Mountainyoga_still there

  Beijing, western hills, China
Sunday, September 17, 2006

Mountainyoga_still there
Hello dear readers,

I am still at the Mountainyoga center...
No you are not reading the old message again!!

During the last weeks I have decided that focussing on myself (fysically,mentally and internally) was more important than seeing the China sights. Also after talking to my brother and A (his girlfriend) I have changed my travelplans even more. They have great difficulty in finding an institute/person to help her learn Dutch in Thailand in order for her to do the necessary exams after which she can apply for the 5-year visa. So I decided to go to Thailand early and help her for 3-4 weeks with it until I fly back to the Netherlands, which will be on Friday 3th of November.

Some people find it a 'waste' of my precious traveltime to stay in one place for so long, but I see it differently. Traveling will always be part of the things I love to do and as I am going to be around for a long time, I will have plenty of time in my life to that later again Just a matter of priorities I guess.

So what have I been doing these last weeks?
Sticking to the scedule as I wrote it last time for most of it, which means 6 hours a day of asanas and meditation/concentration technics. I my 'free time' I also did other things though:
- Pottery at the neighbour's place
- Surfing on internet (at the neighbour's place ))
- Playing ping-pong with Roman (our new hobby)
- Watching a few episodes of 'Friends' (at the neighbour's place hahaha)
- Hiking in the surrounding hills

This weekend I am in Beijing though.
Although days seem to fly by at Mountainyoga I still got a bit bored of the daily routine so escaped for a few days.
Last friday I met up with Miriam. She's an austrian girl whom I met at Mountainyoga before and lives in Beijing at the moment. We went to Dashingzi, the art district, where she is helping with an art exhibition. That night I had dinner with a lot of artistic people and great food! As I have been eating mostly raw food (read: vegetable and fruit) at mountainyoga, this was a welcome change as well. Saterday I explored Beijing on my own. Finally swapped my reading book (which I read twice already) and booked the Secret Wall tour for the next day. The great China-wall is a sight I really wanted to see before I move on!

Today we went to a part of The wall which is not mentioned in the Lonely Planet or other guidebook, which means NO other tourists and more importantly NO chinese sales people pestering you with all sorts of crappy things. Just me (and about 8 other people) on an unrestored part of wall! After a pretty steep climb up I was there, standing on THE wall. Very impressive. We walked/climbed on the wall for a few kilometers and had great views. Knowing that in the wall are people buried, who helped built the wall is a bit eerie, but the fact remains that this is a great handmade masterwork. We saw some restored parts of the wall on our way over. It looks much higher and wider, but also very 'new'. I am glad I have seen the original work!

Now what are my plans for the near future....
Tomorrow I am going to buy the trainticket to Guangzhou, a place in the far South-East of China (22 hour trip), leaving Fri. 22nd of September. From there it is 3 hours by bus to Macau, from where I will be flying to Bangkok,Thailand on Monday 25th of september. So only a few days left at Mountainyoga and packing my backpack again: I am as relaxed as can be, lost some weight and sorting most of my thoughts out, so feels oke to move on again!

'Live your dreams'
Liekie