From Brooklyn to Beijing

Adventure in Hunan.  In the small village of Shiyanping, I find myself sitting on a wooden porch, admiring the views of green lush mountains rising above rice paddies and the occasional Traditional village wooden sloping roof. Chickens are squawking, bees buzzing, a slight well needed breeze every so often moves the Chinese red lanterns hanging above me. In the past few days it feels like I’ve done a whole lot of nothing, but in reality, what an adventure I’ve been having.   This is my second trip to a Laojia location, the first one being outside of Guilin last October (check out that blog here ). After a very delayed flight, I arrived in Zhangjiajie airport at midnight, and was picked up by a man (boy?) who then drove me the 2 hour rocky mountain route to the village. Along the way, the stars shown, the planets were out, the mountains just shadows in the dark.   Here we go! At breakfast after a mere 5 hours of sleep, I wa...