Visit Chengyang village. Spend a hour and a half with some old men in the village drum tower. Translation (English to Mandarin) on translation (Mandarin to Donghua) was interesting. Justin explains how the solar system works on the insistence of the man translating Mandarin to Donghua. Have names engraved in tablet.

Visit a villager's home, which was pretty typical for the Dong--wooden, elevated with livestock below. It was dark inside, but the people were nice. The daughter was pretty funny.

They plan to cross the boarder into Guiyang province, so we parted ways in Sanjiang. Justin and I took a two and a half hour bus ride to Baxie and explored the town. Justin was pretty confident we would see another bus to take us to Tong Le were we planned to stay. We started walking in the direction of Tong Le; a bus never showed. We reached the village north of Tong Le around dusk and hired a three wheel truck to take us to Tong Le.

After arriving in Tong Le, we checked into a hostel. The nephew of the owners invited us into his aunt and uncle's office-den-kitchen room for some conversation and dinner. What a feast we had. The nephew's brother, sisters, wife, and sister-in-law, and father also joined us for dinner.

After much discussion, we decided a visit to the Jianjiang (Yangzi River) Three Gorges and Three Little Gorges would not fit into our plan and may have not been worthwhile during the winter.

Spent some time in town--good Chenglish found--and Meg and I biked around the countryside for about two hours while Justin stays in Yangshuo. Beautiful countryside. The misty day made them more mysterious that on a sunny day.

Flew to Xi'an late afternoon and early evening.

In the afternoon, toured the Shaanxi History Museum. Interesting look at civilization around Xi'an, which has existed for over two millennia. On our way back, a large, sunny late afternoon crowd was flying kites in the center of a roundabout near one of the old city gates.

Had hot pot for dinner as a last dinner with Justin during my trip. The hot pot was very good--spicy, Sichuan broth on one side and delicate broth on the other.

The soldiers were very impressive. Each one was different and may have been modeled after real people. Not a bad burial site for Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of a unified China (third century B.C./B.C.E.)

I had my first and only run in with the Chinese police. While in tomb three, I was caught picture taking, which is forbidden. Justin and I were pretty shaken (not stirred), but Justin managed the situation surprisingly well. The guard should have taken my film, but instead he took advantage of the situation, which included the absence of his superiors and peers. He first asked for U.S. currency, which I did not have, and then asked for two hundred kuai (about US $24). I paid no questions asked, but it stung my conscience. We took a taxi back due to tight scheduling.

Parted with Justin. Meg and I flew to Beijing that night.

Later, Meg and I visited the Temple of Heaven in Tiantan Park.. The Temple of Heave is very beautiful. One of my favorite places in Beijing.

We had hoped to see an acrobatics show, but the day had worn us out. Instead, we rested and went out for Peking/Beijing duck.

Shiro Fukada, an old friend of Meg's, met us at the airport. Shiro drove us around a small part of Tokyo and then to our hotel in Shinagawa. The three of us had drinks and appetizers, which were very expensive!

Spent the afternoon, walking around some neat areas and grabbing a bit to eat.

Kyoto is a very peaceful town.

• Kinkakuji Temple (Zen Buddhist)
• Ryoanji Temple (Zen Buddhist)
• Heian Shrine (Shinto)
• Ginkakuji Temple (Zen Buddhist)

Two Kyoto University students surveyed us about violence in Japan as a part of their English class. A recent rash of violence had hit Japan bringing the Japanese to begin conversations about apparent changes in their society. As probably typical of foreigners, especially violence numbed Americans, we could not relate well to their concern. Japan appeared to be a very safe country.

Meg introduced me to Japanese curry that evening. What a wonderful dish!

Meg and I found an inexpensive ryokan and bunked our stuff for the afternoon.

We took the train to Yokohama to spend the weekend with Shiro, Yoshiko, Shun, and Yu.

For dinner we ate shabu shabu, which is the Japanese version of hot pot. Kobe beef is very good.

Michio and Noriko, Shiro's parents, invited us to their house in Tokyo and then out to dinner at the American Club. I had vague memories of Shiro's parents when they visited the United States, but it was nice to have met them as an adult. Noriko is such a vibrant and warm person, and Michio is also very warm.

Michio and Noriko gave us several presents of which one was three sumo wrestlers. At dinner, we saw three sumo wrestlers and had our pictures taken.