Well, here I am in Xi'an with lots of other tourists. I said good bye to Rick a couple of days ago, and soon he will be at home with Tucson. Meanwhile,
I have decided to take a bit of a detour.

I thought I might head back to Hangzhou soon because I got a horrible eye infection (which I just found out is a horrible case of pink-eye. ug). But now I've decided to head to Tibet with Judy, a former teacher at Zhejiang University of Technology and fellow PIAer.

This Thursday we get on a flight to Chengdu to try to get our permits and "tour" to Tibet. While waiting we hope to make it to Jiujiagou, a nature reserve in Sichuan province. Then we should have nine to ten days in Tibet. Not long, but we both decided it's something we want to do before we leave China.

I will be coming home more broke than I thought, but that's OK.

I hope to keep you updated as I make my way to (and through) Tibet...