Christmas Thoughts

" The heavens declare the glory of God
the skies proclaim the work of His hands,
Day after day they pour forth speech,
night after night they display knowledge.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the end of the world."
Psalm 19:1

I can only describe it as a jaw dropping, humbling, soul stiring display of stars so numerous and bright, that Beth and I were left in stunned silence. I have seen many stars on a clear night in North Wales, the Lake District and Scotland, often when wild camping with my friend Brett; sometimes even seeing the Milky Way. But the display we have seen here in a remote part of New Zealand, blessed with clear skies and no light pollution, has been truly extraordinary.
All I can say is that it is one amazing declaration of God's handiwork.
New Zealand is truly an amazing country. Here you have a diverse range of sub-tropical forests, beautiful golden or white beaches, majestic snow capped mountains, open plains, wild craggy coastline, unbelievably blue clear waters - no wonder the Kiwis call it the ''God Zone'' - though I think I'd call it God's own!
As I refect back over the last few months, thinking of what we have experienced and seen, I am reminded of the words of a song that puts it like this:

'This world is broken yet beautufully made' (Charlie Hall)

We have experienced the extremes of both of these, from the aching of the soul because of the extremity of immense poverty and death to the aching of the soul due to the sheer beauty of this world. Such a contrast. I have found there is no true comfort to be found in the former or deep satisfaction in the latter unless my soul finds its satisfaction in God.

And it seems most appropriate that I should be reminded so at this Christmas time. To all of you all over the world who have been following us on our journey, thank you for sticking with us, for the comments and e-mails - we really appreciate them.
May you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, finding satisfaction in the God who has made 'God with us' a reality in Christ Jesus.

Beijing, Bicycles and Bird's Nest....

Foreigners are fairly easy to spot. Just look out for the 'blonde' hair, the big noses and the windmilling arms (of the non-aggressive variety) as people gesticulate madly, frown with almost tangible pain in the effort to be understood. Even if you think you have the most basic grasp of Mandarin, you always get thrown by the tones. There are four in Mandarin, meaning a word that to our western ears sounds the same, can have four different meanings depending on the tone used. To the untrained ear and tongue it's really hard at times to make yourself understood. You might think you are saying, "Does that come with rice?" when in fact your probably sprouting some rubbish about how the clouds do maths bubbling chocolate. So the windmilling arms come in handy but at times it can be just plain frustrating.

For example, trying to find the bus that the guidebook recommends you take from the main western railway station in Beijing to the main central railway station. We found a police officer and started to wave our hands around and point and act out our best Thomas the Tank engine impression to try and show where we were trying to get to - you can imagine how difficult and exhausting this is whilst carrying your rucksack and hand luggage. You can probably imagine too how plain silly we looked! But even with the most serious concentration, willing with every fibre in your being that the the police officer has seen Thomas the Tank Engine and understands you actually want to go the another railway station by bus, there comes a time when you just have to stand back and laugh at yourself. It's good fun - just hard when the last thing you want is to be stranded at some railway station, miles from your accommodation. Although I'm pretty sure our policeman had never seen the famed Engine, he eventually did seem to get the gist of what we wanted and gave us, in return windmilling furrowed brow style, the exact directions to the bus we needed.

We settled into our youth hostel opposite the railway station - the main central railway station that is. And by the way, the bus that the guidebook recommends doesn't exist. Anyway, as I was saying, in our youth hostel, to our surprise, we found the heating was on. Here in China, you do have central heating to keep the cold at bay, but it is not the kind of central heating you have much, if any, control over. Instead, on November 15 the heating is switched on and lasts for four months. It is not necessarily correlated to the outside temperature, that is there is no thermostatic control, but instead it is simply on. And so our sauna of a youth hostel was perfect for washing and drying clothes, just a bit of a thirsty job trying to sleep at night.

Talking of clothes, my ego has taken a bit of a battering recently. The short snap of cold weather we've been experiencing necessitated purchasing a few extra items to keep us going. I was in need of a second pair of trousers; living in shorts at zero degrees is not good for your health and would be too much of a culture shock for the local populace! I found a pair of trousers for an absolute bargain. They just about fitted ok, maybe a little long in the leg, but otherwise not a bad buy. The only downside came when I looked at the label inside the trousers. I had jumped from a medium in the UK to XXL in China. Clearly I do not have the average Chinese physique!



