DIMINISHED THOUGHT

So a lot has happened over the past week or so. I didn't end up going to the
glaciers. Where I did go was a place called Jo-tsai-go (yes it is misspelled)
which is basically the equivalent of Yellowstone national park in China. They
have these series of clear, tidy bowl aquamarine lakes that come down from the
mountains along with a series of fantastic waterfalls. Some well known
Chinese movies are filmed here apparently. The lakes are like glass as the
high mountains sheild them from the wind and form a reflecting pool in which
the mountains themselves appear inverted.

After that we went to nearby Songpan, and took a horseback "trek" through the
country side. Many people go out for several days but we only went for a
few. It was neat because you could see the way that the mountains had been
terraced in the past for agriculture and as you rode the horses you would
occaisionally come across a herd of goats blocking the path. The would bleat
and move out of the way. Our guide cooked us dinner near a little Tibetan
temple with a series of prayer wheels built into the side. I walked around
and looked at it for a bit. Very cool.

When I got back to Chengdu (which believe me takes some doing, it's about a 9
hour bus trip) I went to go see the pandas. Pandas are damn cute especially
the sub-adults but they're lazy as hell. Most of the time they spend sleeping
and the staff had a heck of a problem getting the little ones to come down
from the high trees to eat. They would climb up there on a branch and try to
coax them with a bit of apple until one came within reach and then they would
drag it down the tree a bit. They were very patient and careful not to let it
fall. I think by that point I would have been ready to start shaking
branches.

Ok, the only other thing of interest is that last night I had a monkey jump on
my head. When I say jump I mean the little sucker climbed to the top rooted
around for something to eat and when he didn't find anything he started
stomping on my head. Go figure. It was a beggar at an outdoor bar and he
just let his monkey do whatever and then asked for money. I don't give money
to stuff like that.