La Poste Retourne

I'm back in Shanghai and have 5 days before I fly back home. For those not in the immediate "know," I stopped work early and fled northwest on a 45 hour train ride (no seat, slept on the floor - got stepped on, spat on - and loved every second) to a Chinese "autonomous zone" called Xinjiang. Two weeks of daggers, desert, and talk of dissidence later, I was on a 53 hour train ride to Shanghai.

I then went with a friend to Yunnan province, which is in the south. Most notably, the Chinese Dai minority know how to bbq a fish (in between unseparated chopsticks, with lemongrass and sprinkled MSG). We also hiked a gorge.

I said some goodbyes in Beijing to people I don't want to have to miss, and then almost missed the train back here, to the city of many monikers. The jazz is shuffling in the background. We're going out for lunch and I have a mama Wu here to take care of me until we fly back.

I miss a lot of you. I will see you soon, presumably.