Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

Several ESL teacher friends and I had taken advantage of the Chinese October Holiday to travel around the southern parts of our new homeland. Our week-long trip was coordinated by a Chinese friend who wanted to make sure we saw everything, he even gave us an hour by hour itinerary and demanded that we follow his guide or else miss out on all the south had to offer. Not wanting to disappoint him we set out on the fourth day for our scheduled bamboo boat rafting tour. We hired bikes and followed a guide to the edge of the river. The terrain was unforgiving and when we finally boarded our boats we were sweaty, panting, and forgetting to simply look around at the gorgeous scenery. About 3 minutes into our boat ride, after climbing aboard and donning life vests, suddenly the river became still. I felt so far away from the hustle of everyday China. I grabbed my camera hoping to capture the stillness and peace that I felt in that moment, floating down the river, at the request of my friend.