Second Email from Gene in China

Have a little time before we head out, so I thought I would talk a little more. You are probably asleep now so you will get this when you wake. Our guide Peter has been very nice, he is very knowledgeable and he speaks very good English. Yesterday Wendell stayed at the farmers house because he over did the hike and sprained his knee. It was a difficult climb, so it was good he stayed back. This morning he felt good enough to go with us up the mountain. There are a lot of people here in Beijing. King's Joy hotel is about a five minute walk to the Forbidden City. We are leaving most of our luggage here at the hotel while we travel to Xi'an. We will only take our backpacks. I think the guys are glad the hiking is over. Our driver, Shao doesn't speak English, but he is friendly. Here in the hotel they have an aquarium with red fish, it is large, very colorful. Last night we had BBQ trout, it was good. We've had an array of food, most I was familiar with. Miss you, like I said I will try to email you tomorrow.

First Email from Gene in China

I am glad everything is going okay and that everyone is safe. The hiking portion of the trip is over, beautiful country. I must admit the hiking was much more arduous than I thought it would be. Monday was Paul's birthday and Gary bought him a wonderful cake. It was very nice of him. Tonight Gary is going to buy us dinner. The food has been fantastic. It is a little different than the Chinese food in Hawaii, but very good. Tuesday we stop at a restaurant for dinner, when we finished and walking back to the car there was a three foot black and red snake at the entrance to the restaurant, a little excitement for the day. The weather has been great. After the hike yesterday, back at the farmers house, it started to thunder and lightening, it rained most of the night. You did a wonderful job scheduling this trip. I thank you very much. We are going to Xi'an after dinner. Will try to write tomorrow night.