Traveling light, or the word yak is both a noun and a verb

Chengdu Airport, 1 July
Today we had an early flight from Lijiang back to Chengdu, and from there we connected to Juizhighou, (pron. Joe-Jigh-Go). Our flight left at 8:50, and we actually got to the airport an hour before our flight. I woke up this morning and I felt a little out of it, but I figured it was from a lack of sleep compounded by drinking beers the night before. Not hung over, but just not quite right. We had packed our bags the night before, so we were all ready to roll at 6:45 from the guest house. We headed to the main square, where we pick up our taxis, and loaded up to head out. I stopped by the store and picked up a canned Nescafe, it isn’t the greatest stuff in the whole world, but it sure does work in a pinch. We rolled out and I drank my “coffee” and I knew things weren’t right in my gut. Now I’m going to warn you, things might be a little, how shall I say, graphic in the coming paragraphs. This is your warning, if you can’t handle talk of bodily functions, or more appropriately, their malfunctions, then you might not want read the rest of this entry.

Okay I warned you. We got through security, and I wasn’t feeling quite right, so I found the bathroom. Not only am I under the duress of intestinal discomfort, but I also need to navigate the perils of the Turkish toilet. If you don’t know what this is, look it up on google or something. I could describe it, but the image will leave nothing to be misunderstood. As I was saying, I had a bout of the runs in the toilet at the airport. I unfortunately felt that this wasn’t going to be the last of it, and the feeling I had, I knew I was going to be sick. Of course for this leg of the flight I’m seated in a window seat, which I quickly changed seats with Prof. Dan, who was on the aisle. The flight started out just fine, except I got the cold sweats. I felt it was only time, but then I started to feel a little better and actually fell asleep for a few minutes. Then it hit, I stumbled the thirteen rows to the front lavatory, and lost my noodles. As if that weren’t bad enough, I had a little anal leakage incident, right there, in the lavatory, on the airplane. Awesome. As I was in the lavatory, for the second flight in a row, the attendant announced we would be landing soon, and return to your seats. Again, awesome. Nothing is as comforting knowing that you are feeling ill, and just want to curl up in bed, yet knowing you still have a layover and connecting flight, and hour long bus ride to top it all off.

We landed in Chengdu, and by now I’m feeling like death warmed over, and J-Bo I found out, had the same misfortune I had endured. Fucking Noodles. We got into the airport, and collected our bags, as there is no direct service from Lijiang to Juizhighou. After collecting our bags, I just wanted to lie down in the fetal position and go to sleep, with a big soft cuddly blanket. That, my friends, is not in the cards for today. I got to lie down on the cold tile floor, with my back pack as a pillow. Ching had some “medicine” that she says she lives by, and it smelled roughly of charcoal and feet. Now we have more than two hours before make our connection. Great. As we are standing around, waiting to find out what the plan is, J-Bo has another incident of the yaks, and I just want to die. As we sit here waiting for our plane, I probably won’t write until tomorrow. But I do have to say the charcoal/foot pills have calmed my stomach for the time being.