by Joe Newton & Bob Keith
 

Wednesday night, Mar 7, we flew from Los Angeles on Korean Airlines, chasing the full moon from Laguna Beach to Seoul, losing Thursday, Mar 8, as we crossed the International Date Line in mid-Pacific. On Friday, Mar 9, we flew from Seoul to Hong Kong, where our friend Kris Yiu graciously allowed us to spend several days in his apartment in Shatin and escorted us around Hong Kong.

On Monday, Mar 12, we took a bus to ShenZhen, where we crossed the border into China and then to ShenZhen Airport from which we flew to Chengdu, where Martha Lester (Joe's daughter) and her two daughters met us. We stayed 2 days in the Lesters' Chengdu apartment, which gave us a chance to explore a LITTLE of this city of 3 million people! We then hired a van to drive us to their real home in Mao Xian, in the mountains of NW Sichuan. Along the way, we stopped at the Wolong Panda Reserve.

the Lesters: Peter,Martha,Trajan,Erin,Asha

We spent 4 days & nights with the Lesters in Mao Xian. During that time we went to a dinner party given in our honor by the party secretary of one of the Qiang villages near MaoXian. It was COLD in Mao Xian!!

When we left this town, we went with Peter and Trajan Lester, Martha's husband and son, on a 4 ½ hour bus ride back to Chengdu, where we stayed overnight before flying back to ShenZhen, then bussing back to Hong Kong.

We stayed 4 more days & nights with Kris, who showed us many interesting things in Hong Kong.. On Friday, Mar. 23, we flew back to Seoul, then recovered the day that we had lost by flying back across the Date Line to Los Angeles. We arrived in LA the same day, two hours BEFORE we left Hong Kong!!

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