Xia'men at 8:35 PM

So, as my time in Chawaii came to an end I started to wonder what the heck I should do next. I had no where to go and everyone I wanted to travel with during the break had dropped out. Matt and Kristal Carter had been awesome, but they were going to go to Beijing after Hainan (Chawaii) and I sure as heck didn't want to go to frozen over Beijing. So I opened my lonely planet the night before my train left Sanya and found Xia'men. I thought to myself, 'Self, that looks nice. You should go to Xia'men' So I told Matt and Kristal who told me Xia'men was a random place to go, but it just seemed like a good idea. It wasn't too far from Hong Kong, which is where I was ending my winter holiday and I knew I had enough Chinese down by this point to get there and to Hong Kong on my own. It still seemed a little daunting, but I figured things would work out.

The next night we went to the train station destined for Guangzhou where I knew I would split paths with the Carters. When we got there we met two foreigners. One was a Chinese guy with an Australian accent, and the other was this nice little white girl with a French accent. We struck up a conversation. They were really nice. The Chinese guy was born in china and raised here until he was about 12, then he moved to Australia. Then he moved to Canada and met this nice girl from Quebec and they were traveling together. Really cool people, turns out he was teaching her English/Chinese and she was teaching him French. When he first asked her out she couldn't speak English and he couldn't speak French. Kind of cool. Anyways, turns out, you guessed it, they're going from Sanya to Xia'men. They totally helped me get a sleeper bus, which I took the night we got to Guangzhou, and then when we arrived in Xia'men his Aunt dropped me off at my hostel. Talk about awesome. I spent a week in Xia'men visiting with some members of my branch and seeing the sights.


A few days into my time in Xia'men I decided that I should buy my ticket to Hong Kong, I was hoping for another sleeper bus, but all I could find was a day bus. It left at 8:30 in the morning and I had to be at the small office where I got my bus ticket at 7:40am for the bus to pick me up. This isn't easy since I'm kind of a night owl. I only get up early when I have to, but it's not a serious issue. The night before I set my phone to go off at 6:30am so I could take a shower and take my time. I'm still not sure what happened, but I do know that my alarm either didn't go off, or I slept through it. Having gone to sleep at 1:30pm the night before this could be potentially scary, but luckily I woke up at 7. I realized that my alarm hadn't gone off and that by all accounts I still should be asleep with how tired i was the night before. Pretty awesome. I caught my bus, and all was well.


Things I learned on my trip to Xia'men.

1. Traveling alone is bitter sweet. I've never had SO MUCH FREEDOM! It was awesome. I went where I wanted, when I wanted, with who I wanted. It's really satisfying for me to follow where the wind blows. I loved it, but it came at a price. I understand more and more what the Lord means when he says men and women aren't meant to be alone. I think that's something a lot of people with significant other's take for granted. As for me I'm sure a lot of the things I saw would have been significantly better had I had someone to share it with. So it goes. I'm still happy and I'm sure the Lord will remedy that in his tme.


2. The Lord is TOTALLY still looking out for me. I see it all the time, in big and little things, but I see it most clearly here in China because I'm so clearly on my own. It's funny, because the Lord's been there the whole time even though I haven't always recognized it.


3. I can speak good enough chinese to do things on my own. Who'd a thought. Don't get me wrong, my chinese is still bad, but it's improved a lot considering I knew zip when I got here.


Pictures / Things I found in Xia'men


1. A really cool Bhuddist temple. It's called the Nanputou temple. It's huge, there are supposed to be monks everywhere, but it's hard to see them because they're living quarters aren't open to the public, and for good reason, I would go crazy if my apartment was open to the public. Oh wait, It is. I'm so glad I live in a school. (Slight Sarcasm)

2. Some new friends. This is Yelena and her brother _____ from Switzerland. Ya, I couldn't even pronounce his name, let alone remember it, but they were both really nice. They hung out with me for a day or two. The second picture is Morein from Holland. He came with me to see Avatar in 3D. You don't even notice the Chinese subtitles after a few minutes. I'm surprised at how nice strangers are here. Most Chinese people and Foreign travelers I run into are really nice people.





















