As I said, this was a monstrous day! 108K, including the longest hill of the entire trip. I quizzed the folks at dinner time, I drank approximately 7 to 8 bottles of water today, probably 20 ounce or 22 ounce times eight. The other folks said they drank possibly one third of that amount, that indicates that they were probably very dehydrated on arrival, that’s why they were so shot towards the end of the day. I’m glad I have a perspective on water consumption, it’s more important than most think on a long hot day…

In the early part of the day we’re climbing up the hill, we started entering two fields, that’s always a pretty thing to see, row after row of Greenleaf bushes…

Today’s overall focus seemed to be on completion, so few pictures and not too many stories to tell. I can say that we’ve continued to see an absolutely mind-boggling amount of construction in every single direction! Buildings, roads, bridges, pipelines, everything happening all at once it seems! The Australians are huge trading partners with the Chinese, and allegedly there is a slowdown in the Chinese economy, according to Bill. But, it cannot be noticed here at all, so I suspect that is some Wall Street bullshit…

One brief story I do have is from this morning in Goading. There is a small central market, meat is sold right there hanging and on the tables. Apparently it is great sport for the dogs of the community to visit in the morning during butchering time, I suspect scraps either fall down or get thrown down on the ground. There had to be at least a dozen dogs there today. Their dynamics and interactions were very interesting to watch, you never knew which dog was going to be the next to be voted off the island, and six or seven of the remaining dogs would attack it until it submissively ran away, literally with its tail between its legs, reducing the quantity of dogs in competition for the scraps…

One more observation, many Chinese men are loud and obnoxious. Probably not all of them, certainly not, as our guide is quiet and polite. But you never have to look very far in any direction to find arrogant, loud, swaggering, smoking, apparent assholes. Perhaps the same in the US except that I probably have more tolerance or acceptance of it.

Tomorrow is much shorter day, 32K but a 7K very steep hill at the end up to Ping An, which I remember from my last trip as being in the center of the Li Jiang rice terraces, a most scenic and extraordinary place! We will have to prepare an overnight bag from the end of the ride as we have to hike up 20 minutes from the last place the car can go. The alternative is to hire a local to carry our bags up, but each bag is $16 up, another $16 down. According to our guide, the prices have gone up dramatically recently. As I recall, it was more like two or three dollars when I was your last…

Final note #1, I’m thankful for my health and that I take reasonable effort to prepare for trips like this. I am a lucky man in so many ways…

Final note #2: We started writing through many tea fields today…

Final note #3: We had lunch at to the guides house, his wife and mother were there, two children as well. They have a large house by normal Chinese standards, but they have 13 people living there. This is very different from the western side which typically indicates that everybody has to be successful on their own…