Journey to the West

Back at the laptop again, pounding the keys between classes with the kiddies. For those just tuning in or totally oblivious to Chinese culture, we're smack in the middle of Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) meaning a week-long vacation for me. Hooray. For more of you, those who haven't rigorously studied Chinese/Buddhist culture/history, "Journey to the West" stands as one of their great masterpieces, a multi-volumed epic depicting the adventures of a pair of monks joined by the monkey king and pig-boy in a quest to retrieve the great spiritual tomes from India. The story began and ended in Chang'An, now Xi'An. That's where my latest adventure begins.

So strap yourselves in and prepare for a trip through the ages of China. We've got accounts of emperors and immorals, snow-capped mountains and fog-drenched metropoli.

And apparently radioactive children at play.