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