We are off this morning. It’s been a super-hectic few weeks but it’s finally here. Our bags our packed and even with gifts our bags are under 40 pounds each, well Catherine and Li Li’s are. We’ll try to update the blog each day but no guarantees – I’m told the GFW (Great Fire Wall) is more sophisticated than ever – so we’ll see how it goes.

First stop is Beijing followed by the train to Xi’an. I’ll post the full itinerary later. Zaijian. -t