Hooray! Today I will reach Nanjing! I am so excited to see everyone! After a quick breakfast with my hosts and a replenishing of food in my satchel, (Hu gives me some rice cakes to snack on) I am off. After five hours of walking, I will reach Nanjing, and my family! I am so excited that even my sore feet don’t slow me down.

As the sun starts to go down, I see Nanjing.  I received a letter from my mother that says they live on the river,  not far from the market. First,  I find my way to the bustling market where anything from chicken to mushrooms to fabric is being sold. I pull out some money from my bag and decide to purchase a cup of mushrooms as a present for my family. Then, I easily find their house.

“Zooka?” a voice says. “Is that you?” My mother walks out into the darkening dusk.

“Mom!” I exclaim, “It’s me! Oh, how I’ve missed you!” I run to her and we hug. My father and the rest of my siblings run out for greetings. I am the oldest of five children, being 26 years old. The next are my twin brothers Bo and Fa, who have  just turned 19. Then comes my sister Lian, who is 12. Lastly, there is Meilin, who is 7.

After I have been given the chance to hug everyone, we go back inside the small house. I give the mushrooms to my mother, and she adds them to a rice stew brewing over the fire. We eat, and then, although it’s a tight fit, we climb into bed.

As I drift off to sleep, I think of my amazing journey. I think of Chen and Ji’s fishing family I met, and also of Hu and Gan, the farmers. I also remember watching Dong Qichang, the famous painter, as he painted his next masterpiece. I wonder if someday I will meet him again. One thing's for sure, I will never forget this journey.

Tonight will be my last night on the road. I will reach a farm at midday, and I will help with the work and sleep there. Then the next day, a couple more hours walking, and I reach Nanjing. Even though my feet are killing me from walking this far, I can’t help but be excited to see my family. The last time I saw them was five years ago! Anyway, I think I’m going to take a little rest and eat a snack. (dried peaches, again, it’s the only thing that keeps well that I can afford. We'll, come to think of it, I don’t afford it, I just take it from the orchard. At least they taste good.) I will reach the farm soon, and I can eat a better meal then, but I am just so down right famished right now, and I have to eat.

Wearily, I find a nice place to sit down and rest. Peering into my satchel, I notice I only have a few more dried peach strips left. I take two of the remaining five, and hungrily tear into them. I’ll be hungry, but this small meal will probably last me until I get to the farm (probably).

I am tempted to close my eyes and rest, but with the farm only an hour’s walk away, I decide to power through. I stiffly get up and start walking again.

An hour (and three more dried peaches) later, I have reached the farm. The family owns lots of land, and their farm is big. I run up to the small farm house where the family is waiting. A young boy steps forward.

“Welcome! You must be Zooka! We were expecting you!” Someone I expect to be the boy’s father starts to speak. “Now now, Dai, why don’t you go play with your siblings down by the river?” Five other children follow as Dai runs off. “Hello, Zooka. I am Gan. Welcome to our farm.”

“Oh thank you, I am so glad you have agreed to let me stay with you.”

“Oh of course!” I woman says, “It is no trouble! I am Hu. Why don’t we give you a tour?”

“Oh, I would like that very much. But if you don’t mind my asking, do you have something to eat? I am very hungry.”

“Of course! We just finished lunch ourselves, so you can just have some of the leftovers.” Hu answers.

“Thank you so much!”

We go inside the small farm house and I sit at a large table. Hu brings me a blue bowl with a generous helping of rice. I ravenously dig in.

“That right there is rice grown in our fields! I hope you enjoy it,” Gan says.

“Oh, it’s very good. Thank you.” I say as I eat up the last grain of rice.

“Would you like a tour of the grounds?” Hu asks.

“Yes! That would be super cool.”

We go outside and start walking down a worn muddy path that I assume leads to the rice fields. I was right! Soon, the grassy fields come in to view. We walk through a labyrinth of muddy paths through the bright green stalks of rice. After a while, the ground starts to firm up, and we emerge in a corn field.

“Wow! It’s so big! What other crops do you grow?” I exclaim.

“Rice, corn, carrots, and many other fruits. This place is very busy.” Gan answers. It’s true. There are many people working in the fields. They must be richer than I thought to be able to pay these people to work for them.

After a full tour of the grounds, it’s time for dinner. I am very tired, and after we eat, I retire to bed.

I wake in the morning to sun streaming through the window. I climb out of bed on stiff limbs, and walk into the small kitchen. Ji is busy at the fire, cooking breakfast.

“Good morning Zooka. Sleep well, I hope? We are having fish and rice for breakfast!”

