Zhang Jia Jie

Well we survived the last 5 days!! I can't believe it. Our school sent us on a little vacation. We traveled to the west of our province to a place called Zhong Jia Jie. It was amazing. Famous for its mountainous scenary ,Zhong Jia Jie is the most facinating natural attraction I have ever been to.
We started our journey at 6:30 am leaving our school by bus to Yue Yang city ( this is the closest city to us) this was half an hour. Then we arrived at got into a mans car that our headmaster knows, Honestly sometimes I feel like my life is a little like a mafia movie. People know people that know people. Then we were driven to the other bus station and took a bus all the way to Zhang Jia Jie. It was 6 hours! The was a little cramped, but we got to see a lot of the beautiful country side and the way the landscape can completly change in our province. We saw cotton fields and many people still working the fields by hand. Then near the houses they would lay out all the cotton and dry it. It was pretty amazing to see all the fluff balls all spread out. When we arrived we noticed many mountain ranges and a big city just underneath it all. This is Zhang Jia Jie. The next day we awoke and right away were rushed off to the first mountain. It took 1 and half hours up and about 1 hour down. They even have these men that have these bamboo carraiges and you can pay them 130 rmb to carry you up. We of course didnot do this because not only were the stairs very shady but the carraiges were also creeky. Then men carrying these things were also really old. I felt really bad for them. We had one guy in our group that kept paying for it. So we nicknamed him emperor.
It was beautiful. If you have ever seen those chinese movies like crouching tiger hidden dragon, you will know these mountains. You really know that your working it when your leg starts to tremble about half way down!

That night we went out on the town and went shopping. Fun for emily, not so fun for Joe. I bought a purse and ate some duck head. Oh yeah I said it Duck head. Our english teacher guide was buying one, and I decided that I would try one too. You have to eat a little meat off the beak and then the brain and the eye. I can tell you its defiently the most discusting thing I have ever eaten! I think I could do fear factor now.

The next day we traveled to another mountain called Tian Zi. These are many mountains all combined into a large national park. Some of these mountains are really little but very high and others are extremly large and very high. We rode a huge cable way all the way up , which while we were riding our guide told me that not too long ago a cable way at another mountain around here had broken down and 100 people died, ahhh could you please tell me this when I am not riding this thing! We arrived safely and were greated by the most amazing views. We then walked 2 hours back down the mountain range. I think this mountain is much taller because the steps were steaper and we had to walk 5 times up and 5 times down. Do a google search for images of Zhang Jia Jia. You will see some amazing landscapes. We are also adding pictures to our picture sight too.
After climbing the moutains the second day my legs defiently felt the pain. I couldnt really walk straight my legs were so used to walking down stairs.
It was beautiful!
Now we are back to our school and the water is said to be clean. Who knows for sure?
We were given 5 huge boxes of bottles of water from our school and we still have alot in our jug, so we should be fine for awhile. I think I will make rice from that for at least the next couple of weeks.
Today we buy a webcam!! hopefully if we can find one. I will let you know then you can see us via the internet.