like their smaller cousins... but more meaty.

Good to the last drop... but so big that it was hard to eat... if you look closely, you can see remnants of all my other food all over my face... I am one classy lad!

Ethan and I left the night market and headed to meet up with our friend David as we had business to discuss.  This is the real subject of this post as I have big news.... I am not coming home.  I mean, I will...just not any time soon.  

Thanks to my good friends at Sunquest (thanks guys!), I changed my ticket and I am now returning to Toronto on the 22nd of September.  I have decided that I will never get an opportunity like this again, so I have to grab the proverbial bull by the horns and just take full advantage of it.  I have decided this is my last real chance to be selfish and irresponsible, and I have decided that I can start looking for work when I get back at the end of September.  

David, Ethan, myself and 2 other colleagues from Jet Set have decided to head to TIBET!  I'm gonna get me a Llama!  The process has been arduous and complicated (as the borders have just been open since June), but it looks like things will work out.  This is why I have not told anyone up to this point.  I needed to make sure that we could get all of our documents in order etc. Visiting Tibet will undoubtedly be a highlight.  To enter tibet as a foreigner, you need to go with a tour company and they have to take care of all arrangements and the govt has to know where you are at all times basically.  Our tour will be 5 days. We arrive (if we can get there.... a whole other story!) on the 31st of August and we would fly out on the 5th of september.  

Ethan, David and myself are planning to take the train to Tibet, stop in Xian to see the Terracotta warriors and then continue on to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. We will tour for three full days and then fly out after a day of recovery.  The only problem?  Getting there.  You see, China, being as flexible and trusting as it is, only sells train tickets 4 days prior to travel.  Therefore, because we want to take the night train on the 28th, the earliest we can buy our tickets is 7pm the night of the 24th!  How different!  My hostesses say it is because there are so many people in China that they want it to be fair and so no prior reservations can be made.  Sounds like they want to make travel difficult to me... but I will keep mum about that as I do not want to give them any reason to shut down my blog!

I am sure all will work out.  If I have learned anything here it is that 1. everything will constantly change but 2. it will always somehow work out... just at the last second!  

I have already found out that I can store all my crap that I don't need at the hotel until I get back (as I have to fly home out of Beijing).  I have also been to the silk market and bargained for a backpack.  I got a 55 litre backpack (john is travelling light... and still talking in the third person..) for a whopping $18! And it is a lowe alpine.  I also purchased (for $17) a waterproof fleece jacket, as Tibet is much cooler than Beijing due to its altitude.  I can't tell you how excited I am.  Back to my backpacking roots!  If anything, it will be an adventure.

As of right now, remember - plans are always changing here - Following Tibet we will say goodbye to two of our companions who are going on to Mongolia and Ethan and David and I are going to fly to Chengdu (area affected by earthquake).  We are then going to tour southern china by the Yangsi river, and hopefully make our way down to Hanoi (Vietnam) and maybe even thailand... It is a lot to accomplish, but we will give it the ol' college try.

I have not figured out if I will take my computer with me on our trek- or even how much access to the internet there will be.  Alas, the status of my blog will be up in the air as of the 27th of August.  I will do my best.  I may not be able to add pics if I go the way of the internet cafe, but I will try to keep you all in the loop.  I am also heading out to buy  a journal (what I did on all my other backpacking trips) - so I may just have to write it all down and send it later...

Following our meeting it was back to the CCP for Bowling league night!  Word has definitely spread and there were about 15 of us - some playing, some watching, some heckling.  It was good times.  And, I am proud to say that CANADA BEAT HOLLAND!  Take that clog boy.

So that is the scoop my friends. The blog of my zany adventures will continue...for the next little bit at least.