Closing Brings an Opening

Now that the Closing Ceremony is past, it's time to begin the next chapter of my China journey. Monday, we packed up the office and prepared everything to be shipped back to the States. Tuesday, Joey, Mirjam, Francesca, and I visited the Ming Tombs, and that night we all had the Staff Party. It was bittersweet to see our local staff and international staff, some of them for the last time. Yesterday, I visited the Summer Palace. I'd saved one of Beijing's most beautiful treasures for my last week here. Today, I dropped off my company phone at the office, shipped some things back to the States, and did some last minute shopping. Now I'm packing.

So what is the next chapter? My friends John, Ethan and I have decided to travel together for the next couple weeks. Tonight, we'll leave by train for Xi'an, where we'll visit the Terra Cotta Warriors. Sunday, we'll arrive in Lhasa, Tibet, for 6 days there. From there, we fly to Chengdu, in the Sichuan Province of China, and the trip is up in the air from there. I bought some cheap cell phones and SIM cards last night, so we'll be accessible. I've spent the last month planning our Tibet tour by email, and the Tibet Travel Permits are in the mail right now on the way to our hotel in Xi'an. Planning travel in China is made difficult by the fact that train tickets can only be purchased 4 days in advance, so there have been some nail-biting moments. We still don't have our travel from Xi'an to Lhasa booked, so if we can't get train tickets, we're going to have to fly. We'll find out when we get to Xi'an. 

At any rate, with the Olympics over, I'm hoping to post more regularly, and I'll have hundreds more photos to share, I'm sure! Keep checking back to hear all about our crazy trip around China and Southeast Asia!

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