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Hi! You've reached Chris and Andrea's Message Board, a quick and easy way to leave us a message while we're off wandering the planet.

To leave a message:

#Hit the edit button at the top left of the page.

#Type what ya want, then click save.

That's it. If you screwed up or want to make a revision, just repeat the process.

Dear Chris and Andrea, Welcome back! I just found your pictures Chris and they are magnificent. I copied one to post on my wall. I would like to have had one of the two of you on your travels but I didn't find any of you two together. I'm wondering what you are up to this fall. I assume that you are going to be a junior at Cal, Andrea. How about you Chris? I think Bob said that you were helping a friend with some construction. I'm doing well. I've been having some GERD (gastroesophogeal reflux disease) but I have some new medicine that I hope will be helpful. I'm going for a catscan next Tuesday for further evaluation. Mostly I'm fine except after breakfast and dinner until things settle down. I'd be delighted if you could manage a visit one of these times. I have some pictures from my travels, but I haven't mastered the art of webpaging so you'll just have to come up and see for yourselves. Love, Ralph

Hi Andrea and Chris, sounds like a long haul back. Will the weather be hot and what is the atmosphere on the train, are there villagers or students, business men...? Well enjoy the ride if you can, we'll be looking forward with much anticipation to seeing you on the 10th. Take Care, Mom J---

Dear Chris and Andrea, I'm having a little difficulty with this. I thought I had written a message and was about to sign off when the message I had written disappeared. I'll try again. I just want to wish you a good trip home. I'm going off to Portland and then Hartford on Wednesday, 7/4, but I'll be back on the following Wednesday.

7/31/04 We're back safe and sound in Beijing after a torturous 46 hours of bad, yet constant Chinese pop music (with a little Kenny G thrown in), that the Chinese call the Urumqi - Beijing train. I was just about to email you (Marian) and Dylan to see if you could pick us up. We will be arriving at 10:15 AM, August 10th, at SFO. Our flight is with All Nippon Airways (ANA), the flight number is NH 8. I'm not sure how far into the airport you can get, but we'll meet you at the baggage claim, or if you can't get there, than we'll meet you on the other side of customs or where ever it is we are funneled when we get out. Its probably obvious if you ask someone working at the international arrivals terminal.

7/27/04 Hello to both of you and it will be so good to see you again. Dylan and I will be able to pick you up on Aug. 10th at the sf airport if you should still want us to meet you for that. Please let me know what time to confirm via message board, ok? It's our first week of vacation for the summer. He finishes up at DVC and Berkeley just a few days before your homecoming. I wish you the best on the remainder of your travels: I'm glad you had a reprieve of sorts with your Canadian friend!

I sure could use a vacation right about now...... Love, and kind thoughts as well---Marian

$12.50 for one night, huh? I can't believe you sold out like that, and so easily. Kidding aside, it was probably a nice little treat. Have you heard anything about the Three Gorges project? It seems like such a massive project, displacing over 1 million people, and drowning hundreds of villages and sacred places. Have you asked anyone in China what their opinion is on this? I cancelled the iPod upgrade project, it might be impossible, but it's one of those things that can't be proven (like the absense of a God, atheists take note). You don't need to bring me anything, just your thoughts and experiences. -- pcbDad 07/22

Dear Chris and Andrea, Thanks for your email message about the "edit" whatever. We had agood tripi to Charleston, got Jeff married to Devon Morgan and saw a bit of Charleston, including a "Cypress Gardens Plantation," a horse drawn tour of downtown Charleston and Ft. Sumter. It was hot (in the 90's) and humid (also in the 90's) and there was one thunderstorm, fortunately the day after the wedding instead of the day of the wedding. It was good to see Rick and Bernice and John. I hadn't seen him since the Cole family reunion in Montana in 2000. No, maybe he came down to SF when Arlene was home from the hospital. I enjoy your snapshots of your trip. Love, Ralph

So I guess I won't be receiving from UPS a garden sized jade Buddha c/o Jean Brown, just maybe a shampoo or sample fragrance...Mom B.

I sent more stuff about housing to you guys via email. -Dave 7/10

I've seen pictures of the Jade mineing/collection area. Try to find a piece of a yellowish or mottled color, a river worn cobble would be best without too many cracks. (these of course may be few and far between after so many years of collecting) My guess is that the water in the river is cold. You may have to pay to look in the most likely collection spot. If you find more than one feel free to send one my way. Tread carefully-Bob

Hey Dave, I'm gona check www.customs.ustreas.gov for importing info, but if you can russel up anything about how much stuff someone on an L visa to China can bring back that would be great. -Chris, 7/03

P.S. It would appear the customs sight is loading too slow for me to get to it, maybe someone could copy and paste any relvant looking info onto a page here local on the wiki?

Hey! Chris, It's OK to sell knives at the flea market. Most people look for high quality Japaneese steel. Man hours of workmanship would be the kind of thing that you could probably make a profit on, and possibly build a market for some local craftsmen. I would look for items of appeal to western tastes. I'm glad you seem to be having a good time. Bring home a piece of China for me. Dad

Oh, we found some great garnits up in the Pamir moutains (between Pakistan and Kashgar), I bought a few strings of them at 2 bucks each, they are small and tumbled, red to purple in color, pretty clear, and the strings are about two foot in lenght. I was wondering what your guess at flea market value for something like that would be. I was guessing maybe ten dollars, Andrea thought perhaps twenty, but I was thinking that was a bit high unless you're at a nice shop in Berkeley or something. -Chris. 7/03

Hi you two! I just now got ahold of your messageboard, last reading was a few messages ago, so I am glad to find your interesting updates. Hope you have energy to take pictures. Miss you, Mom J

Hey Chris, This is Dylan from Grandpa's room, father's day, and I'm just saying we missed you here while you were away. We hope that you're liking the food and that you'll have a safe trip.

