Vanessa's Journal

Dec. 16

Today I decided to hike down the mountain to send my Internet friends some videos and updates, as well as to deliver the translation I completed for my boss in the Ecology lab.  I completed that early this morning. 

Lao Wang was nice enough to walk with me to the half-way point.  I think my field assistants all freaked out when I hiked up by myself in near darkness and have requested that I take a chaperone.  Once I got down the mountain, I just felt like walking back to town.  It is a one-hour hike back to the hotel and usually I just get a car.  I guess I just figured that I hiked seven hours yesterday, so what’s one more? I was also in one of those “I need time to think” moods.  It was a nice walk.

It’s amazing the things you miss when you are in the car.  I passed by a lot of local farmers at work.  Some guys on the top of a bulldozer doing road construction all waved at me.  And I got to see one of the local temples in a new light.  Back at town I got down to business with my emailing and Internet work.  It is surreal to go on the internet and read things about the holiday season and Christmas shopping.  That seems like a whole universe away.  I also met up with my colleague Wei Liu and we got caught up on the latest research items of interest. 

At night I froze.  The hotel room is huge and there is no space heater, so it feels so much colder than at Wuyipeng, even though it is lower elevation.  I slept with my jacket, hat, and gloves on and feel my feet becoming ice cubes.