Ehhh fam, what's happening? You're probably surprised that this next blog is coming so 'soon'. I'm trying to improve my consistency. Not bad eh?

Kunming right now is burning up, the temperature right now is 30C but it feels like 40 in the sun. I guess one of the good things about a lack of rain is that it's not humid right now, which would make it feel much hotter if it was. Life is pace here as usual, moving fast. There's always lots to do and a new assignment coming at you pretty much every day. But at the same time, life here is comfortable.

Last weekend was a long one so we had Monday off. On top of that, those of us who went on the trip to Mojiang County a couple of weeks ago had worked for 12 days straight with no break (because we left on a Tuesday and returned to Kunming on Sunday and had to work the next day). So I actually got last Friday off too, which made the weekend longer than everyone else's. I took advantage of the break and went on a trip to a place called Dongchuan with a couple of friends. It's a small city about 2.5 hours north of Kunming by bus. The area is famous for photography because of its mountains with red soil. The scene is one that you won't forget. The city itself is tucked away in a valley created by a ring of mountains that rise up around it. Especially at night time when we were driving along the mountain range it was beautiful to look down and see the lights of the city below. 

I also connected with a Zambian family that's been living here in Kunming for about 5 years, and went to their house on Monday night for dinner. They live in the north part of Kunming, which takes about an hour by bus to reach from my area. My time with them was a pleasant reminder of home. The food we ate really reminded me of moms' cooking (u dun kno nobody can touch moms' food tho). And I ate with a knife and fork, which was the first time for about a month.

I feel that today I should take you back to the mountains of Mojiang where I was a couple of weeks ago. There was a lot to see there and experience that I've barely even mentioned. There was this one village that we visited which was literally at the top of a mountain. In order to reach we had to get in a small van (they call it a 'bread loaf car' because it looks like a loaf of bread; Trinis call this a maxi taxi) and ride a long some dirt roads for about 45 minutes. The road we were on literally had space for only one vehicle, so it was a good thing that we didn't run into any traffic going in the opposite direction. We drove along this winding road until we got to the very summit of one mountain. It was a crazy view of the other mountains from that perspective because you're looking down on the smaller mountains instead of looking up at all the mountains. One we reached the summit we crossed over to the back of the mountain and descended on the village which was quite near the summit.

The village we were in has always had water problems because of its remote and inaccessible location, but they have a simple system of pipes made from black rubber which draw water from a source that's in the mountain and then feeds the village. Apparently the pipes are made from a material that is not safe for drinking water but they've had no resources for changing the system. Most of the people in the village leave for most of the year to find work in other areas and then send money home. However, almost all the farmers who remain in the village are coffee farmers who sell their crop to corporations who are involved with fair trade (Second Cup? Starbucks?) and come to the village area to purchase the coffee beans.

We met the chief of the village, who we were introduced to by our bread loaf driver. The chief, a young looking guy, was very friendly and tried to offer us tea and food several times. We all resisted politely, but he ended up forcing a cup of tea into my hands because I was seen as a 'distinguished guest' from abroad. He has a daughter which he explained was about 18 and lived in a different province where she was married. I think I mentioned this in my earlier blog, but this is a big problem for guys in the village. Girls leave out the village from they're young to go look for a husband that can offer them a better lifestyle, and when they come back to visit they're already married. That means that there's a whole heap of single dudes in the village that are desperately looking. This is one of the factors that can lead to men literally buying their wives from people that specialize in delivering women from other areas of China or Asia. The overall price of buying a wife ends up being economically better because it costs less than putting a wedding and offering a bride price to the bride's family (as tradition requires). On top of that, the girls are trained (especially if from other areas of Asia) on Chinese customs and tradition as well as language in preparation for marriage.

Well, at the end of our visit the chief offered us some small green mangoes that were still not ripe. He told us that because they're young we have to eat the flesh and the seeds at the same time or else we'd get diarrhoea if we just ate the flesh. Interesting eh?

Anyhow, that's enough for now family. Good to be in touch with you all. Keep on keeping on, I know some of you don't have it too easy right now but hold ya head aight. Things are gonna get easier. Bless.