Olympic National Park

I went camping at the Olympic National Park two weekends ago with some friends.

Here are some pictures taken by my friends.

Urumqi

In the afternoon, I saw a friend of mine who lived in Urumqi to study Uyghur traditional medicine last year. She has been very upset since she heard the news of the riots. She lived at the street where the riot happened last Sunday. She taught classes at a university in Urumqi with both Han and Uyghur students. She has both Han and Uyghur friends in Urumqi.

On the other hand, I haven't been to the region. I don't have any Uyghur friends. Thanks to courses that I have taken at the school of international studies and the experience of living in the US and China, I understand things always have more than one perspectives. I'm standing in the middle of chaos.

Both of us agreed that it was very strange for the Chinese government to finger Rebiya Kadeer responsible for the riots in Urumqi. It is like the Chinese government wants to create a leader for the Uyghurs, like Dalai for the Tibetans? Or there are something needed to be covered up?

Lake Serene Revisit

One of my first blog entries is about Lake Serene hike in July 2005. I enjoyed the hike a lot. The only thing I didn't try that time was swimming in the lake. I finally did it today!

The weather was sunny and warm today. Even though half of the lake is still covered with flowing ice, there were a few people before me jumping into the lake. All of them came out of the water speechless. The person just right before me said even his teeth felt cold. I'm very glad that I finally swam in Lake Serene.