The things of dreams...

came true in a surreal fashion on Saturday. I am going to have to post this in parts so that I can get all of the pictures on here.

It started way too early. At 7:00 a.m. we were picked up and piled in the van. We brought our box of frozen water bottles, sunscreen, swimsuits, camera, chocolate chip cookies, river shoes, bug repellant and our adventuresome attitudes. We were greeted by an enthusiastic young Chinese woman who was to be our guide for the day; our favorite Selena. Her enthusiasm is contagious.

We drove for an hour to her home town of Chang Tai Fijian, China. While taking we realized that my father-in-law didn't have a second pair of shoes and he needed to have some shoes that could get wet on the river, for his protection. So our wonderful driver (who is becoming a real friend of Daniel's as they drive to work everyday) pulled over to this shop and we got him some shoes.

 This woman helped him find the right size, found him the camo ones, and laced them up for him.

The Allen Adventurers.

Selena was so excited to have us in her home town. We got out of the van and were ushered into the rafting headquarters where we changed our clothes and were inundated with smoke from Chinese cigarettes.

We patiently waited in the oppressive heat until it was our turn to get on the bus to the top. We all raced off the bus where we were issued a yellow hard hat and a regulation one-size fits all Chinese orange life vest. We then sat through a presentation in Chinese where the gracious young ladies chosen from the audience showed us us how to sit, what to do with our bamboo pole, and how to ride the rapids.

We then went through the crowd and Xiao Zhou (driver, "show," as in shower, "joe") got us all rafts and one for himself. I pushed through to get a bamboo pole that looked most like a paddle then we waited our turn to get into the water. We then got in our boats and rode down a flume to begin our ride where we experienced calm, rapids, and eddies that forced us to the side. We had a good time. As we were drifting through the slower parts we had time to enjoy the amazing scenery around us. I was not able to have a camera with me as it would have been ruined in the water. Take my word for it, it was amazing. Surreal.

There were two photographers along the way who captured us in our vulnerable moments and then printed the pictures out for us. We bought them and scanned them. Here is Xiao Zhou's:

He's such a wonderful guy. The whole he was helping someone - getting their shoe, helping them empty their raft or pulling them out of the side waters. He has a wife and two daughters. They sure have good man as their husband and father.

I'll post the other rafting pictures tomorrow.

Then we got to the end, piled back on the, to the main office to shower and change. Xiao Zhou got the air conditioner going as we let our feet dry out and drank our chilled water. When we were all finished we piled into the van, taking every seat available, and headed to the local hotel for a special lunch.

I did not take pictures of this, but we had sweet & sour pork, the best ever, kung pao chicken, vegetable (like spinach), soup, rice and watermelon juice. Selena knew exactly how to take the best care of us. We were "chi bao le" - very full at the end of it.

Then it was time for the long drive - another hour and half inland, up to the Tianluokeng Tulou clusters. The Tulou houses are the traditional buildings of the local people in the inland parts of the Fujian province. You can read about them here.  It was amazing. We drove the winding roads, saw some amazing sights and were amazed the whole time.

Wednesday I will post more about our adventures in the mountains of China. I have lots of beautiful pictures to post.