Early on in our stay in Beijing we visited the National Olympic Stadium, affectionately known as the Bird's Nest, given it's complex exoskeleton that resembles interwoven branches and twigs - or for those of you with a sweeter tooth, a bit like a meringue nest. As you climb out of the subway, and catch your first glimpse of this structure, you realise just how impressive it is. Within the stadium, tier after tier of seats rise above you and you can easily imagine the energy of excitement in this place as Bolt charged down the track to take gold and set two new world records in the 100m and 200m. It is an inspiring place! As the last of the evening light faded to black, the Bird's Nest was internally lit up, bright red and orange, looking like some massive UFO just landed with the afterburners glowing! Directly opposite lies the National Aquatic Stadium. This crazy looking cuboid structure was lit up intense blue, causing a barrage of flash cameras to be set off as people marvelled.


Tian'anmen Square looked beautiful on the day we visited. The sky was clear and the sun shining in the crisp morning. But it wasn't just the cool morning that sent shivers down the spine. This Square has a rich history, even in my short lifetime. It was quite a solemn experience.



One of the main reasons for heading to Beijing was to see the Great Wall. It meant an early start, and for anyone who knows Beth, you'll know what that means! Even before the main rush of traffic into Beijing, the roads were packed, the usual rush of bikes, cars, lorries and people. And there are loads of bikes - millions swarming their way round the city.

On the way to the Wall we had to visit the obligatory jade factories. Here you'll see amazing ornaments and jewellery carved from the various types of jade. One particular treasure for the Chinese carved out of jade would be a cabbage, the traditional meal eaten in the New Year. To the Chinese, the humble cabbage represents 'good luck', the roots of which should point inwards towards the shop or home for constant success. I must admit, we weren't taken too much with the carved cabbage - I'd rather have the real thing stir fried where it belongs!!


90km or so north of Beijing lay our destination, the Great Wall at Mutianyu. It takes about 20 minutes steady uphill walking from the entrance to reach the Great Wall, and it is worth every single step. The wall somehow clings to the ridges that form a part of an impressive mountain range, weaving back and forth, disappearing into hidden valleys and reappearing, always climbing up and away as far as the eye can see. It is certainly a testament to man's engineering skill, but also to the brutality that cost 1.5million people their lives to complete this massive work. We blew a few gig's worth of photos here, everywhere you looked you just wanted to take more and more photographs. The light, the almost unnatural, gravity defying angles of the wall and the amazing scenery all combined to make a simply stunning vista. We were not disappointed.



Our last touristy trip in Beijing was out to the Summer Palace. Just on the north-western outskirts of the city, the Summer Palace is another marvel of design and engineering, with colossal lakes, beautifully planted walkways and classic Chinese architecture. We spent a leisurely day strolling around the quiet, peaceful scenery. The evening light was even more awesome than anything at the Olympic Park, a fantastic range of reds and oranges, setting the interlocking valleys in the far distance into fading spurs of rich purple.


Beijing was for us a much more pleasant city than Shanghai. Despite the size, there was always a homely little restaurant tucked away somewhere, with characterful staff working away over a simple steaming hob, cooking fantastic noodle dishes or rice at a fraction of the cost of the main restaurants. Even with our limited language skills, and by now, improving charades skills, it was still relatively easy to make yourself understood. A generous smile gets you a long way!



Just another 12 hour trip back to Shanghai for a few days before heading on to New Zealand.

And some more photos (left to right):

1. It can get cold - and Beth felt it
2. The seventeen arched bridge at the summer palace
3. Inside the stadium
4. Beth on one of the incredible bridges in the summer palace
5. Matt and Beth on the Great Wall
6. Matt demonstrating some of the finer experiences of dining on a budget

China

It was our first real rain in fifty days as we touched down at Padong International, Shanghai, and decidedly cooler. It must have been a strange sight for the immigration officials to see foreigners still wearing flip flops at the end of October; a time when the general temperature is descending towards a toe numbing 10 degrees Celsius. But we were excited to be in China at last – despite the slightly numb extremities.