June 15, Mtz Ca

and it's so great to hear blips of your travels. Our culture rests most of it's theories on man being on this earth for only the last 10000 yrs or so, but what do we really know? There are so many things about past cultures and peoples that are awesome, sometimes leaving current society in the dust! Anyway, Andrea, I'm now on my second pkg of LabLab beans which I am determined to sprout! They are obstinate little suckers that don't want to co-operate. And I miss you Chris, and you would be amazed at how many little babybirds are in the jasmine arch you built me. I counted 6 finch nests and 1 mockingbird nest. It's like an aviary this year except for the salivating Willie on the prowl. Just to let you two know, Dylan and I remain diligently on alert with your continuing story line-message board---it's become our "bedtime" stroy ritual here at Endriss this last few wks.! Lots of love towards you both, Marian

hallo yesh!

That's from Anna. I am picturing you there and hope you're

off to a great start. Miss you already. Mom j

5.28.04

Glad to hear you guys made it. We had a touristy day of our own, the "Vertigo" tour of San Francisco. Found the place she jumped into the bay, yep. We also found a cool little breakfast spot in Cow Hollow, SF. -Dave, Anna, and Mom

So glad to hear of your arrival. Dylan and I look forward to your impressions of Beijing!

Bon Voyage to our Chris and Andrea!!! Hope your days are long and your nights warm. We will be thinking of you guys constantly and wishing you wonderful thoughts. "Happy trails to you until we meet again." Willie says meow. Love and Hugs, Marian and Dylan (Dylan says have fun looking for dried lizards)

You Crazy Kids. Have a wonderful time. I'll miss you this summer (as I'll be where you aren't). -Dave Auerbach 5/26/04

Thanks for Craig's address Mom, I'll stick it on the PostCard page.

Hi, Chris,

Just trying this out beffore I'm off to work. Here is Craig's address and phone # at his parent's home. 925 676 9333 and 1718 Lucille, Pleasant Hill, Ca., 94523. these are old, but hopefully still the correct ones. Nice to see you yesterday. Hug and a kiss, Mom

Hi Andrea and Chris: I'm quite envious, too. I was born and raised in Lanzhou, but can't claim to know the city very well, having gone from the college where my parents taught to the university I went to study, both enclosed by walls, as you may have noticed by now, as many other organizations in China. There is not much to see in the city, but much food to sample, if you have a tough stomach. I remember going out at night and there would be food stands everywhere. Bring your own bowl and chopsticks/fork if you eat out on the street. Try "Rang Pi" (cold crepe cut into noodles) mixed with some basic seasonings, "Liang Fen" cold or stir fried, "La Mian" hand stretched noodles, usually in beef broth, but can also be had cold w/o meat but with seasonings. Chris can try shish-kebab - from XinJiang originally. Also try "Bai He" in a good restaurant, cooked any way you want. That's something only grown in Lanzhou.

You probably have picked the places to go, but if you have time, Qin Long Shan is a nice day trip - a visit to Buhda carved half way out of a hill, not many people, nice ride through the country. Jia Yu Guan is the north end of the Great Wall and is worth a visit, from what I can remember 20 years ago; all clay build walls and citadal. It may be too late to matter, but if you happen to need some local help, I still have some friends and family there. Take a lot of pictures and have fun!

Shan

It's June 7th, 8pm PST in San Diego.

The message board doesn't seem to be working for me, so I'll try a message here, although I thought this was just for the world traveler's posts. :) It seems you are doing quite well in the faraway land of China. Lanzhou is where Shan is from, she will leave a message for you later, if this one takes. I'm actually quite proud and envious of you and David (and Chris and Anna), for having the courage and enthusiasm to visit these wonderful and exotic places. I will probably be visiting China sometime in the next year, and I will have the luxury of my own personal guide. :) I'm looking forward to a possible late summer visit with the fantastic four (your place or mine) if conditions permit. I'm hard at work on my iPod hard drive upgrade project, which is not going well (it might turn out to be impossible (damn Apple!). For fun I've been playing around with MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) for running actual old arcade games like Asteroids, Space Invaders and PacMan. And also MESS (Multiple Emulator Super System) which lets you run old C64, Amiga, and Apple //e programs and games. Ah yes, the glorious past, so much better than the sparkling future! :) By the way, there is an emulator program for every conceiveable arcade console and older computer system. I have a SNES emulator with almost every game ever created for that system. There are almost 5000 games for MAME and it takes about 8 DVDs for all the code, sound samnples, cabinet artwork, etc. Have a good time in the Gansu province, and until next post, Love, Dad

Hey you two, for a minute there I thought we'd been cut off, but the message board is back in all its glory and I am very grateful.

It sounds as if things are going well for you so far and I love hearing

the details. I'm enjoying having my sister Maggie with me and when she

goes on tuesday I'll be rattling around in an empty quiet house again.

Take care and hugs to you. Mom j

Hi Andrea, it's Aunt Maggie here. Visiting your Mom after getting done my convention in SF. Your Mom picked me up Friday & I go home Tues am. Love SF. Love the crazy streets, the ocean views and the different apartments & homes. What's with the close apartment buildings though? How does one paint homes that are 1" apart? Strange. Also, I find the street directions very lacking in this area. Your Mom & I keep getting lost. We're pathetic really. Course it may be because we are yacking up a storm & not paying attention to where we are going! Your Mom's place is nice too. Like the peaceful look over the Lake. Your trip sound awesome & very exciting & interesting. Have a great time. Wish I could have seen you while here. Take care of yourself. Hi to Chris. Love, Aunt Maggie

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Hope you're having a good time, wish we were with you. I couldn't find the address of the jade dealer. -Bob

2020-10-05 00:39