Okay. I thought. This is weird. Maybe all they ever have for meals is fish and rice. “Yes, thank you Ji. The bed was quite comfy.”

After a quick breakfast, Chen aggrees to show me his trade. We walk down to the river to fish. I watch as Chen expertly gets into position on a rock. His sharp black eyes scan the water, his spear in hand. Quick as lightning, the sharp spear jabs into the water, and Chen pulls it out to reveal a silver scaled fish wiggling on the end.

“OMG! How did you do that?”

“Oh, it’s easy. Here, skin it for me, and you can keep ‘em for your journey.”

“Oh right! I best  be going now! Thank you for your gracious hospitality.” I take the fish off the spear, quickly skin it with my knife, and pocket it in my satchel. “Thank you, Chen. I will never forget you and your family. Good bye!”

“Good bye, Zooka!” Chen calls back. I run back to the house and say good bye to everyone else, and leave.

It has been five hours since I left Chen and Ji’s family. They were such nice people, I thought. As I walk on, I chew on more dried peaches. I look around at the beautiful river rushing by, and I feel peaceful (which is a rarity for me. I’m usually full of energy.). Then, I see an old figure sitting at an easel, painting a beautifully realistic landscape of the river. I watch as the man gracefully paints the sky above the river.

“Wait. You’re Dong Qichang, famous painter!” I exclaim.

“Why, yes. Have you seen my work before?” Dong Qichang asks.

“Yes! It’s beautiful! I especially love Eight Views of Autumn Moods. WOW! I can’t believe it’s actually you!” I reply.

“That is one of my favorites. So. Traveler. What brings you to this stretch of river?” Dong Qichang asks as he puts his paint brush down.

“I am traveling from Shanghai to Nanjing to visit family.” I answer.

“Lovely. Nanjing, a great capital for the Ming Dynasty. It is a beautiful city.”

“Yes. I can’t wait to get there. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Qichang. I hope to see you again someday.”

“You as well….” He looks at me and raises his eyebrows.

“Zooka.”

“Yes, nice to meet you as well, Zooka.”

And with that, I walked off down the path. As the sun began to go down, I found a patch of soft grass to roll out my matt for the night. Sitting on my bed, I finished off the fish that Chen had caught for me. When I finished, I liked the delicious remnants of fish off my fingers. Then, I lay down and went to sleep.

Helloooo! My name is Zooka! I am so FREAKING excited! Today, I start what is sure to be a very heroic and adventurous adventure! I am traveling along the Yangtze river in China. By the way, it is the year 1628. Right now, China is in the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen is the emperor right now. But anyway, today I start my journey at the mouth of the Yangtze in the city of Shanghai, and I end my journey in Nanjing. I will be traveling on foot. Which by the way, I am definitely not excited about, because who wants to walk that long? But whatever. So the main reason I am traveling this far is because I am going to visit my family in Nanjing. Nanjing is a grand city, very well developed. In fact, it’s the capital of the Ming dynasty. But I am happy on the coast in Shanghai, I don’t need to be close to family. I work in an orchard picking peaches. It is a fine job, because everyday I get to climb high in the peach trees and look out on the vast orchards, and the sparkling ocean. But today is different. Today I start my journey. I heroically wave good bye to my fellow fruit pickers as I walk off into the morning sunrise, starting my long journey to Nanjing.

OMG!!!!. I have been walking for FOUR hours, and I just want to turn around and go back to Shanghai!!!!! But, I promised to visit my family. I have to keep going. After another whole hour of walking, the sun is high above my head; it must be midday. I decide I should rest. I mean, I’m not just this gorgeous for nothing! I need my beauty sleep! I sit down in the small shade of a gnarled tree and watch the river rush east, heading towards the vast ocean. As I rest, I pull out some dried peaches from the orchard. Mmm! They are soooo delicious! After I refill my water skin with the clear Yangtze water, I continue along the worn river path.

Tonight, I plan to stay in a small village with a fisherman and his extended family. As the sun goes down for the night, I walk into a modest fishing village. I find the fishermen’s house easily, for many people are outside awaiting my arrival.

“Welcome! Welcome!” the large family sings.

“Hello! Thank you so much for allowing me to stay with you tonight.”

A man and woman, about the age of 50, step forward. “I am Chen,” the man says, “and this is my wife Ji. Welcome to our home.” “Yes, welcome,” Ji says. “Dinner is just about to be served. Fish and rice is what’s on the menu.”

“Fantastic,” I graciously say. I was lucky this family was willing to take me in.

After a delicious dinner of fish and rice, I get into bed and sleep.