Our first challenge was to get from the airport to Shanghai, some thirty kilometres west. And for this challenge we made use of the Maglev – which I’m guessing stands for something like ‘magnetic levitation,’ seeing that chunky magnets sit under the train. The Maglev is quick. It glides out of the station at Padong airport under constant acceleration up to its cruising speed of 300 km/h, though this increases to 430 km/h during the busier periods of the day! A little under 8 minutes and we had reached our destination. It’s the quickest I’ve ever travelled whilst still on the ground (though technically I suppose we were not actually on the ground).

We then took the metro across Shanghai, an experience we shall not forget. I don’t know if you have ever had the experience of being winded or having your breathe suddenly taken away. Well if you can remember or imagine that happening slowly, then you’ll get the idea of the metro in Shanghai at rush hour on a Friday. With our bulky rucksacks providing at least some moderate protection for the rib cage, we stepped onto the metro to travel a mere six stops. At the first station more people crammed into an already crowded carriage, it seemed ridiculous that any more people could possible get on – yet they did. At the second station we were staggered as another fifteen or so people pushed and wriggled their way onto the metro. And so this game continued. You soon realise that in a city with so many millions of people your personal space is not a given, and it is common practice to have your face jammed into the back of someone’s head, or worse, sharing your personal space with an armpit or two! Getting off is simple – you just need to forget the whole English politeness thing, grimace and grunt a little, and then employ a few of the old rugby skills. Drop your right shoulder and barge you way through. Taking a few people with you earns you bonus points. If you still have your rucksack with you – you’re a winner.

We had a few days in Shanghai, wandering the streets, taking in the sights and sounds. Shanghai is a big city, with an energy about it like London, but there are also areas that are tucked away off the main streets that have a more town feel about them. Everywhere you go people are eager to sell you random bits and pieces. Although sometimes you have to laugh at peoples’ eagerness! As we trudged the streets, trying to find our youth hostel, laden down with our rucksacks and other baggage we seem to have accumulated on the way, one lady approached us trying to sell roller skate wheels that come in pairs. These clip to the back of your shoes so you can wheel yourself along the streets – how did she possibly think we were going to wear those contraptions whilst having a hefty sack on our backs?!

The following Monday we headed west, towards central China, to visit our friend who is teaching at a university. The train journey was a mere 17 hours, so we were very pleased to have a sleeper carriage. What we hadn’t banked on was being on the third tier of beds right at the top of the carriage. Thankfully our climbing skills came in very handy as we delicately climbed up the beds, trying not to wake the gently sleeping family, topping out by the air conditioning unit. Surprisingly, we slept really well. In fact, Beth slept so well the ticket attendant had to wake her!

Our first cultural surprise came in the form of clear plastic flasks that appeared to contain nothing else than black tadpoles gently swimming around. We thought that the Chinese must be caring very much for the environment, and everyone was getting involved saving some endangered frogs spawn - odd that they should do this on a train journey. To our surprise, people kept topping up their clear plastic flasks with boiling water - the poor little fellas are going to be cooking in that hot water - quick someone stop them! But then people were noted drinking from the flasks! What could be going through peoples minds to do such a thing. It was the next morning that we realised that the 'tadpoles' were in fact tea leaves cunningly cut to resemble the little black suckers. Beth and I now know green tea as 'tadpole tea'.

Our second cultural shock was with queueing. English people have a particular awareness of when exactly they joined a queue, and therefore, when they should next be served. If someone jumps the queue English people generally perceive this as being rude and either murmur and grumble or grab the offender and let them know they have somehow overlooked the other participants in the queue. You especially get this on English roads. But here in China - well queues are there for jumping. Just barge on through! It takes a bit of getting used to, but after a while it can be fun - as long as you have a bit of a cheeky smile on your face!

We spent just over a week in central China, learning a few words of Mandarin, and how to use chopsticks! The food was fantastic – some very different from home, some similar. Street food is well worth trying! But we also had the chance to help teach English at the university – not something every traveller gets to do!

The students we met at the university were very friendly, inviting us along to play table tennis (ping-pong) of which they proudly remind you China is the best. I can believe it – the ball was a blur most of the time as my grinning opponents blasted it around the table with as much power as they could muster. I spent most of the time collecting the ball from the floor and wishing I could just get one ball across the net to wipe that smile away! It wasn’t to be!

