Just a few minutes ago our TaiJi school informed us we would have the next two days off to celebrate the calendar New Year (not the Chinese New Year in February). So, whoopee! We're going to nearby Shiyan tomorrow morning for some rest and dining.
Twenty-ten was a very active year to say the least. We began it in Zanzibar. Cabrini's and my first night dive together the evening of January 1st was a thrill. We surfaced to a full moon rising over Stone Town, a thrill I'll never forget.
Later in the year we got to spend some time among the African wildlife in the Okavango Delta.
Then of course we finished our Peace Corps service on May 19th. Immediately we bolted for wonderful Cape Town, South Africa where we got a tremendous adrenalin rush doing some shark cage diving among other things. During that trip we relaxed along side Lake Malawi (my only new country visited in 2010, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro (summiting at 6:45AM, June 17th), cruised the Nile, visited ALOT of piles of ancient Egyptian rocks and got some great reef diving in at Sharm El Sheikh.
Finally, after over two years we got a few minutes back in the US and A. Six weeks actually. It was great, but the road still called.
August 25th found us landing in Beijing. If you ever want to see what's going on in China now's the time to do it.
Four months later we are living and training at the Wudang Taoist Kungfu and TaiJi School in the Wudang Mountains. We're loving it! The training is generally hard, but we're surrounded by gorgeous vistas. Our biggest challenge now (aside from the twice daily workouts) is the January and February weather. It'll be cold but together Cabrini and I will see it through and come into Spring lean and mean.
We're planning on staying here until at least August. After that, what the hey, more travel. We want to visit Lhasa in Tibet, Sikkim in India, Bhutan, Vietnam and BACK TO SRI LANKA!!!!!
With all the travel and everything this year I only read 79 books, fewest since 2006. Probably won't do much better this year, although my Nook ebook reader from Barnes & Noble makes access to books VERY easy!
But for this moment now we want to say Happy New Year to all our friends, fiends and loved ones!
