The End of the End

It’s my final day here and I’m so sad to leave but so happy that I’ve gotten the opportunity to visit this wonderful place. I’ve seen many different people along the river as well, and they all live very different lives, even though they all live along the same river at the same time. As I pack my bags I can’t help remembering seeing so many families that depend on the river and I have have seen how well the can keep their own and protect their families by working hard, and using the Yangtze river the their advantages. I have seen the rice farmers work with it and work hard at that with angles for children, and I have seen the animal sanctuary owner where a man can protect those animals for a living and give them such a beautiful place to be. I still can’t believe the life that their are living and that it can give them so much for all they do everyday. Even though I have only gone through this small part of the end of the Yangtze river and I have learned so much. I have seen so many things and learned a lot in this short amount of time that I have been traveling through the Yangtze River. I can’t wait till I can come back again. I hope that more people can live a life with an equal amount of passion that the owner had. In addition to the amazing hard working attitude that the rice farming family had. I can only dream about the day where everyone can have the mind set like they do.

The Animal Sancuarty

I left at dawn to be able to travel to my next destination. I sailed along the river and watched the beauty of the sunrise. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of it, the colors were so beautiful and they all perfectly blended into the light blue sky that as you turned around the sky would become a perfect dark navy blue. The sky blended into the river as I saw my destination in the distance. An animal sanctuary. We sailed into the dock and l got off. I walked up to the door as the owner came to greet me. We walked together inside as I put my things down. We chatted for a while before he offered to give me a tour. I agreed and we walked around the building. I notice that everything was very organized. Lucky for me is was a small building so we would soon get outside. We left out the back door as he told me about how it was started. It was quite a good story, starting back when he was a boy. He had an extent love to animals so he always wanted to help them stay alive. All of his live he has been working hard to keep them around and he is finally able to do so. I was very inspired and so happy that he could do it for a living. We walked around and I could see all his hard work. From the hand painted fences to the beautiful landscape. I saw many aquatic animals including the siberian crane, finless porpoise, river sturgeon, and a  baiji dolphin and a lot of fish. I’m so glad that all of them a happy.

The Rice Farm

I been traveling for I while finally I’m here. I was warmly greeted and quickly was ushered to a seat for dinner. Their food was delicious and I watched as all their children kept the house clean and all did their chores. Everyone fell asleep at sunset and woke up at sunrise. I followed the children as the got ready for the day. I walked with the parents to their rice farm. I watched for only a short time before they invited me to join them. I walked into the field and watched them work swiftly and quickly. They handed me one of their cutting tool that I couldn’t quite get the name of. I watched to see how they did it and tried it myself. I was easy yet really hard to get the hang of it. I tried by always cut it too short of too long. I watched as they easily cut dozens of bunches quickly while I could barely cut a dozen correctly. After what felt like forever they finally said that they had enough to go back home and separate the rice. I barely have half a basket full when they had two almost overflowing. I walked back so tired with my half basket and sore aching back while the children were finishing with their chores. They were surprisingly still had energy to play. I help them cook dinner and set the table. I watched as the girls helped their mom cook and was amazed of how much they knew and could do for how young they all were. Finally it was time to eat. I was so hungry. After we ate I know knew why they always went to bed a sunset, because they were so tired from a whole day worth of work and chores and they had to wake up at sunrise the next morning to do more work and chores.

