Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,
 
Well Well Well!
Three holes in the ground!

Five Spring Festivals and three years later I continue to live a wonderful life here in China!
Yes, on this day three years ago I flew from The Land Down Under to the Confusing Land Uphere! Doing so made most of my dreams become a reality and a reality they still are.
 
For some reason though I don't thing the Ziyi Zhang dream will come true!
HHHHHhhhhhmmmm has she got what it takes to replace my Audrey Hepburn obsession!
Strangely both were dancers when young and have that same awesome body shape.
One may have eaten noodles when growing up and the other not..but hey....both are beeeeauties!
http://www.helloziyi.us/Galleries/pictures.htm
 
So, after three years has it been worth giving up everything I had back in Australia?
Ie: A very well paid and comfortable office job and a beach life on the Gold Coast where I swam and rode for most of the day and night and worked for three or five hours!
 
(When asking such questions I never include friends and family.
If you did you would never leave home!)
 
Are you insane!
Of course it has been worth it!
 
I have the greatest job in the world and I get to travel the world's most diverse country four months a year. If I acted like I do here in any job I had back home I'd be locked up within days! I've now lived in three completely different provinces and have traveled many more from east to west.
 
From desert to coast, bamboo to sand, rice fields to sweeeeeet bugger all!
Life my friends, continues to amaze me as each day passes.
Thankfully the amazement is mostly in a positive manner.
 
Believe me, sometimes it isn't and I'm left shaking my head in confusion for days. Things here are sometimes.....simply put.....too confusing even for the Chinese themselves. Many times even they are left speechless and simply go with the flow as it is easier than trying to make sense of the senseless.
 
I have made so many wonderful friends and now have a mat to sleep on in most villages, towns and cities I have already visited if I wish to return. I have traveled on some of the most dangerous roads in the world and climbed some of the most beautiful mountains. I have been eating the worlds most varied cuisine the entire time I've been here and have sat for feasts or simple bread bits with Lama's, Monks, Students, Families, Leaders, Ministers and many wonderfully caring friends. I have walked the silent streets of uncountable ancient rural villages along will the unbearably noisy and confusing walkways of cities that are modernising much too fast.
 
I am on my third bike and all have taken me to places that very few Westerners will ever ever get to visit.
That is unless they are crazy enough to ride to the places I do.
 
So, am I satisfied?
Am I ready to pack the pack and head home?
Are you insane!
 
I've barely touched the surface of this insanely diverse country where the people from the north can't understand those from the south, those in the south can't understand those from the village next to them and those from the far west completely confuse everyone as to what the hell they are singing about along with what country they look like they come from.
 
No, unlike most Foreign Teachers who come here, I rarely suffer the 'I can't do it anymore' blues.
 
In fact I seriously can not remember ever waking thinking that it was time to fill the pack and head home. Instead I continue to look into the future, my Lonely Planet guide and onto the map upon my wall as to where to head next. I've finally got my Visa sorted in a way that it no longer will expire half way through my Winter Break so from now on even my Winter Break will be filled to the brim with ancient and modern wonders and somewhat organised yet confused chaos!  
 
I've pretty much decided that this will be my last term here in Shaowu and Fujian Province.
Change calls and the winds of change are beginning to stir.
 
While most will be heading to Beijing for the Olympics I will be running in the complete opposite direction and shall watch it from the comforts of a small rural town BBQ area. The world is my noodle and as a wise man once said to me;
 
Remember my friend, life's one big long noodle!
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was Guns N Roses
The album was, hahahaha, speaking of noodles, it was the 'Spaghetti Incident'
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PS: the photos for this entry are from my Third Year Dumpling Feast!
 
During the day Luo Wei and I headed to the market place and for dinner we invited Canadian Rob, Li Ping (Joyce) and Yu Wen Jin. While Luo Wei wokked up many delicious dishes the rest of us made dumplings......um, correction.... Li Ping and Yu Wen Jin made dumplings and Rob and I simply made a dumpling mess!