animals are good

Those with proper protien,

Bless the souls that have pulled the cart of globlaization to China. Heaven is not fronted by pearly gates but golden arches. After three weeks of severe protien deprivation and no clearly defined limits of what are and are not edible parts of animals we were able to indulge in the source of America's health decline. Alhtough the Big Mac is beef because it comes from cows it probably also violates the laws of edible parts and smuggles the "unedible" into us through the clever guise of an "all beef patty." Asia has not quite figured out that meat is meant for more than just seasonig dishes.

I guess when you have one billion people to feed, any cow that gets killed has to be ground up and served as a spice in your dead plant dish so everyone gets a taste. No protein crazy body builders here. Hopefully one day someone will rip off the shoulder of some unsuspecting animal throw the WHOLE thing on a fire and discover that animals are better eaten in large pieces than just little sprinklings over noodles and rice.

After much haggling and double checking people with a severe language barrier we have managed to make it to Chengdu and will be in Beijing by tomorrow. We will be flying to the land of the free on July ninth and will be landing in Colorado (where a man can walk a mile high, oooh "a mile high"! big deal---just kidding) around 2:45pm. Let us know where the best place will be to meet you, we are currently communication Neanderthals with no cell phone. Dad we want to go and try to track down that fly fishing spot.
We will email you later.

Love,

Grericag

Monk Hunting

Momilia,

We have been re arranging our plans to do what we want to do. It is hard to plan for something when you have no idea what it will be like. We are both totally satisfied with what we have seen and have decided that we would have more fun camping out in Colorado and hanging out with Brandon and Trevor. We have changed out flight to July 9th we should be getting into Denver around 2:45pm. We are leaving Lhasa tomorrow July 7th to go to Chengdu to rearrange some Plane ticket mix ups and then we will fly to Xian (terra cotta soldier place) we will get to spend a day in Xian and then take an overnight train to Beijing to fly out on the ninth. IT should be a great finish to a good trip. We want to do some fly fishing around in Colorado. Dad mentioned a place to me last year that another pilot had told him about that was supposed to be really good. He said you had to hike down into a valley to get to the fishing but that is was incredible. See if you can ask him if he remembers where it was it would be fun to try and go find it with him. Today we went to the coolest monastery we have been to yet. It was very relaxed and more like a small city and the monks were very friendly (some places have become pretty jaded because of all the tourists that get piped through them). While we were going in I noticed a sign that said "hospital" so I poked my head in and ended up spending about an hour talking with a Tibetan Monk Doctor. We ate peaches and Yak butter tea and talked about how they practice medicine here in Tibet. It was a very cool experience you never know what you will find when you get curious. We have some incredible pictures that will be good to show you guys. I am glad that Dad bought us that extra memory it has come in very very handy. That is about it from this side of the world. We will be back to your side of the world soon and we will keep you updated.

Love,

Grericag

do the anit-rain dance

Familiainos,

We have been running around here trying to find like-minded people to go to Everest with. We ran into a Chinese guy that is supper stoked about camping along the way and just this morning found another person that is willing to make the trip with us. The only way there is by Land Cruiser (for real off road machines not the lame SUVs that are sold to soccer moms in the states) so we have to fill one up or we end up footing the whole bill. Lhasa is the coolest city we have ever been to. The weather is perfect and there are just too many interesting things to stop and look at plus the people are great. We are excited to get moving though. We will be on the road for five days and should be back into Lhasa by the Fourth of July. Please barbecue something good for us we will do our best to find some fire broiled Yak, fireworks should be no problem to come by. Yesterday we saw about two hundred monks "debating" in a monastery it was a pretty incredible sight.

You always think of the monks as being solemn but they are very fun and joyful people to be around and are very quick to laugh. We are hoping that the forecast clears up we may stay extra days if it is totally socked in so we can see the Himalaya. Keep your fingers crossed. That is about it right now we will email you the next time we get a chance but that may not be for several days.

Love,

grericag

Marmot Sickness

Mom and Dad,

We are now in Lhasa. It feels great to be above the dreary heat of Chengdu. The Tibetan side of town is like stepping back into a bazaar on the old silk road. The mountains are incredible and look similar to Colorado above tree line. The altitude has gotten me a little woozy but Erica is trucking along with no problem. I think I have been scarred by the midwest and its deep fried water. We are quickly learning that the restrictions placed on travel out here have made things difficult and makes it very difficult to step out from the tour groups but we should be able to see what we want to see. We are trying to plan our first trip but there has been a reported "marmot sickness" and the monks and the priests are not letting the yak herders go up into the mountains. Apparently somebody killed a marmot that was waving the yellow thumbs of surrender and has brought a curse on the entire settlement. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it passes and that no Yaks are harmed b/c we need to get our travel permits ahead of time to be able to get back from where we are going (Ganden to Samye). We are probably going to head to Everest first if it looks like the trek may be delayed. Could you do us a favor and check the weather forecast for the everest region over the next several days. Right now there are some broken clouds and showeres and we do not want to be at everest if it is socked in with clouds. Not much more going on here we will keep you updated. We aer going to head into the Barakhor market to get some food.

