Lyon (and China plans!)

So, I'm hanging out at la Bonne Maison right now, in Lyon. After being in so many big, noisy cities lately, its nice to relax in the garden (and the pool!).


This european keyboard is killing me right now so I'm keeping things short. Played games with the cousins (Solenn and Alice) yesterday, and met Julie, who's studying landscape architecture and has been volunteering in the garden lately. She had just come back from China actually, and had been in Beijing at the same time as me. It was great to talk about China with her - she'd actually stayed in Lijiang for a bit and had gone to a Naxi village with some friends. She'd also gone to Shenzhen, which I really want to visit.

Actually, I was flipping through one of my China guidebooks and kind came up with a travel plan for mid-August, when I'm done with teaching in Mianyang. I'm thinking of working my way through Yunnan, but only as far south as Kunming probably (leaving Xixuangbanna for another time, I guess), and then heading to Guilin (to maybe get a ride on the river to Yangshuo and back), then on to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong (where my flight to San Francisco leaves from). I think using trains the whole way is pretty doable, unless I find flights that are cheaper.

Anyays, I'm getting very excited for China (again!) althought I still have to get that kind of obligatory, yet very troublesome visa...