Ming Dynasty #4

I woke up with a start. I must had slept for at least an hour and my dream theory didn't work I had been in the same place i was an hour ago and still had ways to go up and then down. I didn’t want to this but I couldn’t let my fans down so i kept walking and waiting until the mountain went down hill. I was so tired and upset that nobody was treating me like Hongwu  the Emperor of the ming dynasty.

I had breathlessly reached the top of the mountain and it was all downhill from there. I had walked some more in hope that somebody would find me and carry me to the temple. And then there at out of plain sight I saw the temple. Thank buddha I told myself. I had been so excited to finally see my destination that I ran there, and before you knew it I was there. I looked around to see where I should enter and a saw about three dozen buddhist follower all meditating.

I didn’t want to interrupt them but i could tell that something was off so the leader got up and took me aside.

“Ahh you must be Sarahtopia, the one that is staying with us for a night and learning the buddhist ways” he said.

“yes, I was really just looking for a place to stay because I am not a religious person so I will go and find my room” I told

“I’m sorry, but we have you staying over there with a group of people and you must learn the buddhist ways they are the best known way of nature.” he responded

“Ok, i’ll just settle over there while you finish your praying.”

No, no this is meditating and we are almost down and then I will have some of my learners come and talk to you.

They can over in what felt like a matter of seconds they started telling me all about their religion but I would zone in and zone out of what they were saying.

“We pray for about an hour a day and meditate whenever we get stressed we all so...”

How was I suppose to listen to this madness?

“We like to always stay come and to always believe in the buddha. We think that this is a good way of life because we get educated and are always having hope...”

I seriously couldn’t take this anymore.

“And at night time we go and walk down the streets of the town below for our dinner...”

“I am very tired  do you mind if I get some rest” I interrupted.

“Yes of course we will wake you up for dinner” They spoke

So those were my three day of being on this river.I am very happy that i was able to make this trip and share it with you all I hope you learned something but I am getting tired so i think I will sleep.

Ming Dynasty #3

I woke around seven feeling really hungry because I had no breakfast. I got up and they were all there. It felt like they were waiting for me so that they could go to the market. “here is your breakfast, what time will you be leaving today” the asked

I said ”well i don’t want to be in your way so i thinking of taking a wagon when i finish this” I responded.

“Ok if that works with you” He said as he put on a fake smile.

Once I had finished my breakfast I said goodbye and thank you again and left to go into town to get a wagon to travel to My one last stop before I left to go home, Chongqing   

Once I had gotten off the wagon I had started my hike up to the temple that I was staying at for my last night. The hike was very hard so about a few yards up I found some men who were carrying water down the mountain. “excuse me.” I said. nothing happened. “Excuse me” I said with inpatients “Excuse me!!” I yelled. They man turn over and looked at me.

“Can I help you?” He asked

“Yes, you could” I said starting to calm down. “I need to get to the other side of this mountain” I told

“so you want to know how” he asked

“No I want someone to carry me over, because I can’t go and get dirty. I have been adventuring through some of the river and it has been very hard, and lets face it I am way too pretty to do this so...” I explained

‘’No sorry I cant help you, the easiest path is… well there is no easy way so good luck” he said as he turned and walked away.

That had made me so mad, me not being treated like the emperor I was better than him! I stormed off and went up the hill. I was never going to get to the other side before sundown. I had no lunch and there was no way but up. Why couldn’t people go with their religion and be nice or something. I was so mad that it tired me, I didn’t care now if I made it or not so I found a tree and sat there for a few minutes then fell into a sleep that was to carry me the rest of the way to the temple.   

Ming dynasty #2 blog

I had just gotten out of the river and was really hungry when they called for dinner.

They had a very big table but that had made sense, sense each couple had at least five kids each. They had starved there fresh rice with chicken coated in plum sauce and nuts. It was very good but filled me up I said good night and that i must be on my way in the morning.

I woke up at six and they took me to their canoe and drove me up the river to where the three gorges dam, she said I must from here it was too much to keep going. I said goodbye and thanks you, and she left. I walked to where the nearest market was and they were starting to open already. I saw the people that i was staying with for the next night and walked over. They were surprised to see me so early and though I was coming when the sun was high. But I said that I would be happy to help in the morning and see what it was like to be a sales person.

They were very happy to  hear that they can have help. The first customer came bye and he showed me how it worked. It was a very nice way of life by the three rivers dam. When the next customer came by he said I could try but it was harder than it looked. Lets just say I tripped and spilled the fish that was bringing over. Even though he said it was ok and that we could just wash it off he was upset that he had to do it. After a few hours and A good lunch with fruit and wish he took my home around the time the sun was setting. They gave me some tea to drink and a bed and i fell fast asleep with no breakfast.