I bounced around some ideas about where I want to go and what I want to do.  First, I took a look at the list of places I want to visit; I have an excel spreadsheet of places I want to visit and places I’ve visit.  After a week, I couldn’t really name a place I wanted to visit, but the feeling that I needed to travel wouldn’t go away.  By the second week, I remembered that I had wanted to take a Caravan tour a couple of years ago, but didn’t go due to a conflict.  So, I looked up Caravan and found a tour that was perfect.  The trip to the maritime provices in eastern Canada was something that I wanted to do on my own when I was younger.  I loved L.M. Montgomery’s novels, especially the Anne of Green Gable series. I’ve probably read most of her novels when I was in high school.

I didn’t book the trip right away.  I know I wanted to go, but I wanted to think about it first, and plan how to incorporate a trip to New York or Boston before or after the trip to Canada.  This delay led me to look at Budget Travel’s website; I have a subscription.  This led me to the links for single travelers.  This led me to some travel companies that catered to or are friendly to the single traveler.  This led me to Contiki tours.

I browsed through Contiki and the their tours for the 18 to 35 year old looked amazing.  They definitely went to places I want to see.  Since I’ve always had a fascination with the British Isles from the time I was in elementary school, I spent a considerable time looking at tours of the British Isles.  I found the perfect tour.  I went through the booking procedures, and was about to enter my credit card numbers.  This was when I saw a link to a video of one of the tours.  I watched the video, and within seconds I immediately had unpleasant feelings in the pit of my stomach.  So, instead of finishing the booking, I watched other Contiki tour videos.  I felt uncomfortable the whole time, and decided to postpone booking a tour with Contiki. 

This is not a criticism of Contiki.  Rather this is just my realization that we’re not a good fit.  I am too serious for this crowd.  I enjoy learning about a culture, and doing quiet things by myself, etc.  The videos of Contiki tours showed a lot of young people who spent most of their times being silly and spending way too much time with alcohol.  I don’t object to these activities, I just don’t enjoy them.  The videos showed people enjoying themselves, but I had the feeling that I would be the odd one out.  Even when I was in my early 20s, I don’t think I would fit in with this crowd.

So, disappointed, but still determined to find a tour for the summer, I kept looking.  I came across an ad for Trafalgar Tours in my current issue of Budget Travel.  As with Contiki, I spent some time browsing through the website, and watching videos of the tours. 

The clientele is definitely older than Contiki.  They look like they’re in their 40s and 50s.  I am 30, however, most of the people I associate with are older than me, so this is not new to me.  In fact, I enjoy spending time with older people.  Plus, Trafalgar seems to offer the same tours as Contiki, just with an older crowd.  I suspect they are both owned by the same parent company, although I’m too tired to look that up right now. 

So, after spending nearly all day Saturday evaluating and thinking about the information for the various tours with Trafalgar, I decided to go with the Regency tour.  This tour is 20 days, and goes through England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. 

I was still restless, so a few days later, I looked on Cheaptickets and decided to book a trip to Savannah, Georgia during my Spring Break.  I had second thoughts, but since the trip isn’t refundable, I am going to enjoy this break.  I’ve wanted to go to Savannah, GA since I read Gone with the Wind in high school.  After looking at the map of coastal Georgia, I might take some side trips to Charleston, South Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida. 

For the Savannah trip, I am on my own in terms of what to do while I’m there.  On the Regency tour, I am part of a tour group, something I’ve never done before.  I can’t wait!!!

Once I went downstairs, I waited and waited.  No one showed up.  After 9:30AM, I gave all the room keys to the front desk and asked that they call BaoLi.  On the last day, I thought she would be there to see me off, but no she was in her room the whole time.  The woman didn’t meet me at the airport and only deigned to come down to help me figure out why Mr. Luu was late only because I asked the front desk to call her.

