Changsha

The single best word to describe my experience so far is enthralling. I don't know if I've ever been so enthralled in my life. You'd have to give Riley his own elevator to see this much excitement. I'm in a sub-tropical rain forest.There was this huge moth with the wingspan of a small bird that flew into my window and just died on my floor. It looks like something you'd find in a fancy display case. It was raining today and I took off by myself down a path through the trees. It was so amazing to be in the rain in the rain forest just running around exploring. I came to a Buddhist meditation shrine and stopped to there to get out of the rain for a minute and catch my breath. I felt like I was running through the pages of national geographic. I came home and curled up to Hugh Nibley on my bed and then took a nice nap for the afternoon. We took a day trip up to Changsha. We went to the Hunan provincial museum. It was huge and so well done. Most of it was from a single major archaeological find near where they built the museum. There found three burial chambers of an ancient marquee and his wife and child. The wife's body of special significance because it was the best well preserved mummy on the record. She was so well preserved that her skin still had moisture. All of her organs and blood were still there. They were able to tell such particulars as what she had eaten for dinner the evening before she died. She was buried in a series of four coffins, each encased in the next, larger one. The fourth one was massive, as large as a large room. After that we went to dinner at the nicest restaurant I've seen so far. It's called a tea house and looked like something you could find in downtown Boston. It had all the ambiance and atmosphere of a western styled attraction, yet was entirely authentic and non tourist oriented. I have yet to really feel satisfied after a meal, but that the closest I've come so far. Then, on the way home, we took a taxi. It was the single craziest scariest drive I've ever had. Those of you who know me know that's saying something. There were several times I was sure we were going to crash. I feel like this is a sequel to my Russian adventure--the kind you often see from action movies where the second tried to out do the first by being bigger and badder in every respect. So much of it reminds me so much of Russian, but so much is very uniquely Russian. The enthralling features of contemporary Russia are those that are reminiscent of 1960's cloak and dagger. In China however, it's the authentic and sincere statements of architecture and fashion which survived the cultural revolution and show a rich heritage stretching back over 5,000 years.
There's a lotus pool right outside my apartment. It's a large pond with a pathway leading around it. The lotus stands for purity of soul. They grow out of the foulest mud into beautiful white flowers. Yesterday was quite the adventure. I really look forward to getting out in the early mornings in the fog and the mist exploring this new world in which I've found myself.