Hey dude's, dudette's and mini dude's.
Well Two days ago Chris and I said see you later to Kilamay(our working city) and hello to a whole new adventure. It started off with a long goodbye to Maggie and reluctantly letting her stay, while I got on the Bus to Ulumuqi. Oh yeah .. I forgot about this bus ride. The roads are brutal and the scenery,...well let's just say, uhhh were in the middle of a dessert okay. There's not much to see. Anyways we arrived in Ulumuqi and hopped the first cab to the train station hoping to get a ticket for that night to go to Chengdu. However, are plans were quickly dismissed because of all the scalpers. Apparently there's some big festival going on in Chengdu right now so tickets are extremely hard to come by. Anyways we're trying to make some deal with one of the sketchy scalpers whom the police just sort of turn a blind eye to when we just decide ahhh fuck it! Well buy plane tickets. We can afford it and it's way faster anyways. So that night we call up Maggie's parents whom were kind enough to offer us food and shelter if we needed and sure enough they did and they were so nice. Maggie's parents don't speak any english so Chris and I are once again emmursed in the language.

At any rate They helped us get some tickets delivered right to the house and at 5:00 the next afternoon we were flying to Kunming.

Arrive in Kunming. 30 degrees warmer and a hec of a lot greener. This city is pretty cool! We spent the day wandering around town trying to get our bearings when we stumbled accross a truly active buddist temple. This temple has got monks walking around doing there thing and has been kept up very nicely. The colours in the paint are vivid, and reflective of the care these people put into taking care of there living quarters, and what they value. If I was by myself I would've stayed all day to just have a sit and take in the peace. Luckily I will be returning to Kunming after my trip to Xishuangbanna. Tonight Chris and I will chat with the other backpackers over some beers.

I know there's not much here but I've only been on the road for a few days.

Peace&Love
Patrick

P.S. I'm not going to Thailand. Who said I was going to Thailand. Joey did you tell everyone that I was going to thailand. Love ya bro.

Hey guys
I'll be travelling a lot in the next month so there should be some interesting blog entree's.
Peace&Love
Patrick

Well well well..
How can I start? I've never really done this before so I supose I should introduce my self and say a little something something.

My name is Patrick. People like to call me Pat, which is okay but I do find it nice to hear my full name every once and a while. I often go off on tangents about things that I don't really know about, and more often than not I forget what it was I was initially talking about. Wait a second....... what was I talking about again. Oh well It doesn't matter. I'm really good at pointing out the obvious and that's what I usually make jokes about. So if you think this is at all funny it's not because I'm clever, I just don't hold to much back. I am currently living and working in China, as an english teacher. I have a wonderful girlfriend here named maggie and life is generally going pretty smooth.

That's enough of an intro for you folks. On to the good stuff.

As life passes us by, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly many crazy things are happening all around us. We usually fail to take notice of them but the're there. Hiding, like snakes in the shadows, waiting, waiting for the right moment, the right moment..... to leap out and, ... and... well, I don't really know what there going to do, Who are these crazy little green monsters anyway?

Christmas! Yes, that's the holiday that has recently graced us with more wine than anyman should be expected to intake. Don't remember Christmas eve so well except constantly repeating these words, "Please take care of me Maggie, please take care of me". How pathetic is that. I'm sure you understand my state of being at that point. Anyways. Christmas day, Chris(my roommate and long time friend) and I had all the foriegners up to our place to for a little gathering . It was really great to just sit and chat with them all and really get to know them a little better. Also My good friends from Dushanzi(a nearby small town) came up to join us. There was Charlotte a fellow music lover and crazy ass sister from ausieville, and Michael, another Aussie who has eched his way into out hearts up here in Kilamayi(the city I live in). After the party is when the true fun began. We all headed out to the local pub. "Culture of September" is the name and this place is absolutely fantastic. The atmosphere is great and the set up on stage is pretty good to. We had a big party there, filled the house. Charlotte who plays the violin was kind enough to play a few Ben Harper tunes up on stage with me. With her help we really caught the crowd. Then Chris and another foreigner Rob(from england) came up and we rocked the house for a little while. We even did the lion sleeps tonight because it's possibly the coolest song ever. With a rousing applause we stepped down from the stage and made room for the next musicians to do there thing. They of course did not dissapoint. I must say. The music scene in China is pretty good. There's ton's of local musicians allways willing to jam and they're all pretty good.

All in All It was a fantastic Christmas, except for the part were I felt really sad about being away from my family for the first time. It took me to tears I was so sad. I had a really hard time talking to my father but I realized after I cryed for a little while I was really overrun with things to do and partys to go to. Oh yeah this blog is an attempt for me to be as honest and real as I can. If you prefer not to read that's okay you can just go have a drink or do something else like, punch yourself in the face or something That would be funny.

Anyways all MERRY CHRISTMAS and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
My next blog will be from a different panet I'm sure.
Happy Birthday To Maggie lu
Peace&Love
Patrick