"I'm Tired and I Want to Go to Bed"

Ev'rybody!

(That's a song, right? Or a sing-along thingy?)

Anyway. I'm tired. I have a headache, I've seen my last real traveling sight, and it was a doozy: Shaolin Si. Go go crazy breaking-steel-bars-with-forehead monks. I even saw one ~17-year-old monk throw a sewing needle through half an inch of glass and break a balloon on the other side... without shattering the entire sheet of glass. It just poked a hole through it, he hurled it with such focus. There were three other deep chips that marked his previous attempts. Well, warm-ups. Damn impressive.

Aaron would have been jealous. I saw Frog Gong Fu!! That's right... instead of dragon style, or snake style, or crane style... frog style! Crazy flippy monk. Also saw monkey and... hmmm... I think tiger style. Monkey style looked radically unpredictable. They did some "internal" martial arts (which is what they were doing prior to steel breaking and needle-breaking-glass - focusing qi using very tai ji quan-esque movements and such) and lots of "external" Shaolin quan styles. Very cool.

A lot of the buildings and areas were nice, also, and leaving around 16:30, we saw a bunch of students training, so I took some pictures. They go through a lot those kids.

So this is it, the end of the line. 8 days to go!!! I'm back in Tangshan tomorrow afternoon from Tianjin. I can't wait. I'm going to sleep for 16 hours or something. As long as I possibly can. Then I'm going to get some of my old haunt's take-out food, and watch a DVD. And use my own computer to organize all these pictures. And sleep. Did I say that? Well I'm going to sleep twice. In a row.

... but I have to pack. I hate packing. I'm such a procrastinator. Though this time I am definitely motivated. I also need to go into Beijing to get a few final projects under way. I may put the money out for a room at a hostel just so I can take in one suitcase first, then bring the second and third when I leave Tangshan on Sunday. Carrying the whole mass is a serious pain-in-the-ass and then some. And I feel like a woman having packed and brought as much as I have. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I've had a great trip, but it's time to be heading home. I'm travel'd out, and just plain worn out - body and mind. I'm so very excited to be seeing many of you soon. 8 DAYS!! Okay, I'm off. Bus station ho!