What really amazed us was the work rate of these students. If you ask them what their hobbies are you’re likely to get the response ‘sleeping’ somewhere in the conversation. Students sit outside in the cold evenings, using the light from street lights dotted around campus, studying and learning, sometimes reading out loud, sometimes quietly mouthing the words as they commit to memory their work. So sleeping really is a hobby – to get a lie in is a real treat. I look at my own university days and am amazed at the contrast.

We were treated to some of the local music one of the nights. Just wandering aimlessly around town we came across these ladies playing the drums and doing a dance. They were a dedicated bunch, each lady hitting the drum as hard as she could whilst the older members of the group played the cymbals and the triangle, despite the biting cold. We stayed for about ten minutes - but we soon realised that we were becoming entranced!

Too soon it was zai jian (goodbye) as we headed east towards the Olympic city, another mere 13 hour overnighter!

Some more photos including our trip to see the terracotta warriors and a quick tour of Xian:

1) A sunset over the fields

2) One of the towers along the walls at Xian

3) Some of the terracotta warriors

4) Terracotta horses

5) Matt and Beth enjoying some street food

Singapore

You queue in a neat line for a taxi. The man on duty hails one taxi at a time into its allocated position. You wait a moment in the air conditioned booth, awaiting the nod from the attendant to acknowledge your taxi has stopped and it is safe to proceed. As you wheel out your luggage on a trolley, the boot of the car opens and a smiling driver lifts your luggage up for you. As you turn to push your empty trolley into the terminal you notice another smiling man has already appeared from nowhere and silently removed the trolley and guided it efficiently to its appointed place.
This is Singapore. It's clean, it's tidy, it's slick.

We had four days in this haven. A good chance to catch up on sleep, e-mails, blogs and washing. The main attraction in Singapore seems to be the shopping centres, loads of them that never seem to close. Beth was pretty happy!

There are a number of districts within Singapore derived from various groups who have immigrated - the names speak for themselves - Little India, Little China, Arab Quarter and so on. Wherever you go you notice how neat everything is, nothing seems out of place. And what is particularly impressive is the lack of monkeys.

Feeling withdrawl symptoms from those furry creatures we took a trip out of the main urban area to see the Night Safari, annexed to the zoo. The idea is that the nocturnal animals come out to play and you have a chance to marvel at these wonderful creatures of the night. However, the animals were clearly in on this game and decided that it was far better to mock the tourists craning for a glimpse of the beasts by staying asleep. They probably lie around until 11 o'clock, when the Night Safari shuts up shop, and then come out to play. Grr.

We did, however, have a close encounter with a leopard. When I say close encounter, I mean she was lying on her back the other side of a thick pane of glass enjoying a snooze. It was still very impressive to see the size of one of these big cats. We were also spooked by some large bats. A bit like those 3D 'magic eye' pictures, just as your eyes got accustomed to the gloom, a batman type figure suddenly appeared right next to you. This wasn't so bad until the bats opened their wings, a good half meter span at least; and those eyes.......!

On the last full day, we journeyed on the monorail shuttle across to Sentosa , a well laid out, if not too touristy (and therefore criminally expensive)

island annexed to Singapore. From the air you can see the man made beaches as three small crescents (get Google Earthing). These try and block the view out to sea where huge volumes of tankers are at anchor or are heading into the docks. Still, the views away from the tankers were fabulous and with the beautifully warm weather it really felt like a tropical island.

We left Singapore thoroughly impressed. It is an amazing place. But we were glad to get going too - it's not the cheapest place on the planet and we still have a few more months of travelling to go!

Last Stop in India

Our final day in India was back at Delhi, back to the chaos. On recommendation from a friend, we tried the Grand Hotel, which from the outside looked like a normal hotel frontage, but inside proved to be the most luxurious place we have yet visited on our trip! The marble floors and spiral staircase, the large room with air con, widescreen TV (with Premiership football showing!), push button room service and a separate bathroom, all spotlessly clean. What a treat!




We managed a trip out to the Red Fort, located in Old Delhi. This is a magnificent structure of immense size, even by today's standards. Built over 400 years ago for the ruling emperors of the time, it would have made a big impression on those having an audience with the emperor.
The gateway into the Red Fort is colossal, causing you to strain you neck backwards just to try and see the top of the carved sandstone walls.

Unfortunately, many of the older parts within this walled palace have been razed to the ground and much of the original grandeur has gone. Instead of gold covered walls with the splendour of jewels and ivory, the bare wooden carved paneling is exposed, with parrots using cracks in woodwork to form their nests. Ironic really.