The Begining of the End

Salutations, my name is Trixie. I’m an explorer and been traveling along Yangtze River. I’m traveling during the Jin Dynasty. I have not been traveling here long, but I did pass through the other areas in the river to truly get the full idea of it’s beauty and culture. I am currently exploring the end of the river, Nanjing to Shanghai. I have found the end of the river most exciting and beautiful. The Yangtze river flows all in China and empties into the East China Sea. I’m traveling along the end of the river so I can learn about the culture, what they do, and how they live. The river is very important to many different people for many different reasons. The used the river for many things. The used the river for crops. They grew many crops along the river, some of the crops that they grew were rice. Lots of rice. They  also grew cotton, barley, wheat, maize, and beans. Lots of different animals use the river too. Some of the animals that used the river are the Chinese alligator, Chinese paddlefish, finless porpoise, and the Yangtze River dolphin. I’ve see many parts of the river along my travels but the end is always the best. I am currently traveling to see a nice family that is willing to let me stay at their humble home for a day to see what live is like for them. I will go as soon as I finish packing, I hope to see them before dusk. I do not want to keep them waiting too long for me to come.

GOOD NIGHT

At that night I had a dream that I was still in the church. I looked around and I didn't think this was a dream. When I was at the hotel I was sleeping and I was the only one there. I looked at one of the widows and saw that it was morning. I looked to the left and I saw the priest staring at me. I looked at him and i said, “Um gotta go”. He moved out of the way and said, “GET OUT OF MY CHURCH!” He shoved me out of the building and I was surprised that It was super early, I still had time. So I headed to Andy’s house and I knocked on his door. He came out with his shirt off and said “hold on a sec.” I waited a couple minute and he came out the door with very nice silk cloth. I asked him where he got it and all he said is “I found it”. He asked me why I was sleeping. I responded with a little giggle. We started to travel to wuhan. When we got there We saw a lot of smoke.(did you know china was polluted). Andy lead me to this giant church filled with a lot of people. There was meat po waiting to talk to us. He told us about his how people all over the world love the dragon show they put on, on tuesdays and the food that he loves and the food that he make (all of the foods he loves are the foods he makes). We worship with him until it was time to leave china. I was headed back to where I lived. THE END.

The Broken

It was about 8:58 when I got there and everyone was talking. (I dont know why he was getting married here but well I don’t care) the priest told us to take a seat. I sat in the third row. Next to me was a very nice guy named Ping. I think he was Andy’s father. So that would mean that Andy was here. I looked around for him and I saw a lot of old people. So I kept looking around and I saw Andy in the 5th row. I quickly waved at him, he just looked and said “Sup”. (I heard that back then they did not get married. They would just have relationships) My eyes started to close and I started to doze off. I awoke when I heard people opening the door to get out of the building. The other person next to me told me to move. I moved so he could get out. “Hey at least my brother didn't notice me”, I said to myself. By then when I walked out the door I wasn't as tired as I was when I walked into the building. When I looked at the moon it was midnight. I had to find a hotel. So I found a hotel about 2 hours later and the cashier was half asleep. I woke him up and I checked in. Then he gave me the keys. I went into my room and it was a mess. cloths all over the floor. I looked at the bed and said “Well at least the bed was made”.

The wonder

2 days later I start on my journey again but this time to Wuhan. But when I get there the first couple things I say are “THIS PLACE IS BEAUTIFUL”. I saw a lot of nice people. I'm walking down the path and I’m like “HOLY COW MOO MILK, THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!” Andy calls me over to see a statue of a man. I said “I have never seen this person”. He tells me that it is the Mao statue. It is one of the three Mao statues and these are spread all over Yichang. Tomorrow I want you to meet Meat Po. Meat Po is a priest. He is also super nice and kind. If you were poor he would give you free food and maybe let you live in his house for a little while. Really that is nice of him. I might go and visit him. You know maybe get some rice. “Ya sure,” said Andy. “OH ya and i will “Meat” with you tomorrow, get it MEAT,” I said.

“No I don’t get it”, said Andy. “You know because his name is MEAT,” I said. Oh ya I guess. Well I guess I just embarrassed myself. “Now I think he won't meet me tomorrow.” At this time it is about  8:30 pm and I am pretty tired running around all day. But of course my brother was getting married this night and i had to be there. It started at 9:00 pm and I was pretty tired. By now the time was 8:40 pm. “Hey at least its super close, but i better start running”. I said.