Love,

Grericag

The Meaning of Chicken

We are in Beijing and are 1-1-and 1 for meals so far. The most dirt cheap meal I have had in my life was the best of the day. Yesterday I was brought to contemplate the meaning of the word Chicken. Chicken has come to signify many things in our society we often think of tender white meat or cowards when we think of the word chicken. This is a very narrow definition of the word and does not take into considertation the complexity of the great and marvelous creature upon which we feed. "Chicken" must be taken in its entirity as an entity. A chicken is not just a pair of filleted white meat breasts or a animal that behaves similarly to people we desire to mock. A true chicken is everything that a chicken must need to be a chicken. It could be argued that any tissue mass containing the same genetic make up of chickens as a species should indeed be considered chicken and marketed as such. Being in China has reduced our communciation abilities to below neanderthal level. Two sophisticated individuals are reduced to totally inept cretins at the mercy of the kind soul that decides to try to help what the short bus just dropped off. So we found ourselves in such a predicament communicating with butchered mandarin and pictures trying to negotiate a lunch. What was understood by all parties involved, through both verbal communication, and graphic reference was indeed a "chicken" dish. When said dish was delivered it was quickly discovered that many details had been left to the mercy of assumption. Over the course of the meal it was difficult to imagine what this "chicken" truly was. Indeed no part from beak to tips of "talons" could be eliminated as possibliities it was soon decided that what indeed had been served before us was either finely disected chicken knee caps or gizzards fried with delicious coating of chinese stuff . As I gnawed around the various cartilagenous parts of the "knee caps" we realized that ordering "chicken" had to have limitations. graphic depictions needed to have large pices of chicken shown thus eliminating the possiblity of small organs parts being considered as part of the definition of "edible chicken." Later on in the evening we found a similar place with an english translated menu that mentioned the possibliity of being served fried chicken kidneys if we so deisred. I contempalted a repeat of the delicious "knee caps" and opted for the kung pao chicken which was indeed what we culturally condiser chicken. Today we hit the Great Wall and then we will be on a train locked in a car with staring faces for thrity hours as we go to Chengdu.

jai jian

Grericag

Midwest Enchiladas

Brandonino,

Here I sit once again in my midwest desperation. I just got some awesome alpine pants for Tibet and I have no place to go to test them out. I woke up this morning and wanted to wear them to church (similar to a three year old wanting to wear his spiderman suit to church) but the responsible grown up in me thought that would be irresponsible, so after I got home I put on my new, water resistant, wind resistant, extremely breathable, "made for heavy aerobic activity in apline environments" Marmot ATV pants. My Vibram soled La Sportiva, crampon compatible Makalus, and a light weight low profile next to skin layer shirt. I then proceeded to put on my new apron to bake some killer enchiladas. Dishwater literaly fled from the surface of my pants as I scrubbed the cutting board between ingredients. Their extreme breathability proved invaluable in keeping sweat away from my skin while in the hot environment produced from the baking enchilladas. The extra dexterity provided by the four way stretch fabric did not restrict my movement in any way, and for a moment I forgot I was wearing them and felt naked in the kitchen. While no immediate use for my Makalus was apparent I am sure that if the need arose I would have no problem kicking holes up the walls to reach the larger enchilada pan in the top cupboard should the need arise. My shirt stayed well out of my way as I diced tomatoes and chicken and provided a perfectly temperature controlled microenvironment around my skin keeping me comfortable the entire time I was in the kitchen. This Ex-Oficio hydrophobic dream performed especially well keeping my stomach and back protected from the elements while reaching for high objects like the cayenne pepper hidden deep in the spice cupboard. The extreme durability of the ATV fabric gave me extra peace of mind as we sat down to enjoy our enchiladas. I knew that because of their heavy abrasion resistance I would be in no danger of wearing out the seat of my pants from sitting too much. I could probably have an intense focal butt seizure and still come out unscathed with these babies on. Our apartment shuttered as I tapped my Steel shanked Makalus on the floor savoring every bite of the little Mexican dream we had just baked. After eating I curled up on the bed to take a nap. The fleecy soft lining of the ATV was greatly appreciated and again the breathability was noted as I woke up in the Missouri humidity.

In addition to wandering around the house playing dress up we got officially initiated into St Louis culture last night when there was a shooting in front of our house. No one was hurt but apparently some people still have problems with the "thou shalt not kill" commandment. Have a great Mexican day.