But if you stop and look long enough, you can imagine the enormity of the pomp and grandeur of this place. It's almost inconceivable to think this was used as a British barracks until 1949, until you see the ugly coarse brick and concrete structures in the middle of the grounds!

And so closed our short time in India, a country of such contrasts, so very different and diverse from quiet Shrewsbury. And yet despite all the chaos, the dust and the dirt, the smells, the crowding - despite all the shocking contrasts, it is a country with a magnetic appeal.

Postscript: Morning Star

For those of you who read the earlier blogs about Morning Star, we have heard the sad news that the 12 year old boy, brought into the centre by wheel chair, died two weeks ago in hospital.
His name was Thulasizwe. No one in his family cared till it was too late.

Himalayan foothills....

After an early start, an expensive taxi and too many near misses to recall, we arrived at Kalka, in the north-east of the Punjab. Here we are on the border with Himachal Pradesh, we're aiming to go east - and up.



The Himalayan Queen, a narrow gauge train with, shall we say, cosy carriages, winds its way from Kalka through pine forests, over impressive viaducts and through dark and cool tunnels along its five hour route to Shimla.
Although the train takes its time, the views along this route are outstanding and it has the added advantage over the bus in that you are much less likely to reach for a sick bag. In fact, so confident are the train operators of your stable stomach that they don't even provide sick bags - whilst on the bus on our return journey they plied us with bags - I know we look white and everything....!!

Shimla, one part of the Nepali kingdom, is now the capital of the Himachal. At around 2400m (just multiply that by approx. 3.3 for those who work in imperial units!) the air here is somewhat cooler than the valley and the fresh smell of the pine woods is a real contrast to the Punjab. Things are tidy and clean, there is even a pedestrian only area. How civilised!


From the railway station, everything is up, mainly because Shimla is built on a ridge. Our accommodation was some 25 minutes walk uphill, so Beth and I were especially pleased that we had packed light (I'm still so impressed Beth managed to pack all her stuff in a 40L rucksack). But the walk was worth it, our room, though fairly basic, had a fantastic panoramic view from one side of the ridge. The only downside, as you'll appreciate if you have ever been to Shimla, is the monkeys.



Now Beth and I are nature lovers, but there comes a time when a 12-bore shotgun comes in useful, and this is normally at about 10 in the evening or 6 in the morning when these nuts animals decide that it's time for territorial combat. The monkeys chase each other across the tin roofs, squawking and shrieking, bouncing on the corrugated tin panels, making as much noise as is possible. It's not just one or two - the whole troop get involved.



On one of the days, Beth was not feeling too well. I decided I might make the most of the fresh air and head up to Jakhu Temple at 2455m. This is a temple to monkeys and, not too surprisingly, is packed out with monkeys. The monkeys are free to roam and visitors are encouraged to buy some nuts and feed them - which basically means the little brutes are like spoilt brats. I wasn't here for the temple or the monkeys - I wanted views of those imposing mountains to the north, the Himalayas proper. The monkeys seemed to sense that I wasn't going to waste my money on their lunch, so two of the cheeky muppets decided to 'bounce' me. This involves being starred at, the raising of those 'not so cute' eyebrows, the lifting of the front lip and then a full body launch. Suspecting what was going to happen I managed to turn my shoulder and brace myself. A monkey of any size hitting you is a bit of a shocker, this monkey was about a quarter my size. If the local attendant to the temple wasn't looking with such a stony expression, I would have given these monkeys a bit of what for. Anyway, who wants to pet monkeys when there are mountains to see?

Some more views from Shimla (apologies about the formatting, for some reason Blogger has gone AWOL):

Clockwise from left:

1) Typical sunset
2) Looking down onto The Mall - loads of interesting little shops
3) Monkey on our balcony - get me the 12-bore quick
4) Another view of The Mall
5) Christ Church - a surreal English structure in the middle of India, made especially so with the occasional monkey skipping by.

Punjab

The Punjab is a large area in northern India. Originally a much larger land mass before the great divide when the western Punjab was incorporated into Pakistan. And here Beth and I have spent the majority of our time in India. It has been a truly amazing experience, made particularly memorable by meeting Christians in the area. It still amazes me that no matter where you go in the world, when you meet a fellow Christian you feel right at home. And we certainly felt at home here.

