We’ll be taking a brief hiatus from blogging during the first three weeks of August. Tomorrow we leave for China. You might wonder why we would go to China during the hottest time of the year. For example, our first stop, Xiamen, is expected to hit 95F today, which is fairly typical weather for this time of year (actually its comparable to the unusual weather we’ve been having in Seattle over the last week). The timing of the trip is driven by a boat we’re buying, nearing completion in the Xiamen China boat yard: Boat Progress. The goal is to see the boat roughly 90% complete so we can catch any issues early and get them fixed before the boat leaves the yard. And, part of the adventure of building a boat, is to get a chance to visit the yard and see how they are built.

We love boating and, having software jobs, we work a lot. Consequently, the time we do get off, we spend boating between Olympia, Washington and Alaska. Since we seldom have the time for non-boat related travel, we figured we should take advantage of visiting China and see more than just the boat yard. 

After the stop at the boat yard in Xiamen, we’ll visit Hong Kong, Guilin, Yangshou, Chengdu, and do a cruise of the Yangtze River and then travel to Xian followed by Beijing before returning home.  

                                                                –jrh