miscellaneous rambling

This is the first time in a long time that I have ever gone on a trip with a large group. As you all know, travelling can stress even the best of relationships sometimes. I only knew one of the 26 people on our tour and that person I only met 3 times before.

So far, we all get along, and it's been interesting to see the different personalities here. I"m meeting some interesting people. One of which is Mr. Ren. He is from Taipei, and owns a restaurant, a dog grooming company, and is a designer. he is quite interesting, and is also into Thangka painting, so we have done alot of shopping together.

There is a person on the group who doesn't talk much, and reminds me of a Chinese Harvey Keitel.

My bus partner is a retired teacher named Mr. Jiang. He asks me questions like, " Do you still dig holes in the snow to refrigerate food in Canada?"

and, "Do you use Chinese brushes to write in Canada?"

he also lectures me on Chinese poetry. It's been making the 18 hour bus rides even longer... He looks like the grandpa from the Simpsons, but without the glasses.

My roomate is "Benny" from Taichung. He is about 43 years old. Very nice guy. We have discussions about Taiwanese TV vs. Mainland Chinese TV.