Home?

Helloooo Eugene.

I have not slept in over 40 hours, but I've eaten a lot of food, and (yet again) I find the smell of home to be overwhelmingly right.

Things happened during my last couple of days in Beijing. Most notably:

1) Miles and I ate at a Tibetan restaurant, which was odd, to say the least. Some of the decor was spot on (i.e. kata, loungish benches beside the tables, a preponderance of yak meat), but enough of it was alien to make the experience uncanny (i.e. really weird paintings, sweet tea that wasn't sweet tea, staff in formal Chinese garb). We got uncomfortable when the waitress asked us if we knew anything about Tibetan history, but, instead of delving into the political mire that surrounds Tibet, she took us to a small room at the back of the restaurant. It was full of overpriced knicknacks. To this Chinese waitress, Tibetan "history" can be encapsulated in pretty merchandise. To me, this was too telling for comfort. Additionally, we ordered what turned out to be yak skin for lunch, so I left the restaurant with an unpleasant taste in my mouth that was both figurative and literal.

2) We slept on the Great Wall of China. Due to a bit of disorganization (read: lost in Beijing as per usual, insane bus stations with ten zillion people screaming, taxi driver that would pout like a kid when we wouldn't let him rip us off), we got there at nightfall. Our taxi driver kindly lent us his flashlight (he probably did rip of off after all...) so we could find the Mightly Wall Itself. For some reason fireworks were exploding around us like popcorn on acid as we made our way up the ridiculously steep wall, and, that night, China was as hot as a shower stall. I dodged screaming bugs the size of small songbirds and heaved myself upward until finally we reached a suitable guard tower for sleeping. It poured during the night and flashed periodic lightning, and we awoke to find ourselves inside a cloud. The wall wound mysteriously through the mist, and I felt like I should go conquer Sauron or something.

There was some some flying and stuff, and now I am back, where it's kind of weird how things aren't really that weird at all. I suppose it's nice that I can flush my toilet paper, but I'm still processing exactly what happened to me over the course of the last seven weeks. And I'm a bit delirious.

More to come.
Expect pictures soon.
Off to the trampoline with my blankets...
I will think about this as I watch the stars wink through oak leaves.