3. The Road less traveled by. You know that famous poem where someone decides to take the road less traveled by? I took it, and it was awesome.
















4. Nemo. He was here the whole time. Poor guy is trapped in a really low budget public aquarium, but he seems like he's gotten used to it.

Little More Wuzhishan at 9:17 AM

The first two are Wuzhishan. The third is Matt and Kristal Carter at a house in Shuiman where we stopped for a drink. They tried to give us tea, but we settled for boiled water.
ps Matt and Kristal are basically some of the best traveling companions around. They take great pictures, they never complain, and they're always willing to take the road less traveled by.

Fwd: Chawaii Round 2 - Wuzhishan at 7:22 AM

I know I haven't written for a while, and that I've written other entries since I left of with my winter holiday, but I'm still going to finish writing blog entries for all the places I went that haven't been written yet.

So after a few days in Sanya, we headed up into the mountains a few hours away to Wuzhishan (pronounced Woojurshean). This was really nice. Sanya was awesome, but it was REALLY touristy. It's that way for a reason, good fruit, beautiful beaches, but sometimes it's nice to go back to normal China. So we took off into the mountains to this small town of Wuzhishan. There were some Chinese tourists, but we were the only white people we saw once we left Sanya. Wuzhishan was also where I got the cheapest bed of the trip. Our three bed room was 120 yuan which is about 17$ US. We stayed there for a two nights and it was awesome.

Wuzhishan means five finger mountain. The city is up in the central highlands of Hainan and the mountain is within an hour of the city. Just like the name, the mountain has five points are meant to represent the five most powerful gods in local lore. My students also tell me that this is where Sun Wukong lives. Sun Wukong is the from monkey king in Chinese mythology, I didn't see him...but, it was still a really cool area. It felt like a pretty normal chinese city except there were a lot of excellent parks and hikes close by.

Upon arriving we decided to take a bus ride to the local city of Shuiman (pronounced shwaymahn). This is the way to get to the five fingered mountain hike and this bus ride is supposed to be one of the most beautiful bus rides in all of China, and it totally was. There were a lot of waterfalls just on the side of the road and miles of lush green rice paddies. There weren't that many people there, but the one's we met were really nice and tried to feed us. Once we got to Shuiman we hiked out to the national park where the five finger mountain was, but after getting to the entrance and being told by the gaurds that the base of the hike was still a ways away and that there were no taxis for a long while, we started to hike back (we'd only been hiking for an hour). Luckily on the way back, some random chinese family picked us up and took us all the way back to out hotel. Chinese hospitality is legendary sometimes.

The pictures are as follows

1. Picture of me and Matt talking to some Chinese tourists.

2-3. Pictures around Wuzhishan

4. This was on the road we hiked in Shuiman. It's a native who runs their own honey business. The yellow stuff on the ground is a sweet pollen type substance that you eat. It was pretty good.

Les Miserables at 10:58 AM

Ok, I'm trying to find a way to convey how I feel right now without typing in all caps because I'm so excited. I just finished Les Miserables and it's easily (Setting aside the standard works) the best book I've ever read. Granted it's huge, but it had to be that way. To convey the ideas that he did about the world and about virtue, I just don't think anyone could have done it in a smaller book. Even the Bible and the Book of Mormon aren't really appreciated until time, reflection, and experience have been paid by the reader. I'm going to jump around a fair bit, but bear with me.

