(semen like semaine in haitian creole, not seminal fluid...)

so
while searching through my word files for osap information, i found this! 
"finish india blog" has been on my to-do list for over a year, and i
didn't realize how complete the write-up was until now!  i think at the
time i wanted to add a little more insight than what i had written, so i just
left it, then school absorbed my entire life.  it's been so long that the
hope for more insight has faded, so here it is- for better or worse:

super smooth modification of the famous line, i know, thank you.
 

so the highlight of guilin was probably its brocolli.  this is true for two reasons: 1. guilin was crappy and 2.

on the train to chengdu i was harrassed by more children that simply could not comprehend that i did not speak chinese.  they did practice their english though, and one made me laugh as he kept screaming "yes!" with a huge fist pump, for no apparent reason.  he then recited english fruit names.  at the end of the trip, one of the 7-year old boys told me that he loved me.  so cute.
 

(oh god, it's a long one.  can't say i didn't warn ya.)
so welcome to china!  i met a real nice man on the plane named yong so i felt all warm and fuzzy about china to start.  thhheennn i got off the metro.  i have never been more disoriented.  none of the streetnames matched the map and i was so incredibly confused about which way was even north.  after withstanding sufficient autorickshaw driver harrassment, one had a list of hostels written in chinese and english- i saw mine and was sold.  i gave in.
 

so while looking into prices for flights to beijing, i discovered a seat sale for flights to vancouver and then realized it would be the same price to fly from toronto to beijing as it would be to fly from toronto to vancouver, then vancouver to beijing. i seized this opportunity to see both the west coast and one of my bestest friends and her lovely hubby. then, trying to be even cheaper, i thought that if i waited longer, i might get an even better price on the vancouver to beijing flight. i was wrong.