At any rate, Mr. Luu arrived and took me to the airport.  He was nice enough to come into the airport and try to help me find the check-in counter, even though he didn’t have, too.  Poor man, had to get up early to pick up Cindy and to pick me up as well, on his day off.  He and I got separated, and I’m sure he went back out and went home.  I found the check-in counter just fine, and continued on.

In Beijing, I arrived six hours before my next flight.  I wandered around a little before finding a space on the bench to sit near the check-in counters for my flight home.  I met a Canadian woman flying to Toronto to see a sick friend.  She actually teaches English here.  Then, I also met two Indian men flying home from Melbourne.  They had a 22 hour layover in Beijing before connecting to Delhi.  One of them was quite attractive, but he seemed a bit too young for me J

Eventually, another person sat down next to me.  She’s Chinese and her parents live outside of Beijing.  This is the end of her annual trip to see her parents.  She lives in the LA region.  We talked for a little bit before the check-in counters opened. 

The two Indian men left to check-in for their flight, and I went to wait to check in for my flight.  Maybe I’ll go to India next…

So, I am now waiting at my departure gate, sitting on the cold marble floor waiting for my computer to be fully charged.  I still have about an hour before boarding time commences for the flight to LAX.

Since I will be traveling eastward, I will arrive in LA before I left Beijing.  My departure time is 9PM 2 January 2010, and my arrival time in LA is approximately 4:30PM 2 January 2010.

I can’t wait to get home.  I think I will take a cab to my apartment, drop everything off, grab a Starbucks, then order a meatlover’s pizza from Pizza Hut.  Then, maybe watch a movie or play my Wii.

A new volunteer arrived today for the next group.  Her name is Diane, and she’s from St. Paul, MN.  This is her third trip with Global Volunteers.  She’s been to Ghana, during a teachers’ strike, and to Peru.  She’s exhausted from her flight and is taking some of today to rest.

During lunch today, Cindy confronted BaoLi about declining the principal’s invitation to dinner last night.  BaoLi made up some excuse about the principal issuing the invitation as we were about to leave, which is a lie since BaoLi informed me that the principal wanted to take us out to dinner several hours before we left the school.  She made it sound as if the principal didn’t really intend for us to accept.  Her excuses were flimsy to say the least.  Cindy continued giving her opinion about other things as well, including a suggestion about making a standardized curriculum so future volunteers wouldn’t have to start from scratch, and again BaoLi dismissed the idea, saying that each volunteer is different so they want to do different things.  I watched her while Cindy was talking, and she showed no interest in anything Cindy said.  She kept talking and talking about Xi’an, and how it’s so great there, and the schools are great, blah blah blah.  I finally had enough and said that we’re not in Xi’an, we’re in Kunming. 

Cindy wanted to know if Global Volunteers is giving any contribution to the school or the community.  BaoLi’s response was basically a dismissive: why!  She was dismissive during the entire conversation.  She had no real answers to any questions, and provided what sounded like a memorized script. 

I’ve come to the conclusion that Global Volunteer and BaoLi are parasitic in their dealings with the schools.  They want the school to bend to their wishes and puts all blame on the schools when things don’t work out.  The exorbitant fee that each of us paid for the program is not going to the school or the community we work at, it’s going to the coffers of Global Volunteers.  BaoLi’s room and board is paid for by the organization.  She gets to live in a hotel for free, and bills the organization for the money to pay for the food we eat.  We eat when she wants to eat, and for nearly a week, we ate what she wanted to eat.

On purpose, Cindy asked if I would go on another Global Volunteers trip, and I said no.

So, Cindy and I arrived at the school at our usual time.  We were met by Wendy who told us that all classes were canceled, so that the students can get ready for the afternoon performances.  Even the lunch hour was moved an hour earlier to accommodate the celebration.

We were asked to help with the face painting for the children taking part in the parade of regions.  I painted two kids’ faces, and spent the rest of the time watching since no other kid was representing Australia.

I also found out from Margie that there is going to be a performance by the people from the Butterfly Garden and Dwarf Kingdom during the celebration.  This should be interesting…

Cindy decided she wanted to check on the progress of the dress she is having tailored made for her.  I went with her.  When we got to the seamstress, she was still working on it.  It is supposed to be done today.  So, a time was set for Cindy to pick it up in the afternoon, at 3PM, but Cindy wanted it pushed to 4PM.  This is going to prove to be a mistake.

The celebration started with speeches.  Then a dance to the tune of a Chinese rendition of Jingle Bells was performed by both girls and boys.  A series of performances followed.  Cindy  was asked to speak the English part.  What followed was the chair exercise that is unique to the school.  All the students, almost every single one in their uniform, came out with their tiny stools and performed the exercise.  Other performances followed.

One of the highlights of the day was the performance of members of the Butterfly Garden and Dwarves Kingdom.  The main performer told his story through acting and speaking, then the group performed a dance with the women from the Butterfly Garden in the background.

Many of the school children demonstrated what they have been learning and what they can do.  For example, the martial arts group punched and kicked through boards, while the dance groups performed choreographed pieces.   There was even a fashion show by the kindergarteners. 

Once all the performances were finished, the students were free to join in some games and competitions, or to check out the information booths about each of the continent represented in the program.

After the festivities concluded, we went to the home of one of the students at the school.  The family was welcoming and generous.  We stayed for a short time, then came back to the hotel. 

I was informed by BaoLi that the principal wanted to take us, me and Cindy, to dinner in honor of our time at the school, but she declined on our behalf without consulting us.  This totally unacceptable behavior on BaoLi’s part has been her mo the entire time we are here.  She also mentioned that the family we went to visit wanted to take us to dinner, and again she declined without talking to us first.  She’s been treating Cindy and me like children the entire trip.

As much as I don’t want to hear Cindy complaining about things, I have to agree with her that BaoLi is disrespectful of our time and our contribution, and she’s also disrespectful to the school.  She shows no interest in the project(s) in Kunming.  She doesn’t even pay attention when we tell her we don’t like something.  She stares off into space and makes some niceties pretending she agrees or is listening.  The woman has been to Kunming for more than a year, and made no friends there outside of the program.  She had not even bothered to visit their city museum until this week.  She is completely unsuited for her job.  BaoLi wanted to have dinner at the hotel, so we had to accommodate her wishes and come back to the hotel.  Everything was planned with her agenda in mind, and what is most convenient for her.

At the school, most of the teachers were understanding of my condition and helped me out.  Wendy was wonderful.  Whenever she saw that I was running out of steam on a normal day, she would take over and let me rest.  Today, she is no less than great in helping make the class runs smoothly.  This is a woman who is about 8 months pregnant.  The other teacher I worked with today was not so generous.  Iwan is generally not all that pleasant to work with, and she has little sensitivity to other people’s needs.

Once we got back to the hotel, we rested for a short while, then went out for a walk.  This was Cindy’s idea.  It was exhausting.  We had no destination, just a walk.  It allowed me to see another part of the city, but it was very tiring.

I think what made everything worse for me was the decision to go to the Bird and Flower Market.  I was not ready for it.  My body still needed to recover.  It was a long walk, and I was exhausted from it.  However, I am determined to make it to the school tomorrow.

As far as today is concerned, I’m taking it easy.  I want to work on my Fullbright-Hayes grant to Morocco, but I don’t have the physical and intellectual energy to do it.  So, it’s more reading, which I love to do anywhere.

Cindy went to the Trinity Christian Church near the hotel.  She was impressed with the church.  Apparently, it’s quite nice and rather wealthy looking.  There were headsets for English translation, and three tiered for the congregation.  After the service, she came back to the hotel, then departed for the Yunnan Ethnic Villages.   I continued to lay around in bed reading.

After a while, I made myself get out of bed and walk outside for a bit.  I need to get some personal items.  It was a bit of a challenge trying to find items I needed in a language I didn’t understand, but in the end I got what I needed, if not exactly what I wanted.  So, I came back to the hotel and read some more.

I don’t know why or how, but I got sick tonight.  I had stomach cramps and diarrhea.  This is the second time that has happened to me.  Fortunately, I always bring anti-diarrhea medication whenever I travel abroad, so that helped a lot.

We head out along the expressway.  Our first stop was the flower market.  The market is opened at 4 for businesses, and starting at 8 they open for everyone.  There were lots and lots of flowers from all over the world grown in Yunnan.  They were a pretty and astounding sight to behold.  There were also cars get decorated for weddings.  We wander through the market for a short while before heading to the village market next door.  Before we left the flower market, Margie and I bought and shared a pineapple.  It was more acidic than I expected, but sweet nonetheless.  Margie found some sweet kumquats, while I took some pictures of things.  There were so many vegetable, meat, and spices.  There was also a bakery that Margie wanted to go to.  So, we spent a few minutes in it, but left fairly quickly.

Then it was off to the old capital of the Dian kingdom.  The road was terrible.  There were constructions in and around the roads, so the roads were neglected, plus there were more vehicles on the roads and normal, which increases the wear and tear on the roads. 

In the town center, there was a large sculpture of an Dian king in the middle of a square, but I didn’t have time to take a picture.  Mr. Ma wanted to show us some of the old houses in the neighborhood.  We walked down a lane and saw some mud houses next to stone and glass buildings.  Mr. Ma saw an open door and asked the people inside if we could come in. The women invited us in and showed us around.  They were able to afford their own well inside the home.  One of the women was looking after the kids, and another was making lunch.  We were invited to stay but we declined since we had more than half our itinerary to go.

Our next stop was lunch.  We stopped at a Yi restaurant, and were served typical Yi dishes.  I like the stir fry with green pepper and pork, and the beans.  I didn’t like the other dishes primarily because they had what tasted like cumin, a spice I dislike intensely.

After lunch, Margie insisted we go to the bakery, so we did.   I bought a couple of things, and Margie bought some cookies.  They were good.

Then, it was off to see Zheng He Park.  We got to see his old home and models of the ships, compass, maps, and lots of other artifact.  There were lots of stairs, and Margie’s knees were hurting a bit, so Mr. Ma offered his arm to help her up and down the stairs.   There was a large sculpture of him with panels in the back showing his story on the seas.  It was pretty amazing, and makes me want to read 1421.

When we were waiting for the driver to meet us, an old woman came up to Margie and wanted to know how she was able to have all her teeth.  The woman had three or four teeth left.  Mr. Ma helped to translate, and it turns out that she was about 71 years old.  She invited us to her home for some tea, but we had to leave for the next stop.

We never made it to the next stop.  The traffic jam was quite long, on both sides of the road.  What would normally have taken us about 30 minutes, took us over two hours.  We were supposed to be back in Kunming by about 5PM.  At about 5PM we finally got out of the traffic jam.  So, we did not get to the see the log cabins up close, but that’s ok.  We saw plenty today.

On the drive way, we saw lots of rock formation to the left, and the lake on the right.  We stopped once to look at the lake, and Mr. Ma would have stopped to give us more time to explore the lake, but Margie and I decided we wanted to get back.  Mr. Ma had one more village he wanted to show us along the way, but the roads were blocked for some reason, and we could get to it.  So, we came back.  Margie was dropped off first since she was closest to the expressway.

When I got back to the hotel, we went out to dinner at a restaurant called MamaFu’s.  They had some western foods like burgers and pizzas.  I order what looked like a delicious barbeque pork dish.  What arrived did not look anything like the picture. I ate most of it, since it was edible and I was hungry.  The dish that Baoli ordered looked like a stew and Cyndy ordered a vegetarian pizza. 

The end of the meal saw Cyndy once again finding something to criticize about China, and expounding on how great the Americans are with their organic farming techniques.  Please shut up!!

Tomorrow, I think I’m going to stay indoors or have a look around the neighborhood by myself for once.