This is a spoiler, so if you hate knowing endings you can stop now. Victor Hugo creates this character who is literally beaten down over and over again through life and yet buds and blossoms into one of the clearest pictures of virtue I have ever seen. I saw the musical as a kid and again about a year and a half ago, but it's not the same. It's still great, but the power of the main character isn't explored as deeply due to time constraints. The Character of Jean Valjean wasn't just a great guy. He was consistently stretched through out the story. Given choices between doing what was right or doing what was selfish. Not only did these choices present themselves to him consistently, but they increased in difficulty with time. The fact that the story is fiction is no subtraction from it's power. I feel the same way about Job. I don't know if he was a real guy or not, I think he was. However, he reminds me that I awe at people who were dealt horribly their hand at life and still stood for what was right and true, people who underwent any pain necessary to stand at the end of the day validated by their conscience, free of rebuke from God, and deserving of every respect from man. Obviously the foremost of these being our Saviour. The other thing that basically thrills my soul is that I see this man as an archetype for our lives. He starts out as a common thief, despised by man and rejected from society. Basically a common sinner. Sound familiar? (You and me). Then at a pivotal moment, the Lord stepped in and showed him a better way, challenged him to live it and helped him see life more clearly for what it really is. This process that Jean Valjean goes through of consistent challenges interspersed with moments of happiness is a key characteristic of life. Being single I can't help but notice that single people have this idea that the end of trouble comes at finding that 'special person.' I think I remember feeling this same way (the end of trouble) about graduating high school and coming home from my mission. A sort of "everything is easy from this point on". Needless to say that idea is totally wrong. I don't think there is a point in life where suddenly it's smooth sailing till the end. Here are some examples that things don't get easier. I stayed with some friends in Hong kong who were devastated when they learned they couldn't have kids. I've stayed with other friends who both came from abusive homes and literally took 20 years to get to a healthy point in their marriage. I've seen people in retirement homes who no longer have purpose and are simply trying to not let their spirits whither away with their bodies. I've watched a grown man who I respected all my life cry before my father because he didn't have enough money to buy food for his family. I learn two big things from these experiences that stand out to me now and that I see clearly in this book.

1.No matter how far we've come in life, we are usually presented challenges that push us out of our comfort zone and challenge us to be more than we were before. Intense challenges. It seems to always be the case. It's not that we're doomed to always be going through greater sorrow, so much as that we are constantly presented with greater struggles that can uncover more of what we can become. I think this is the pathway to ultimate happiness. Jeffrey R. Holland once said that our experiencing greater sorrow creates a greater ability to experience and understand joy. It's part of life. It's the path that leads to us attaining the farthest reaches of our potential. These challenges aren't a curse, even though they usually feel that way, but they're the hacksaw cutting at our chains that hold us down to a lower plane. The fact that these trials often approach us even as we approach the dusk of our lives leads me to the next point.

2.This life is not the end. If these trials kept coming through our entire lives and we only met a cold dark grave at it's end, then our existence would be something to mourn about. But I can feel it. I know there is more after this life. I know that great joy is waiting for those who fight through hard trials. I don't understand why those trials are so severe sometimes, but I do know that all things will be mended and all wrongs will be set right at some point in the future. In this life there are days where the only reward is standing clean before your conscience. This is an amazing thing, but sadly not always paired with happiness in this life. The happy ending is not fully present until later. We catch glimpses of it, and we experience parts of it, but the full reward comes after this life. I'm sure there is a supreme happiness that awaits those who have spent their time loving others. I wish I could explain that joy, but I don't even fully understand it, and even if I did I don't think the power to explain it would be given to me.

I see these things in this story. It's kind of amazing. Victor Hugo walks us through the entire lifetime of Jean Valjean who faces problem, after problem, with happiness almost always followed by more struggles and more danger. These things plague Jean and follow him all the way to his death. It sounds tragic, but his death was painted as something beautiful. We often shrink a little at the idea of death, but I think that's mostly because we haven't died before. I think for people who have tried to live their lives in line with their conscience, it's an amazing and happy thing.
Anyways, Really good book. I think this counts as one of the 'best books' we're counseled to study from in Doctrine and Covenants 88.