...at the center the drum and the bell...22 hours on the train to Zhongwei traveling not making me a friend of boredom...this glass of oolong tea costs more than dinner... mǎidān!...teenagers breakdancing in front of giant Mao...camelback in the Tengger Owen singing his tune wife ringing his phone...China ten-thousand-year kingdom whizzing by my train window...700,000 laborers 40 years 8,000 clay soldiers could I be the only one indignant?... wǒ bù míngbái...ting ting street ear cleaners attracting customers with dirty ears in Chengdu...1000 yuan to hug baby panda 500 for 2-year-old...card players everywhere parks teahouses train stations playthings of chance...the beautiful girls of Chengdu where are the měi nán?...Baa Baa...can't read ads in China!...a monk two nuns sightseeing... cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ...the perpetual quest for food bathrooms gay guys...police hassling turtle sellers in front of Wenshu temple why?...always wind up missing my own toilet...pleased with myself figured out how to use the train toilets—holes hurtling over blurred railroad ties—without touching the door handles...beer called Bestly...girl with red top gets on train works for a satellite control center no a farmer's daughter no a prostitute Owen says they whisper at night I pretend to be asleep...not being able to read Chinese seems to make it harder to read Chinese people as well...rice fields with scarecrows!...don't have to photograph every beautiful thing I see...on a train beauty even more evanescent fugitive conjunctions...in the dining car wǒ yào sùcài garlic shoots with pork China’s favorite vegetable two women shrieksobbing at the cook no idea what they’re saying drama the same everywhere...Lonely Planet more important than the Bible joked the Australians it says don’t tip they scold me...walked for six hours blister on my right second toe like the little mermaid...trash emblem of humanity...Kunming tea city in love with Doudou...tóngxì...very relaxable Owen always says...Lijiang tea rain eyes to see tongue to taste happy...bladder full bathroom nearby happiness more tea...measuring time with cups of tea until measuring falls away...sprained ankle in Beijing souvenir...fleeced by Buddhist monk shoved three incense sticks in my hand dragged me to altar to light incense put my hands in prayer position recited incantations blew on my hands contribution please priests know how to guilt you in any language...tourists consuming machines...Carmina Burana in Zhongdian aka Shangrila teahouse waitress studied history in university never been to Beijing...most sexless vacation I've ever had penis is old...walk around giant prayer wheel on hill thirty times for happiness...still don't know how to be lazy...ringtone of bus driver Ode to Joy ringtone of cardplayer Mozart symphony fortysomething...Cheng Ho Chinese Odysseus...room of one's own clean bathroom safe city to walk wander round in good café cheap restaurant all I need to be a happy tramper...always amazed when I see white people speaking Chinese...Dagmar has visited over 70 countries her favorites Madagascar Seychelles Cartagena Providencia Costa de la Luz Burma…Dagmar would be an onerous name in America...Sawyer Chinese English teacher at Yunnan University named himself after character in Lost no I don’t watch Lost I said...traveling from bathroom to bathroom meal to meal...Tengger desert still in my shoes...同樂緣 repetition compels repetition despite the results perhaps fatal for the repeater…habit prefers a small orbit...what is seen depends on what is not seen... the mind's weather…the taste of tea affected by its price why is this still surprising?...nature always calling now and now and...travelers leave shit and piss wherever they go...travelers tend to ignore the same things they ignore at home inertia of ignorance...traveling a journey in the mind...the body determines the possible and the impossible...all travelers travel in circles in the middle the desire for desire...habit a great comfort in times of great stress...