Edna Post 4

Blog Post 4

April 6, 329 BC

I am sitting on the back of my new horse right now, but before I continue on my journey, I clear up a few details. I arrived at a ranch with tons of horses. I ended up buying a horse named Hai, which means coming from the sea. And, seeing that we were traveling from Wuhan to the ocean, he seemed like he would be a good pick. I paid the horse seller 5 silver coins for him. I bought a months worth of horse food and bags to connect to his saddle for water and food for me. Now all we would have to do is ride for a week or so and we would arrive in Shanghai.

April 9, 329 BC

Its been a few days now and I have reached the outskirts of Shanghai. The Yangtze river is a beautiful greenish blue color today, and I have never been happier to see it. Hai is starting to get restless from all this endless running, but we are luckily going to be there in a matter of days.

 

April 10, 329 BC

I decided that I should take a break from all this endless riding and treat myself. And I know what you are thinking, and sadly, it is NOT prunes. I am going to a monkey who will share with me the basic beliefs of buddhism.

Well, just about the only things I learned are 1. Apparently we aren’t taught by monkeys, but by monks, and 2. Buddha went all around china teaching people to be enlightened. Anyway, me and Hai have finally reached our destination. My mom’s old house is mine now, and I am ready to start a new life here. Before I left, Ai Chen, (The Rice farmer) showed me how to make noodles. Of course, I was amazing at it and I prepared them for dinner tonight. Ok, maybe I didn’t and I just bought them, but hey, its the thought that counts, right? I am going to pray to Buddha tonight. Maybe I’ll even offer him some prunes. Or maybe I’ll just eat them. But after 4 weeks getting from Wuhan to Shanghai, its been a memorable experience full of great (and not so great) people.

Edna Post 3

Blog Post 3

February 29, 329 BC

Its been a week since I have wrote in my journal. Its only a little while longer until I reach Shanghai. Where did we leave off? Oh yeah. That annoying boat driver dropped me off and I had to take a horse the rest of the way, which by the way, wasn't much better than riding in that boat. Da fell off the boat twice, and me being my heroic self, I helped him up. Okay fine, I was the one who fell off. Anyway, the rest of the way I am walking, and I am trying to find a place near the end of the Yangtze River to start living. There isn’t many homes for very far, and all I see is mostly cows and hills. Well, I better start walking I guess. I’ll write as soon as I get into civilization.

April 5, 329 BC

Okay, I’m back, and I have am in a city named Nanjing. Its been almost two weeks since I last wrote, and not much has happened since. Here I have decided to buy a horse, because that will be way better than walking, mostly because my bunions have grown to the size of a prune. Ahh prunes. I haven’t had one for a few weeks now. Well, the sooner I leave this place and arrive in Shanghai, the better. As I am walking, I notice tons of statues, all of them looking fairly new. A bunch of people are walking the streets right now, and I will probably be find someone with horses in a matter of minutes. Some people are even on horses right now. I might have to stop off and see if I can stay at someones house first. I am feeling EXHAUSTED right now. I have done the math, and I would have to walk for about 80 odd days, ten miles a day, just to get to shanghai. I need to get that horse. Well, see you in a little bit.

Red Entry 4

It has been a couple of days since I last wrote. Right now I’m only about a dozen miles to the next town. I was eager to reach the next town so I was having Wan go really fast and that was my mistake. It took even longer to get there and i had to take breaks so Wan could catch his breath. Little did I know that bandits were hiding above me watching from trees. So this continued till I got close to the town when I was about half a mile away from the town. I stopped to rest Wan. He was really tired and needed lots of water. I was filling up a water bowl when the bandits stroke. They dropped out of the trees with dagger in hand. There was five of them and they all surrounded me and Wan with big gleaming daggers. I tightly gripped the water bowl in my hand. When the first one moved forward I splashed the water on his face and threw the bowl and another one. Then I jumped on to Wan back and made him run as fast as he could. I rode as fast as I could and did not slow down till I got to the town and told the head of the town that bandits attacked me and that he should tell everybody to be alerted. The head of the town said settle down I’ll get some water and food for your horse and yourself and tell the town to be on guard for them. Thank you sir but why aren’t you scared of bandits attacking the town? Were used to it here lots of bandits like to hide out by the road and attack travelers here, but they aren’t really a harm all the do is try to intimidate you. Ok, thankyou. No problem we can deal with the bandits but for now you need to rest.