The weather was generally hot, made even hotter by the high humidity.
Staying in the Punjab was not as crowded as Delhi and we were glad to be based in the countryside, surrounded by fields of rice.
The local village has a square where buffalo sit and chew the cud.
The villagers have circular cast iron cutters to chop the green stalks from the fields into food for these animals. Each home seems to have access to a buffalo, thus ensuring a regular supply of milk.

Want some milk? Speak nicely to the buffalo.

The square of the village gives way to narrow winding cobbled streets. At first it comes as a bit of a shock to have the main drainage from the houses culverted along narrow channels either side of the main paths - but as long as you remeber where you are going you're fine! The only thing that can catch you out is someone sending the washing up water down the drain into the culvert. The outlet pipes are cunningly located at ankle height, so any water coming out with too much gusto can easily give you wet feet.

The main modes of transport that we experienced were bikes, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and tempos. I did managed to get some exercise, which was a novelty after our time in South Africa. However, to make the most of the cool part of the day, you need to be pretty disciplined and get up at around half three in the morning. I took a ride with these fellas on our bikes. These machines are single speeders. The front forks arch forward, giving you a very upright riding position and the brakes are a solid state mechanism! The main suspension is found in the form of two substantial springs located under the saddle which, for even someone of my mass, did a sterling job! We headed out of the village under a clear starry sky, the suspension soaking up most of the bumps. Apart from a spanner for fixing things, you also need a sturdy wooden stick. This handy tool is ideal for beating away dogs who get too close or for ensuring snakes know who is boss. Thankfully on the occasions I went out we only met the dogs.

The next mode of transport we used is a Tempo. This machine boasts one of the earliest 'lefty' front forks. Basically, imagine a Harley with an extra wheel at the back, slap on a steel shell over the top, weld on wheel arches, some steel grid around the edges, a couple of handrails and you're just about done. They reminded me of some kind of insect. Although you can seat nine, you can get about 24 onto these machines. Ladies generally sit inside and the blokes get the fresh air and flies whilst standing on any ledges you can put your feet on. In fact I preferred being outside, the backrest inside generally comprised a pole, similar to a scaffold, welded across to brace the frame and could be uncomfortable when there was any harsh breaking (which was fairly regularly!). And anyway, you look more cool hanging off the side of one of these things!!!

Auto-rickshaws and rickshaws are a good way of getting around. The auto-rickshaws are like scurrying beetles running along the main roads and now and again firing out a passenger before zipping on to the next destination. These are a slimmed down version of a Tempo.

Our final mode of transport here was the mighty elephant. It's a new experience grabbing the backend of an elephant whilst smearing with your right foot up the back leg of the beast. Still, the view from the top is great, although it feels a bit lurchy as you move along. Perhaps we need a bit more practice.

But by far the best thing about the Punjab is the people. We were made so welcome here. It was amazing and very humbling to hear how peoples lives had been dramatically changed as they had come to understand what the Gospel really means and how relevant and necessary it is. In my own culture, although 'Christian' nominally, there are not many who get to grips with what being a Christain actually is - of God's amazing grace to needy sinners. It may seem a strange thing to say for some reading this blog, but these people that we met in the Punjab, they are to us as close as family. I cannot really express how kind and generous people were to us and of the very real love expressed.

We were also fed so well. English food is going to taste so bland now! And at every home where you are invited in, in only a matter couple of minutes there are mugs of tea put before you. And the tea! I must tell you about the tea. It is sweet and packed with caffine. What more could you ask for? It makes our tea bags look quite pathetic. You boil up some water in a saucepan, add a few buckets of sugar, throw in some spices and load up the loose tea. Boil for five minutes and allow the flavours to infuse. Add some buffalo milk to get a nice colour, keep boiling for another five minutes and hey presto, you have proper Indian tea. Filter into a small mug, definitely not a gallon mug, and then drink. Superb at any time of day - just wait till I get back in the office! On one evening we visted some of the people from the local church and others from the local community. We had so many cups of tea - it was wonderful (and not just for the tea!).

But as so often happens, our time in the Punjab flew by. We have learnt a lot here and we feel that we have left something of our hearts in a small village in this big state.

Next, we travel east into the mountains for some cool air. But that's for the next blog.

Some more photos to browse: