Yangshuo

I've always liked to travel, I just didn't know how much. After spending three months traveling around Australia and New Zealand, I still want to keep on traveling. So I decided to take this chance, while I'm still unemployed, to go back to China for six months. The first three months I will be working in Yangshuo, then I'll take off for three months exploring southwest China. I'm leaving in two months from today, I can't wait!


Climbing at Moonhill, Yangshuo

Photo: Marty Blumen

It is broken

The memento of the past. It broke, during the Aikido practice tonight.

The trial

So some of you know that shortly after I came back to the US from Australia, I was attacked while out running in the neighborhood, by a group of teenagers who wanted to take my ipod. The police was able to arrest one of the them, and today that case went on trial in court. Yes, I had to sit in a little witness stand getting drilled by the defense lawyer. But at the end, he was found guilty. The system works! Now hopefully the police can locate some of the other people involved. I got away unscratched except for a bruise on my forehead from a punch, and they were not able to take anything from me, but I don't want these kids think for a minute that they can do something like this and get away with it. The next time, the next person may not be so lucky.

OZ and NZ trip summary

• Trip length: 3 months (Mar 3 - May 31, 2006. 90 days)
  
• Longest time spent in one place: Arapiles, 30 days
  
• Total spending: USD$3,500 (not including roundtrip airfare to Australia)
  
• Biggest single expense: roundtrip airfare to New Zealand (USD$444), and 3-day live-on-board diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef (USD$444)
  
  
• Total pack weight: around 28 kg / 60 lbs?
  
• Clothes: a pair of long pants (convertible), one pair of shorts, one pair of swim trunks, three t-shirts, six pair of boxers, three pairs of socks, three long sleeve shirts, one pair of long john, one softshell jacket, one insulated jacket, one rainjacket, two fleece beanies
  
• Other things: small digital camera, underwater housing, mask, snorkel, two pairs of climbing shoes, approach shoes, sandals, helmet, harness, chalk bag, all my cams, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and a bunch of other small stuff
  
• Things I brought but never used: gloves (two pairs), chemical hand warmers
  
• Things I didn't bring but wish I did: tent, stove, cooking gear, my rope, most of my rack, a second pair of long pants
  
  
• Nights in a hotel: 0
  
• Nights in a hostel: 9
  
• Nights on a boat: 3
  
• Nights in a vehicle: 7
  
• Nights in a tent: 22
  
• Nights under a tarp: 14
  
• Nights under the sky: 4
  
• Nights staying with friends: 28
  
• Nights in an airport: 2
  
  
• Countries visited: 2
  
• New climbing areas visited: 13
  
• Total days climbing: 49 days
  
• Nationalities of the climbers I met: Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Austria, France, Norway
  
  
• Hardest bouldering problem: The Unrepeatable, V6, Castle Hill. But in terms of real difficulty it was Crankshaft, V4/V5, Arapiles.
  
  
• Hardest sport redpoint/pinkpoint: Meaty Mesmo, 22 / 5.11a; Engorged, 22 / 5.11a, Nowra.
  
  
• Hardest sport onsight/flash: A Day At The Beach, 21 / 5.10d; V Lix The Cat, 21 / 5.10d, Nowra.
  
  
• Hardest trad onsight: Equilibrium, 17 / 5.9, Booroomba. (Deserve a "R" rating. The second pitch is 50 meters long with only two bolts)
  

Where to next? China!