Red Entry 3

Right now I’m in the town Yanzhou. After the crash I walked to I came upon the town. It’s a nice little town with a tavern and some small shops, but best of all they have a horse breeder. The horse breeder’s name was Chao, which means excellent. So I hope he had some excellent horses for me. When I came in he was stroking a nice strong brown stallion. I knew the moment I saw that horse that I needed it. I came right up to Chao and said what for the brown stallion. I didn’t have much but a couple cowrie shells. I also needed to get food and water and clothes. So probably wasn’t the best idea to say what do you want for it. Anyway CHao was super nice and sold it to me for 5 cowrie shells and he threw in some horse food and a saddle.  By now my once massive wallet was shrunken to a 3 cowrie shells. Luckily the people who lived in Yanzhou were nice people and they gave me great deals on rice, buns, water, and pickled vegetables. By The time I had everything I needed I basically didn’t own a wallet. Anyways Chao let me sleep in his barn for the night. In the morning before I left Chao told me the name of the horse is name was Wan which means gentle and that he will help you through your journey. Before I left I thanked Chao and wished him luck with his business

Red Entry 2

Ok. So it is day two of my journey and I regret so much that I took a boat. The river is full of rapids and steep declines. I feel like my boat will fall apart any second. But I know That once I get out of the mountains It will be less dangerous. Today I stop for hospitality at a old rice farmer’s house. The farmers name was Zu. We had rice with chicken and vegetables with green tea after dinner. After tea we said a quick prayer and headed to bed. Zu led me to the guest room to sleep. In the morning I left Zu’s house and headed out again. Man it is cold I should have brought a jacket. When will I get out of these mountains. There wasn’t much wind today so I had to go down below the deck and row. It was really stuffy down there and I couldn’t really steer the boat. I was rowing hard when I felt the boat lunge forward. I held on to my seat tight. SMASH! the boat shattered. I quickly swam out of the boat wreckage and on to the shore. I looked up stream. OOh I said to myself. Aparently when i was under the deck the boat went off a waterfall. I sat there for a second in shock. My 20 cowrie shell boat in pieces. How am I supposed to finish my journey now I thought. I don’t have enough money to buy another boat so I will go by a different way.

Red Entry 1

Hi this is Red the awesome dragon and this is my first  blog. Right now i’m at the source of the yangtze river.  I’m about to start on my journey through the yangtze. Right now i’m about to go buy a boat. I intend to buy a small ship with one mast with sails and and a bed under the deck. There is also some oars under the deck in case of no wind. It cost me 20 cowrie shells Which is a lot but it was worth it. Now I have a great vessel to travel the yangtze in. Since Qinghai is a little way from the start of the river I had to drag my boat to the river.  Before I started my journey started I made a confusion prayer.An ocean of suffering floods the horizon Whence beams yet the sun

But thankfully, Lao Tse guides us in service to humanity,As the three great religions have also taught Mainly to be benevolent of both character and deed.Confucius has illuminated morality;From The Buddha we've learned compassion;The Way of Immortals urges us toward spirituality.From one root spring three counterpart stems.Once it is well-comprehended,We shall purify self and pray: Then I made a tea offering We come bringing tea to god's altar;apricot in spring, chrysanthemum in fall,hear our sincere, respectful call upon merciful god to bless us all The great way a light to pierce the pall,may each living being your peace befall

Edna Post 2

Blog Post 2

April 21, 329 BC

Its the afternoon right now and I was out in the field for a while with Ai Chen (The woman) harvesting rice for the better part of the day. I am DEFINITELY never going to become a rice farmer. We worked in the field gathering rice next to the Yangtze river, and all though the scenery was beautiful, I certainly did not feel all that beautiful when we were done. Ai Chen told me that as soon as I leave, is should check out the Sheshan mountain.She says that the grass there looks greener than her farm in spring.  Anyways, after helping them out I had to visit the nearest boat seller. I didn’t buy a boat, but I was able to get someone to take me to the border of the city. The man’s name was Da Feng, and it was going to take a day just to get to our destination. Da’s canoe was made of  wood, and was barely big enough for the both of us.

“Here.” Da says as he hands me an oar.

I take the oar and get in the boat.

“It will take the rest of the day to get to where you want to go, so I suggest you put you back into it.”

Thats when I realized this was gonna be a LONG ride.